People told me that this was the most beautiful place in China…well I was skeptical because I have taken hikes or climbed stairs to see a “great” view and none have been worth it. But honestly I have never seen mountains like this. It was truly beautiful (this is a lot coming from someone who doesn’t like looking at pictures unless there are people in them and never appreciates a view).
We stayed at the Yangshou Mountain Retreat. This place was really special…the rooms weren’t anything exciting but we were on the river overlooking the mountains. It is owned by an American who built it using all green materials and they don’t serve anything disposable (not even straws). The receptionist (who is listed as someone to call if you want to organize an excursion) is a local girl with severe brittle bone disease. Typically someone in her situation would have been sent to an orphanage when she was young or you would find her on the street begging for money. She took initiative and got a job, learned English, Quickbooks and Hotel finances. She was truly a blessing to meet.
The waitresses at the restaurant were great girls. We only ate a few meals at the hotel restaurant but we enjoyed it because the girls were totally smitten with our little boy and would entertain him so Adam and I could eat a meal at the same time.
We strolled through west street where there were tons of handicraft shops and great restaurants. The travel book mentioned that haggling prices for these crafts was tough but honestly (as an experienced Chinese haggler) it was nothing…it wasn’t even fun! You look at something, they quote a super high price and you walk away and they cut their price by 75% without you even showing more interest. 
Our big outing was a Li river raft cruise. The raft was made of bamboo and had a motor the size of a personal fan. We got to see the beautiful mountains while the much needed breeze cooled us off. We left the hotel at 8:30 and were supposed to be back at 12:00. At 11:30 we had just turned around on the river and not 10 min after turning around the police boat yelled at us and we turned back in the other direction. We pulled up to a local fishing village with a restaurant. Adam and I already planned on having lunch at the hotel where they had a boneless version of the local beer fish. We each had a coke and took a little rest. When we were ready to leave we got up and started walking toward the river, our driver said no he wasn’t ready yet, and decided to order lunch. I started to freak out. We were an hour from where the car was meeting us, which was 45 min away from the hotel and we had the baby. After he ate he wondered around so Adam told him we wanted to leave, the driver said he wasn’t going to leave for a half hour. We called the hotel and after talking to the driver Angel informed us that the government shut down the river and it would open again at 12:30. I don’t know what happened but once it was 12:30 we left and well we survived. Once we got on the raft with the cool breeze all was well!
