When the Chinese long for views of the nation's most scenic hills and rivers, they book a bamboo-boat cruise in Yangshuo. The riverside town in southern China is most famous for its karst hills and traditional fishing-village lifestyle.

 

Downtown is touristy. Visitors can rent bikes and head to the countryside to find a more calming scene: bamboo boats chugging along the river, fishermen setting out with cormorants, farmers toiling in fields with lush peaks soaring high above.