Excursion to Lingqu Canal

The drive to Lingqu Canal was a long one. The canal sits well outside of Guilin, though it is considered a tourist attraction connected to the city. The canal system is over two thousand years old and has withstood nature all of these years.

Immediately following Dr. Li’s lecture, the students piled into the smaller of the two buses, which had been transporting them for the duration of the trip and set off. Shortly before arriving at the canal, the group stopped for lunch in a small town that has sprung up nearby the canal. Surprisingly, the town subsides on tourism alone, and so it is quite modest. The restaurant seemed to be dormant as the students marched up the stair to sit and wait for lunch. Starving, the students said little and were happy when the food started to arrive.

After lunch, spirits high, the students rode the short distance from the restaurant to the canal. A tour guide led the group up into a building with a large model of the canal and surrounding area. The model had a water feature to illustrate how the canal separated one river into two tributaries, one that continued to feed the Pearl river, and the other which eventually led to the Yangzi, thus connecting these two rivers.

For the rest of the afternoon, the students followed the tour guide and took in the grounds surrounding the canal. The solitude of the place was calming and several students wished to linger further when the tour was finished. But the sun was setting and it was time to return to Guilin.