Luoyang Departure: Guilin, Li River and Longji Terraces, 5 Days 4 Nights of the Harvest

We leave Luoyang Longmen in the morning, change at Zhengzhou East, and reach Guilin North by evening. A short walk through Dongxi lane, where old house numbers are still set into the grey brick. Dinner is Guilin rice noodles: two liang with braised meat, tossed dry first, then loosened with a ladle of bone broth.

Attraction introduction: Guilin sits between the Li and the Taohua rivers, and the two-rivers-four-lakes circuit was joined up in recent decades. Dongxi is the street grid of the Ming and Qing town, rebuilt with new shopfronts on old foundations. Every noodle shop guards its own braising liquid, which is why the same bowl tastes different a street away.

Tips: Chilli goes in at the end, so say so if you do not want it. Guests generally find Dongxi looks better after dark. In practice we walk only one stretch tonight; tomorrow starts early.

We drive up from Guilin, two hours of mountain road to Longsheng, and enter Jinkeng Dazhai. A cable car lifts us to the Thousand Layer Terraces, and we walk down on flagstones past Yao stilt houses with corn and peppers strung under the eaves. In the afternoon we move to Pingan for Seven Stars with the Moon, then sleep in the village on bamboo rice and cured pork.

Attraction introduction: At Jinkeng the fields climb from the valley floor to the summit, each embankment following the contour, hundreds of metres of them stacked one over another. Pingan's Seven Stars are seven small hills around a single flooded field that turns into a mirror. Zhuang and Yao families have farmed here for centuries.

Tips: The road bends constantly, so take the front seat if you are prone to carsickness. Guests generally find the terraces look best in morning mist and turn flat white once the sun clears it. In practice we set a six-thirty wake-up so the walk to the viewpoint lands right.

Sunrise over the fields, then down the mountain at eight. Lunch back in Guilin, and in the afternoon we board at Mopanshan for a cruise of just over four hours to Yangshuo. The boat passes Nine Horses Painting and Yellow Cloth Reflection, and the Xingping reach opens widest, with the hills lined up in the water. We sleep in Yangshuo and eat on West Street.

Attraction introduction: The Li runs more than eighty kilometres from Guilin to Yangshuo and the cruise covers the finest part. At Yellow Cloth the water is shallow enough for the yellow stone bed to show through and hold the hill shadows like a painting. Below Laozhai hill at Xingping is the exact view printed on the back of the twenty yuan note.

Tips: The deck is windy and cold if you stand too long. Guests generally find the window seats catch the afternoon sun, so swapping sides helps. In practice the coach waits at the pier and you never carry your own bags.

Morning on the Yulong with a hand-poled bamboo raft from Jinlong bridge to Jiuxian. The river is shallow over cobbles and the raft drops with a bump at each weir, so hems get wet. Beer fish for lunch beside the water. In the afternoon we cycle the Ten Mile Gallery past Moon Hill and the Big Banyan, rice fields and pomelo orchards on either side.

Attraction introduction: The Yulong is a tributary of the Li, clear, with peaks and villages on both banks. The rafts are lashed from whole bamboo poles and the boatman stands at the stern, one push of the pole at a time, with no engine noise anywhere. The Gallery is a country lane running between the peaks and the rice.

Tips: Rafts wet your shoes, so sandals or a spare pair are worth it. Guests generally find the Yulong stops running on Monday mornings for maintenance and itineraries should avoid it. In practice we raft at nine, before any wind picks up on the water.

We return to Guilin in the morning, an hour and a bit on the expressway, then the train from Guilin North to Luoyang with a change at Zhengzhou East, arriving at night. If time allows, eat one more bowl of noodles near the station.

Attraction introduction: The road from Yangshuo to Guilin runs between peaks the whole way, the most typical form of karst country, clusters joined into ridges with flat land between them for rice and kumquat. Villages here live on visitors and fruit trees, and roadside tables sell Shatian pomelos in season.

Tips: Do not linger at sights on the departure day. Guests generally find security at Guilin North slower than expected. In practice we arrive an hour before the train.