The Li River
Now, getting to this place was not easy!
I arrived about 1 AM at a tiny family-run inn by the river. I was meeting a local guide (see Jack's website) at 5 AM, so I didn't get a lot of what I would call "quality sleep". Anyway, I got up very early and went downstairs in pitch black. There seemed to be a big white cloth box I had to go around to find the front door. My guide was outside. The door was locked and we could not figure out how to get it open. Everyone at the little inn was sound asleep and I was totally confused. Then, from inside the big white box, a body flew out of it! There was a 60-year-old Chinese guy inside that was sleeping until I woke him up with all my lock-manipulations. His naked limbs in the white sheets scared the bejeezus out of me and woke me right up!
And then we were on the river about 5:15. It was still completely dark outside. And I mean COMPLETELY DARK. It was a thin bamboo raft with an outboard motor.
I turned around to ask my guide, "How the heck does the boat driver know where he is going?!?"
He calmly said, "Oh, no worry. The river is very wide."
I not-calmly said, "Well, that's great and everything, but I can't even see the edge to the river!"
He calmly said, "But it is so wide."
This line of questioning was not getting me anywhere, so I just decided to sit back and enjoy my possible last moments on Earth. Then the sun started to rise, and we moved the boat over to the best bank for the angle.
Want to hear something amazing about these fishermen? You won't believe it... but maybe others can confirm this! The fishermen use these two trained cormorant birds that have their throats tied. The birds dive into the water, eat a fish, but then can't swallow it because of the rope. The fisherman rudely pulls the fish from the bird's throat and drops it into that basket behind him. The bird then goes over to a tiny keyboard and sends out the tweet, "WTF".
Comments and faves
Sean Fast, Seattle ✈ Dredge, O.Connell., daniel_gafanhoto, and 592 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Sean Fast (31 months ago | reply)
This is awesome! I love the orange
daniel_gafanhoto (31 months ago | reply)
Awesome work!
Mohammed Farhat (31 months ago | reply)
this is super cool, the tone and composition are great
Seeds ++ [deleted] (31 months ago | reply)
lovely to see this with lights in boat and orange tones..
Seeds ++ [deleted] (31 months ago | reply)
its like reading some story
A.G. Photographe (31 months ago | reply)
wowwwww like a dream ♥
ernegon (31 months ago | reply)
Buen trabajo. Saludos.
H Sundholm (henriksundholm.com) (31 months ago | reply)
Brilliant shot!
hafeez raji (31 months ago | reply)
great capture, with the lighting and silhouettes
AceOBase (thank you for 1.1 million views!) (31 months ago | reply)
superb in everyway
proxygeek (31 months ago | reply)
Earth?
Or The Middle Earth??
WOW! Speachless...
knights☠(31 months ago | reply)
wow, this photo blows me away.
perfection
Kjetil Andersen Photography (31 months ago | reply)
Love it!
Rob Mchale (31 months ago | reply)
great capture trey! and a good story too!
photographerwannab (31 months ago | reply)
Wow!
danimal174 (31 months ago | reply)
Really nice!
Jason R. Pischke (31 months ago | reply)
Looks like something right out of a video game, incredible!
David B. Simon (31 months ago | reply)
Amazing image. Must have been an incredible experience.
philip918 (31 months ago | reply)
Fantastic shot. Love the story behind it too.
Stuck in Customs (31 months ago | reply)
Thanks !!!
xuezixy (31 months ago | reply)
i have been there. Love your shot!!
RightBrainPhotography (31 months ago | reply)
Terrific shadow's look, love the hue!!!
Extra Medium (31 months ago | reply)
See but more than half the experience of the photo is capturing it and reliving all these memories.
Marvin Paz (31 months ago | reply)
great shot
Dj Poe (31 months ago | reply)
awesome almost like a painting. Really great work!
Steve Rosset (31 months ago | reply)
That looks totally surreal. Amazing!
Arpicheck (31 months ago | reply)
so, come on, this is awesome
i don't know how you do this
the way you photograph, the places you visit... wow
mrmikie1921 (31 months ago | reply)
In the BBC Series Wild China They show these Guys fishing awesome!
Stefan.J. (31 months ago | reply)
awesome!
zsjuuu (31 months ago | reply)
很好看的图片 很有诗意
Jonathan Palfrey (31 months ago | reply)
Remarkable photo. Details are blurred by the slow shutter speed and wide aperture, which makes it seem halfway between painting and photograph. Looks like a single exposure to me.
Sunna Gautadóttir (31 months ago | reply)
great shot!
vansisantos (31 months ago | reply)
This is surreal! Great capture!
Lightning Lee (31 months ago | reply)
they sure do, i have seen them multiple times on geographical channels... the fishermen do feed them now and again :) he ties so they do not eat every catch.
wicked, wicked image. nice work. may i ask how you get to travel so much? lol
Renjie Sun (31 months ago | reply)
very nice!
cullen2009 (31 months ago | reply)
Absolutely brilliant shot - awe struck!!
jinchinlin (31 months ago | reply)
great shot!
Captain Kimo (31 months ago | reply)
lol thats great, using birds to do the dirty work.
MikeBehnken (31 months ago | reply)
My 2nd favorite of all your photos, (1st is the Times Square) amazing location
mexicois (30 months ago | reply)
terrific!
gabrielescotto (30 months ago | reply)
splendida....
Tom Cooke (30 months ago | reply)
beautiful.
bovinemagnet (30 months ago | reply)
simply beautiful, one of the best images I have seen in a while.. amazing.
eddie_fletch (30 months ago | reply)
Beautiful image, of one of my favourite places in China.....
I want to go there more often!
Manal Photography (30 months ago | reply)
woow very nice
Shakeskc (30 months ago | reply)
Great shot.
hgviola ♫ (30 months ago | reply)
Incredible! Thanks so much for sharing!
{ #11 } (30 months ago | reply)
Very nice shot. It almost looks like CG. I especially like the turtle though.
Carlos Yogeshwara (30 months ago | reply)
uau!!
Cindy Farr-Weinfeld (30 months ago | reply)
What a lovely atmospheric shot--just brilliant work here.