There are plenty of opportunities to take shorter and significantly less expensive river trips from the Yangshuo area -- check with the travel agencies and backpackers' cafes on Xi Jie for your options. The fascist Li River patrol authorities have a stranglehold on all river traffic and there are strict laws about the kinds of boats foreigners can ride on (boat licenses can cost up to a millionyuan), so stick with the legitimate outfits rather than with the random touts who approach you, no matter how friendly they are.
One of the more popular trips is downriver to the umbrella and fan town ofFuli, but boats only ply this route during the summer and early fall. Another trip is to the town ofXingping,about 3 hours upstream from Yangshuo. Official boats make the run in summer for about ¥60 to ¥80 ($7.50-$10) per person. Rather than sail upstream, some tourists prefer to cycle or take a bus to Xingping and catch a boat downstream back to Yangshuo. Some tour operators come up with creative combinations of hiking/river-trip tours, which involve traveling to Xingping by bus or bike, then hiking along the river for part of the way before hopping onto a boat for the rest of the journey.