Our arrival into Guilin started by meeting Annabelle who would be our personal tour guide for the next few days. We were about one hour away from Guilin which is a city of about one half million people. Guilin was described to us as a "reputed Fairyland" which is a generous description for any town of significant size, but we did get an initial taste of what was meant by the Fairyland. Much of the Guilin area is home to limestone pillars that have been formed by millions of years of erosion. Limestone is abundant in the world and similar pillars can be found in places like Arizona and Utah, but these are different. Covered with green, these tall steep rocks, layer after layer is oddly familiar. This is the landscape we see in so many Chinese painting, mysterious and serene.
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Our tour started at Seven Stars Park close to the city center of Guilin. This park has a lot of natural beauty and is an appreciated walk after a half day of traveling. A pretty cascade was probably the highlight of this park that is excited about their panda bears. We were less excited when we actually saw them because they looked really depressed, but the Lesser Pandas were a bit more lively. Maybe they were overdue for their msg-induced afternoon nap like we all were. We've never been a fan of zoos much anyway since we have interacted with many animals in the wild while scuba diving, hiking or on safari. We left the park laughing about the unofficial Disney character statues standing all throughout the park.
We continued to the Plaza Hotel where we would be spending our first night. This hotel promised a lot and delivered little. I believe we were staying there because that is where all the western tourists ended up. It probably had its day in the sun, which has set. We found the bar and loaded up on some bad Chinese local brew which delivers calories with a bad taste and not much of a buzz. We never thought we'd crave a Budweiser, but there we were hoping for a bad American beer to provide some flavor. Needless to say we moved to another hotel for the other night. It's all part of the experience.
The first evening in Guilin we took a taxi to the city center and found a promenade with plenty of shops and restaurants. Paul's steakhouse caught our eye, but we chose the local chinese restaurant because after all we are in China, right? We ended up in a Souper restaurant and got a quail and mushroom soup in addition to a bunch of other Chinese dishes. This restaurant is known for its soups. We skipped the turtle soup. Shortly after this meal we started to truly feel why Carson and Kathy tend to avoid the Chinese restaurants. The MSG still runs strong in the restaurant food and even though we ask for no MSG they put it in there anyway, perhaps extra. This meal caused an extra strong MSG buzz which caused us all to crash early for the night.
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An early morning start at 8:30 got us to the famous boat tour of the Li River which is highly recommended for anyone visiting this area. This boat ride is the trip through the sought after Fairyland created by the famous green limestone pillars. To compliment the landscape there was rain and low clouds hugging the hills creating that perfectly mythical theme. I suppose the whole mystic experience could be better if there weren't a hundred other riverboats on the narrow river that was already running so low of water that our boat ride is only a 7 km trip before we turn around and head back. In the rainy summers this trip is a one-way trip, lasting many more hours. They served up a reasonably tasty lunch and some local beers which of course would bring down our metabolisms and prepare us for the afternoon nap. One guy offered to buy some local moonshine that had a couple of snakes floating in the bottle. It's supposed to be good for libido or something. Nobody had the guts to drink it, but Carol took a picture as a souvenir. This boat trip will sure to be the highlight of anyone's trip to this area. In fact when we arrived at our hotel we saw pictures of many famous diplomats that have taken the very same trip (George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter for example).
The second night we stayed at the New West Street Hotel in Yangshuo which is definitely a tourist town, but a really beautiful one. The entire town is surrounded by the limestone pillars so we found ourselves looking up as much as we were looking around. The afternoon started with a nap and led into a late lunch at a local place. We opted for the pizza this time to avoid some of the MSG hangover. Unfortunately the local local beers were nothing write home about.
Everyone (and I mean everyone) that visits Yangshuo attends the Impression light and dance show in the most amazing of settings. We sat in a grandstand on a lakeshore where eventually the steep limestone pillars surrounding the lakes were exposed by the massive amounts of lights that made this one of the most unique shows I've been to. There were over 600 performers from around the area that performed some dance and choreography that was respectable for the amateur. They did not need to dazzle us with their moves because the unique use of flame and lights by the massive number of people floating kept our interests at a maximum. The story was not real obvious, but I was able to see a proud people that celebrate their skills of paddling their thin boats on water. The show lasted an hour which was about right to make sure we got the value of our fairly expensive tickets without dragging the somewhat slow-moving performance on too long.
We finished the night off at Minnie Mau's playing some snooker and drinking bad beer, but that place was kind of dead so we decided to check out Meiyou restaurant recommended by Annabelle. Meiyou means "We don't have any" which we thought would be a guarentee for good food and service, but I think they meant it literally. Pizza finished the night at midnight yet again and none of us would recommend Meiyou if asked again.
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Day three of our four day trip headed back to the big city of Guilin where we stopped at Shangrila for a boat tour and walk through a local village. Aaron caught the embroidery ball thrown from the second story of a building symbolizing the love from the young woman who threw it. Continuing the drive back to Guilin we arrived at the famous Elephant Hill Park which is a rock with a hole in it that looks like an elephant drinking out of the river. We climbed the stairs to a monument that is also the handle of the sword that stabbed the elephant leaving it in its frozen state to forever entertain us.
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We opted to stay at the Fortune Condominium Hotel which turned out to be a great upgrade from The Plaza hotel. Its funny because Annabelle told us the Fortune was "too new" and "very Japanese" which we all thought those would be good traits of a hotel. We got a two bedroom suite which was great for our social aspirations to hang out.
Three of us (Carol, Kathy, Aaron) went to the city center to look for some authentic food where we found a hot pot lunch place. Hot pots are pots where the meat is cooked in a broth on the flame sitting on your table. We ordered a chicken and seafood hot pot and they certainly delivered it ... chicken head and all! None of us really liked the hot pot because there wasn't much meat and it didn't taste that good, but it was still better than ordering the dog hot pot which was also available. This is China!
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The evening arrived and we headed down to the Waterfall hotel where the world's highest man-made waterfall flows in the high season so we didn't see it, but across the street is the river where two tall pagodas (Sun and Moon) are lit up in the colorful chinese way. A short walk around the lake and we headed down the night market which was full of all those goods that you can buy everywhere in China. All the countries we've ever traveled it seems that these street-side vendors always sell the same stuff for the region. It is difficult to find something really creative especially in a place where copying is what they do best! We finished the night at Pizza Hut which was a huge success. The salad bar was a bit emptied because there was a local that decided to build a huge salad from the salad bar and not order any pizza. Perhaps she was saving money and it was entertaining, but pretty much an example of the acceptable level of rudeness people are willing to put on their fellow Chinese.
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The next morning we headed to the airport and along the way we stopped at the Reed Flute Cave which is the most popular cave around. The cave had really cool formations and huge caverns so claustrophobia is not a problem. The cave used the colored lights that we've been seeing the whole time we've traveled in China which we thought was a nice way to provide visual variety.
Shanghai we are glad to be back! Kathy knew of a hot pot place called 789 that was a really great experience compared to the chicken head served in Guilin. Hot pot is where everyone gets their own choice of broth on a flame and many types of raw meat, vegetables, noodles, mushrooms and even quail eggs sit at the table waiting to be cooked in your personal boiling broth. 789 has about 30 sauces to choose from and the double spicy broth is the best! After the meal Carol got a haircut and Kathy and Aaron went to get a pedicure. Aaron's first time at the pedicure which was not a surprise to the woman that worked on Aaron's hobbit feet!
Guilin is a must see for anyone traveling to China. The topography is stunning and so recognizably unique.
Great write up. It is indeed the chance encounters with friends that can be really enjoyable.*
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