It had been pissing like mad the week before our departure. I prayed hard that the weather would be ok by the time we get there. As it turned out, weather was acceptable. To make life easy for us, I booked us a private car and guide for the entire stay - best idea I've had for a while!
The weather was still a bit unstable when we got there. Day 1 of the trip took us to Longji or in English Dragon's Back to see the beautiful terraced rice paddies. It is in the Longshan Autonomous Region, about 2 hours drive away from Guilin city. It started to rain when we got there. But we were prepared. Armed with raincoat and umbrella, we followed the guide up the hill. It was an interesting climb. Girls were fascinated by the chickens and ducks they saw along the way....poor city girls. Unfortunately, when we got to the top, the mist was so thick, we could hardly see the terrace. We ended up getting a digital picture of the terrace from one of the photo stores.
The weather remained unstable after our return to Guilin city. The guide suggested a show in a local theatre - something about the Monkey King (夢幻西遊). She said it has dancing and acrobatics. Sounds good, so, we went for it. The girls loved it!
Day 2 started with a cruise along the famous Li River to Yangshuo. Guilin's tourist industry is so developed. When we arrived at the pier, we saw 5 to 6 cruisers parked along side each other. Each takes at least 50 passengers. On the dot at 9.30am, they leave the pier one after another in a very organised manner. This pier only serves foreign tourists. Local tourists depart from another pier. As we cruise along the Li River, I can't help but wonder what this is doing to the natural environment of the Li River........
The scenery along the Li River is certainly picturous. After 4 hours, we arrived at Yangshuo. The guide took us along the famous West Street to our hotel. West Street - so called because of the number of Westerners there! Students actually work there for free hoping to get a chance to practice their English!
Later that evening, we went to watch Impression Liu San Jie (印象刘三姐). If you had read about our trip to Lijiang you would have read about the live show Impression Lijiang (印象麗江). Apparently there are 3 of these shows in China, one in Yangshuo (the 1st of the 3), Lijiang and Hangzhou. It was a wonderful show but very different from the one in Lijiang. I wonder what the one in Hangzhou would be like.
We travel back to Guilin on day 3 visiting many of the famous sites along the way, including the must visit Elephant Truck Hill. From the pictures we have seen throughout the years, I always thought that it was outside of the city - it was actually right in the middle of city centre. How strange. The last but best site to visit was actually the Reed Flute Caves. It was very impressive. Best lime stone caves I have been to. With that, we end our brief visit to Guilin.
For photos of our trip, please go to:
www.pbase.com/gztlee/g09
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