Guilin Travels

In my mind the post's title has a faint word association with the book title 'Gulliver's travels'... I just skimmed a picture book as a child so the Lilliputian image stayed in my mind and as we toured the famous karst landscape of Guilin i couldn't help but feel like a Lilliput surrounded by magnificent peaks that rise from flat ground sudden and unprecedented. 

Every vista is breathtaking and immensely playful in some way, you can weave a thousand stories with the characters that begin to take shape if you look at these peaks for a quite moment. It is quite fun to hear the tour guide's version of the popular folklore passed down in ancient Chinese poems, stories and try to visualize it. 

A more tangible visualisation that has acquired popular currency is commemoration of a landmark site on the country's currency. The primary image on the reverse side of the new 20 Yuan note is a view of a fisherman on his bamboo raft floating down the Li River through the spectacular Karst mountains of Guilin, so when the tour guide made the announcement that we were nearing the scenic spot even the sleepy eyed jumped out of their reverie and whipped out their 20 Yuan notes to compare notes...(multiple pun intended).

We did a Easter weekend trip to Guilin and Yangshuo and came back with a completely different perception of China-Everything somehow works despite Everything...! With my HK bought sim we were navigating around with Google, people were incredibly helpful and our 'flag bearing' tour group guide found us or we found them somehow. Also Yangshuo being a very popular destination with foreign tourists, both language and finding vegetarian food is not much of a struggle.

We took a bullet train to Guilin from Shenzhen and after an overnight stay we took the early morning Li river cruise to Yangshuo. Its a 4hour cruise, a leisurely way to make your way downstream while admiring the abandon and playfulness of Nature. It is an experience that will stay in some quite recess of the soul forever-complete with the colors, shadows and reflections. 

To capture the sound as well, Yulong river bamboo rafting will do the magic. Sitting on makeshift chairs atop bamboo raft(poles tied together), it is the traditional way to experience the beauty of the river, the mountain, the quaint countryside and farms-all to the accompaniment of the swishing sound of the bamboo paddle(pole) and chirping birds.

For an aerial view(sum of the parts view) head to Xianggong Hill, just a 15min climb will reward you with the most breathtaking view of the entire trip(headline picture).

This area is a geological marvel and has some spectacular caves with breathtaking stalactite and stalagmite formation but the jazzy lighting was a major distraction in my opinion. We also went for the famous Liu San Jie Impression Light Show in Yangshuo(same guy who choreographed Beijing Olympics). The waters of the Li-river set the stage and a dozen beautifully lit karst formations form a natural backdrop, so it is quite awe-inspiring in that regard however you don't really follow the plot(no info for non-Mandarin speaker)and the imagery doesn't elevate to magical levels.

Longji rice terrace are better attempted from Guilin with a night halt so didn't work with our short itinerary. Hopefully there will be a next time to explore the area further in a more self reliant way without the tour groups.

So Long, misty mountains and shadows!