Going South to Guilin

In addition to our excursion to Huangshan, we took another 3-day trip south to the city of Guilin. Set along the Li River, it is another beautiful region filled with green fields, cragged peaks and mountains, and a lot of tourists! There is a noticeable difference in the amount of influence from Western tourists just by the types of shops and restaurants in the town, such as an Irish Pub, a German restaurant, and of course all the American fast-food chains.

The Waterfall Hotel (a real waterfall on the front side every night!) (Top)

View from the Li River Cruise (Bottom)

The first day we set out on a four hour boat cruise down the Li River. The boat passed 83 km of terrain, and the rugged mountains, lush green fields, and wild animals made for a lovely ride. The boat docked in another city called Yangshuo (much smaller, but unbelievably more touristy as well.) West Street, or the main street, is lined with shops and restaurants all catering to foreign tourists. We toured the area during the day, and at night saw one of the most famous shows in China. Titled "Impressions," the show is set on the Li River with the mountains as the backdrop. It is famous because it features over 600 performers throughout the show, and was also directed by the same person who later worked on the Opening Ceremony for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. It was very impressive! Much of it was in Chinese song, unfortunately not understandable to myself, yet it was again visually beautiful and offered an

insight into a lot of the local minority cultures.

Holding the moon at Moon Valley Hill (Left)

Che is everywhere! Communist preparation shop on West Street, Yangshuo (Right)

The next day we left Yangshuo and headed back towards Guilin to see the famous terraced rice patties. After hours climbing higher and higher into the mountains (in our van), we reached the area. We had the unique opportunity of visiting two of the local minority villages, one featuring ladies who never cut their hair! Some of their locks are over 8 meters long, going all the way to the floor. After we finally made it to the rice terraces, which during this time of the year are all green.

Women showing their long hair (Top)

Top of the rice fields (Bottom)

There is a short climb to the viewing point area which displays all of the fields in the area. It's a beautiful sight, of supposedly the best terraces in the world!

Before flying back to Beijing the last day, we finished our tour of Guilin by going to a few of the famous sites actually in the city. First we visited 2 parks, both set on single mountain peaks sticking out of the ground, called Fubo Hill and Elephant Trunk Hill. They were lovely natural areas, yet the second was definitely more unique. Jutting out from the left side of the peak was a rock formation the really did look like an elephant's trunk dipping into the water. After lunch we visited the "best cave in the region" named Reed Flute Cave. Chinese caves are quite different, as they put multi-colored lights on all of the special areas (somewhat ruining the natural beauty of the cave!)

Elephant Trunk Hill

At night we hopped on a flight to Beijing where we would spend our last few days in China visiting family and touring the city.

Kaká's face is everywhere in this town!