China (Part III - Guilin)

DAY 7 - GUILIN 桂林 (Li River Cruise, Yangshou, Elephant Trunk Hill, Fubo Hill, Seven Star Park, Foot-bathing, Minority Performance)

Tour Guide: Ping (aka "Like Dreamland")
Driver: ??

Guilin Park Hotel was very interesting; the decor reminded me of a Chinese restaurant. Seriously. I really felt like we were in a Chinese restaurant/love hotel. I say love hotel as well b/c there were condoms and other such amenities provided in our bathroom. Interesting. The place sounds sketchy, but it was actually pretty nice, plus the room rates were the most expensive out of all the hotels we stayed at! Anyhoo, we woke up bright and early on our 7th day in order to take a tour down the Li River. Ping and our driver (whose name we didn't know b/c we didn't hear Ping the night before, as she was talking at 5000 wpm) took us to the ferry for our tour.

Guilin is very picturesque and relaxing, to say the least. It is located in the Guanxi Province in Southern China. "Guilin" means "forest of Sweet Osmanthus" as there are numerous Sweet Osmanthus trees in the city. I've heard of Guilin before, since Chinese people always talk about how beautiful the place is. "Its scenery is reputed by many Chinese to be the 'finest under heaven.'" Guilin has a sub-tropical climate; it was much warmer there than in Beijing and Xi'an. Also, there are many ethnic minorities in the area, including the Zhuang, Dong, Yao and Miao minorities, which Ping told us all about the night before. In total, there are 56 minority groups in China, which only make up 8% of the total population, as the rest of China is comprised of Chinese "Han" people. Ping is actually a minority herself! She is of the Zhuang minority, and you could sort of tell from her facial features that she doesn't look very Chinese. I thought she looked more SE Asian to me. Also, the dialect in Guilin was difficult to understand, and Ping later told us that people from other parts of China have difficulty understanding them as well.

Being a tour guide in Guilin must be the easiest job ever. Seriously. Ping took us on the ferry, where we happened to be seated in the upper-deck VIP section. Woot. We sat next to a lone British traveler and across from a Asian Dutch family that spoke English, Dutch, Mandarin, Hakka, and who knows what else! They kept mixing their languages so it was amusing to try and figure out which language they were speaking! Hehe. Anyhoo, Ping and the other tour guides sat at the table next to ours. On the 5-hour tour, we just basked in the picturesque scenery on the Li River, took naps and ate.....same for the tour guides! They just busted out their snacks, chatted about stuff, and seemed to be having a good time amongst themselves. It wasn't like any of us felt ignored or anything, as they would come by to tell us about famous rock-formations-that-looked-like-so-and-so-animals, when we came across them. Other than that, they were getting paid to chit-chat amongst themselves, and take naps! How cool is that?? Haha.

The Li River reminded me a lot of Halong Bay in Vietnam. Actually, I felt more like I was in Vietnam rather than in China while we were on the river, maybe b/c of the weather. There are just many many rock formations surrounding the area. Since it was December, the water-level on the river was sooo low; I was surprised that we could even sail on it! Also, it was amusing, as Chinese people are really "creative" in that ANY shape or pattern on ANY rock resembles an animal or fruit to them. We passed by this one rock formation that had various patterns on it, and apparently, the shapes were supposed to represent 9 horses. I think I found 3. I guess I'm just not as imaginative as they are. Or perhaps, people in Guilin have even MORE free time than I do!! Now that's unheard of.

Oh yes, "Like Dreamland." That is the nickname we gave Ping. We actually found out her name is Ping on the river tour, as I tried to discreetly ask for her business card. Hehe. Anyhoo, at EVERY place we visited in Guilin, Ping would say something like, "Isn't this beautiful?? Just like dreamland, right??" Seriously...every place. It was VERY amusing to me and Jeff. Haha. We would just laugh silently every time Ping would say, "Like dreamland!" Hmm...it's not as funny when I'm writing it out, but just trust me, "Like Dreamland" was very entertaining. Also, Ping's greatest joy is napping. I seriously think she's somewhat epileptic. She would take naps at every opportunity she got. You know that I LOVE to nap, so that is just fine by me! Haha. Oh, and Ping's English was quite amazing; it was as if she's a native English speaker! Perhaps Cheeky Panda's hatsuon (pronunciation) sounded more American, but you could tell that Ping spoke English much less effortlessly.....like, she was thinking in English.

We arrived at Yangshuo in the afternoon. Yangshuo is a small town in Guilin and is surrounded by karst peaks. It's a beautiful little town, and again, many people refer to this place as "heaven." We only spent a short short time there, as we were only there to meet up with our driver so that we could be taken back to the city. Yangshuo is quite the tourist trap. There are many street peddlers trying to sell knick-knacks to foreign tourists, which there is an abundance of. Apparently, this place is quite popular amongst foreign backpackers. That seemed true just from the main street we passed by, which reminded me a lot of streets in Thailand that were catered to foreigners, with bars and pizza places, etc. Jeff and I decided that if we were to stay in Yangshuo, that street would've been our guilty pleasure. Hehe.

The ride back to the city took about an hour. Needless to say, Ping, Jeff and I took naps as we were driven back. When we got near our destination, Ping opened her eyes and said, "Time to wake up.......for meeeeeee." Hahahahahahaha. Gotta love her.

Our next stop was Elephant Trunk Hill. The shape of the hill is just like a huge elephant drinking water from the river with its trunk, so it is called Elephant Trunk Hill. However, at this time of year, there isn't much water to be had. It was pretty, but we only spent about 10 minutes there, as there's not much else to do once you get your snapshot.

Following that, we went to Fubo Hill, another one of Guilin's scenic spots. Fubo Hill reaches the height of 700 feet; half of it stands in the river, and the other half on land. Ping told us that it'd take about 10 minutes to climb up/down each way, and that she'd wait for us at the bottom. We arrived at the top, took a couple of pictures, then reached the bottom in less than 5 minutes. She was shocked at how quickly we finished. She asked us if we ran up there, and we said no. That's when Jeff and I realized that we tend to finish with things, ie) tourist sites, VERY quickly. Hehe.

Our next stop was Seven Star Park. We noticed how there is a huge age gap in Guilin, just like in Ota. We would see kids and older people around, but not many people our age. I guess it's a place where one might grow up, then leave to work in a bigger city, and come back to retire? At least I would. Btw, Guilin has a population of over 600,000 people. However, every city in China seems to be very densely populated, so this really doesn't make Guilin a "big city." Guilin is just soooo peaceful and relaxing; I can totally see myself wanting to retire in such a place. Just look at how much time they set aside for naps! Definitely a place for me. Hehe. Anyway, at Seven Star Park we saw many senior citizens playing cards, mahjong and just enjoying their surroundings. It was nice. Oh, and we also got to see a panda! It was eating a carrot!! Soooooo cute! Yaaay, we got to see a panda in China! Of course we also heard many "Like dreamland!" comments from Ping, considering the Park was so charming.

After the Park, we decided to try foot-bathing, something that Guilin is famous for. Ping took us to a foot-bathing place that was clearly catered to tourists, but at least it was nice and clean. I'd rather pay more to have a "clean" foot-bathing experience, than to end up at some sketchy place just to save a few bucks. Both Jeff and I opted for women masseuses. I actually wanted a woman masseuse, but not so sure about Jeff. Hehe. Anyhoo, they were very good and professional. They dip your feet in some sort of herbal water, then they just massage away. Both of us wanted to a "strong" massage, and that's what we got. It felt sooooo good and it definitely helped me relax! I could totally go foot-bathing every day! During the foot-bathing, my masseuse was very curious about me and Jeff, and tried to converse with me in Mandarin. It was good practice, yo! Woot.

After that, we went to a Chinese wedding, I mean, dinner. Our dinner was at a hotel, which also happened to be hosting a Chinese wedding that night. We were seated right near the wedding party, and it was funny b/c Jeff seemed to be the main attraction, over the bride and groom, who were standing outside greeting guests anyway so it didn't matter. Hehe.

After we finished dinner, Ping suggested that we take a walk, since we had a lot of time before the Minority Performance that night. Hehe, I guess we DO finish things very quickly, considering we missed 1/2 day in Guilin by being stuck at Xi'an airport the day before, then caught up with everything we were supposed to see in Guilin on that day, PLUS had extra time to spare. Haha. Anyhoo, we walked on a pedestrian shopping street, where we bumped into the British tourist that we were on the river tour with. Guilin is SO small. Seriously. It barely took us any time before we realized that we had already walked in a circle around the center of town. Nice.

The Minority Performance was quite impressive. The costumes and the set were pretty amazing. I really enjoyed the show! It was also nice that I actually understood what was going on at most parts, as Ping did a very good job of explaining the distinguishing features of each minority, the night before.

After the show, our driver took us back to our hotel. Jeff and I took a night stroll around Osmanthus Lake, which was located adjacent to our hotel. They LOVE neon lights in Guilin. Everything was lit up Chinese-style around their many lakes and bridges (which happens to be mini-replicas of famous bridges around the world, ie) Golden Gate Bridge, etc). The neon lights were magical; it almost felt like we were in Disneyland, watching the Main Street Electrical parade. Hehe.

K, I'll continue writing on the next post. I think I should hurry up and try to finish these posts about China, as I'm starting to forget things and I'm getting tired of trying to remember. Hehe. Plus, there's more to come, as I have trips planned for Hokkaido and Hong Kong in February. Woot.