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Guilin


GUILIN

I just returned from my travels to the Guangxi Province in central China. I flew into Guilin and took a bus to Yangshuo, 1.5 hours south. This small town sits on the Li river and surrounded by these amazing karsts. These
strangely shaped hills covered with verdant vegetation ranging from bamboo to conifers and most have wonderful caves to explore. These is no place like this on earth. You feel so humbled by nature’s power to create such
dramatic beauty.These karsts go on for hundreds of km in all directions. I stayed at the perfect hotel (Overseas Hotel) at the end of Westerner street which looks out to the Li river. Pics 0559 and 0573 are shot from my
balcony. My room was on the top floor (6). Hotel price was $17.50 per night. Yangshuo is a tourist town with many shops and restaurants. Not really interesting, but you are based in a perfect location to explore
natures creation. I rented a mountain bike ($1.25 a day) and headed out of town towards the butterfly garden park. Along the way I decided to go to the “water cave” which was interesting for about 30 minutes, not really
worth the price($21). But hey, it was cool inside! I spent the rest of the day riding through the country and into small villages. See pic 0625 which is a local minority girl. I had beer fish for lunch, the local specialty. Damn
fish drank more beer that I could! I didn’t care for it so much, but it looked nice on the plate. Anyway a must see is the river by boat. See pic 0584. I did this the next day. Pic 0610 shows a fisherman and his boat on the neighboring Yatong river. The birds are used for fishing. He ties a string around the bird’s neck so he cannot swallow the fish, and the bird dives underwater to catch the fish. These Chinese are clever people.I also took a fishing boat trip on one of these boats. This is a “must do” here. 3 hours floating through this amazing scenery. It cost $8.75. After several days I headed back to Guilin to see this town. Guilin is a small city, and frankly there is no need to waste time here. Expensive and nothing special to see. Biggest attraction was the Waterfall Hotel that turns into a 45 meter high waterfall at 8:30 pm. See pic 0634. This was cool. But the people here are not to be trusted. Also they are not friendly unless you throw money at them. I was told to be very careful here as there are many pickpockets and thieves around. But China continues to amaze me at every turn. Just when you think you’ve seen something amazing……BAM!!…… another place blows you away.

In all my travels, China is proving to be the top attraction.