Guilin, and When We Discovered Dragons

Guilin was a great change from the odd experience that was Guangzhou (just perhaps, Dennis and Andy might have been right).

Guilin is a lovely 'town' with a natural beauty on just about each street corner.  It is as if someone took Ha Long Bay, drained all of the water out, turned the boats into buildings, gave everyone electric motorbikes and turned all of the signs Chinese.  

Walking along the river in Guilin

Finding the way from the north train station to our hostel, after a fast train from Guangzhou (248 km/h), was an adventure that involved: using my backpack as a blocker  to get on the bus (much like in an American football game) and walking through the walls of a Ming Palace.  The Ming Palace Hostel was more like a hotel and with the exception of heavy metal music during breakfast (selected by a nice guy who introduced himself by his English-name 'Jelly'), I would certainly recommend it.

Inside one of the 'rockparks'

Shrines on the canal

It was just such a lovely place to walk around.  The river runs through Guilin to Yangshuo, a place we intended to visit, and would have but for a miscommunication on which station the bus left from.  Instead, we walked the river and side-streets of Guilin, discovering rock-parks and small shrines all about the place.

Guilin is a great launching point for a visit to the Long Ji and Jin Keng rice terraces, also known as the Dragon's Backbone.  Sa Pa was a beautiful place, but for sheer size, the Long Ji terraces blow it out of the water.  They are a testament to human's ability to adapt their environment to suit their needs.  Although I saw many terraces during my time in Nepal and even Cambodia, it was never really as close or as intimate as either of these experiences.  Unfortunately, the weather hampered our photographic experiences.

We spent four nights climbing about the various viewpoints in the area, with two nights in Ping'An village and two nights in Dazhai.  We happened to be in Ping'An at the start of what I would have to describe as the field preparation season, and to celebrate a huge festival erupted in a town nearby.  With fire-crackers and food and music and loudspeakers, everyone celebrated the time when the fields are ploughed in preparation for the planting of rice.  Workers abounded with their tools slung carelessly across their backs and the local women poured into the streets offering us to take photos of their long hair (like Chai and the H'Mong people, they never cut it).

Towards the festival

The whole area is experiencing a construction boom - much like in Pokhara - required simply to accommodate the thousands of daily Chinese tourists.  So much so that really the most peaceful time we had was our early morning hike (about four hours) between Ping'An and Dazhai.  

On the peaceful walk to Dazhai

Through the valley

Not that I am complaining, the whole time there was wonderful, and while there were many tourists of all shapes and sizes, you could not wish them away, the views were just too good.  While on the walk, we had a breakfast just by the viewpoint 'Nine Dragons, Five Tigers'.  It was quite difficult to work out how to order, or even to be sure that they were preparing something for us, but in the end there was nothing to worry about because we got exactly what we were after, the mainstay of Chinese breakfast - noodle soup.

The Dragon's Backbone

From the Jade Buddha viewpoint

One has to use their imagination, much like at the caves of Ha Long Bay to see the shapes inherent in the names of the viewpoints, but I think that Dragon's Backbone is the most apt.  Other spots we visited had names such as 'Seven Stars & Moon' & Jade Buddha viewpoint.

Costs for things that matter:

• Local bus (Qingtan bus station to Long Ji gate) - 21RMB /person
• Bus from gate up to Ping'An - 10RMB /person
• Village entrance fee (pay once and stay as many days as you like) - 100RMB /person
• Accomm - 100-150RMB /double room

Bamboo Rice and smoked sausages

Tips:

• Do the lovely walk between Ping'An and Dazhai in the early morning, before the tourists and heat come out to play.
• Pick a hotel in Dazhai considering where the sun will be, it can be freezing if you are always tucked in the shade (we were there in April).
• Guilin - don't go to the wrong bus station to get the bus to Yangshuo - hint: it's not Qingtan.
• If we weren't watching the budget, it would have been great to try the bamboo chicken in Ping'An.