One of Adele’s songs includes the lyrics “I grew up by the River Lea, There was something in the water, now that something’s in me.” Now I know what she means. …… But I digress.
Guilin is in the northeast of Guangxi Province and a 2 hr flight from Xi’an (and the Terracotta Warriors). It was founded during the Qin Dynasty over 2,000 years ago (that’s the history lesson over with). The name ‘Guilin’ literally means “forest of sweet osmanthus” and everywhere you go you see them growing, the smell must be amazing in the autumn when they are in full bloom.
Guilin is described by the Chinese as ‘the most beautiful place in China’ famous for its towering limestone pinnacles, green hills, caves and rock formations. So having done our homework we decided that we would visit there to relax and enjoy the scenery. Along with the rest of China (or so it seemed). Imagine the Lake District on a busy bank holiday weekend ….. that’s Guilin only 100 times bigger and 1,000 times busier.
On our first day we had arranged to be picked up by our guide and go on a boat trip on the Li River. I’d done some research and found this pin.
(How come my photos don’t look like this??? Maybe cos I don’t spend hours waiting until sunset or get up at dawn to get just the right shot. Ah well!)
This pin (from one of my Pinterest boards) has proved to be so popular that people have ‘liked’ it everyday for the past 5 months. I’m getting a bit over it now.
Anyway, we drive to the jetty where there are boats as far as you can see. Not just little row boats, these big blighters can take at least 200-250 people. As we were western tourists we were on the ‘best’ boats, thank goodness, as some of the others looked like they were held together by rust. (this one was one of the better ones)
We had the equivalent of an airplane meal served to us in sealed containers but some of the travelers had their own ‘on board’ kitchens.
Bet their food was better than ours. Although I do have to admit as I’d told the guide I was allergic to MSG (monosodium glutamate) I had a lovely salad. Much hungered after by my fellow seafarers.
The 85k trip from Guilin city to Yangshou took about 3 hours, most of which was spent taking photos. Here are just a few (of the hundreds) I took.
This last one is supposed to copy the picture on the 20 Yuan note.
We get off the boat at Yangshou, the town was teeming with tourists and locals, thankfully our driver was waiting to whisk us away to our hotel.
The Yangshuo Mountain Retreat Hotel is about 30min drive from Yangshuo town and is the epitome of tranquility. A simple two storey building set on the side of the Yu Long River (Dragon River) a tributary of the Li River. No telephones, no TV’s, all the furniture is made out of local bamboo and the water is all recycled.
From right outside the hotel you can walk along the river bank for about 5km.
Normally the path is clear however, about a week before we arrived there had been enormous thunder storms and torrential rain, the river had flooded and was still very high when we were there. We didn’t realise when we started our walk that some parts of the path were still covered with a couple of inches of soft, wet mud. Jim had put on shoes but I was wearing my new flip flops, it was annoying when I stepped into what I thought was an inch or so only to find I was almost up to my ankles in dark, gooey mud. I extricated myself, thankfully without losing my flipflops.
Just a short walk on we came across a small paddy field with a little stream flowing into the river. I washed my feet and got most of the mud off the flip flops, we walked back via the road rather then the path.
Little did I think that when I returned home I’d be really, very poorly and be off work for over six months. I’m still not right and I’ve read on the internet it can take up to a year to really recover from a parasite infection. Hence my reference at the beginning of my blog about Adele’s song River Lea, I think the lyrics seems very relevant to my experience. “I grew up by the River Lea, There was something in the water, now that something’s in me.” 😉 I would just like the ‘something in me’ to be gone please!
At the time I felt fine and that evening we went to see the Liu Sanjie Light Show. It all takes place on a side stream of the Li River surrounded by an impressive stage of karst scenery. The light show is a creation of Zhang Yi Mou, who directed the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Over 600 locals, including farmers, fishermen and young girls sing and perform together in the open air most nights during the season. Our guide told us that there were 3,000 people in the audience and that particular night there were 2 performances. It was stunning. I took some videos (with my phone) we were sat right at the very back, in the ‘best’ seats which were under cover but it I had my chance again I’d rather be closer to the action and risk getting wet. Here is a second video.
There are lots of things to do in Yangshou not just the boat trip but it’s the scenery which brings people back time and time again.
We had a lovely restful few days in Guilin, the food was lovely the scenery breathtaking and the people we met were genuinely friendly. I would recommend it, however, don’t walk barefoot and don’t drink the water !!
P.S. One of the cuteziest things about Yangshou is the little signs dotted around the highways, almost Confucian in origin. I wonder if they’d work as well in Windmere or Ambleside?
