Guangxi Province in China is well known for its rustic countryside environment that is exuded by the charm of unique protrude-shape mountains, soothing rivers, luxuriant greenery and peaceful lakes. In addition, sites that manifest elements of historical eminence and cultural prominence make holiday trips to the province more variedly interesting. And topping up to the attractions are caves housing amazingly natural “artistic” limestone formations that capture the awe of visitors.
My friends and I – eight of us – returned home to Malaysia from an eight-day trip at the end of February, feeling greatly satisfied of our worth-money-spent experience in Guilin, the main city of the province, plus the smaller and quieter Yangshuo. We opted for our own accommodation and itinerary arrangements instead of a packaged tour. Not counting the air-fare which we booked on Air Asia’s special offer rate months ahead of the planned trip, my share of the joint expenses for good food, cosy hotel accommodation and memorable sight-seeing was around RMB2,800, or equivalent to RM1,400.
GUILIN:
An hour of boat ride along the stretch of Li River which penetrates the heart Guilin was a good refreshing start upon flight touchdown. Apart from some scenic sights, like Elephant Trunk Hill, activities linked to the river appeared to be part and parcel of the city scene there. Some residents were seen doing their chores around their boat houses berthed along the river banks. Fishermen in small rafts scoured the river for their catch of the day. The tree-shaded esplanade overlooking the river was occupied by people engrossed in leisurely activities like card games or physical exercises.
Guilin had many attractions to offer us. But I can only give an account on our selection.
A key site which should not be missed out by visitors is Solitary Beauty Peak & Prince City Scenic Area. The historical Prince City, which encompasses the famed peak, was established in the Ming Dynasty (14th – 17th centuries) era. Built from 1372 to 1392 AD by Zhu Yuangzhang, the first Ming emperor, for the Prince of Jingjiang, it is older than the Forbidden City in Beijing. Fourteen kings lived in the enclosed haven till the end of the Ming Dynasty. Sun Yat Sen, the “Father of the Nation”, stayed there in 1921 before his demise four years later.
Going up the peak was a challenge for us, especially me and another five friends who are already senior citizens. We had to climb more than 300 steep and winding concrete steps. At 216 m above sea level, we witnessed a panoramic view of Guilin. A plaque prominently commemorates Sun Yat Sen’s philosophical remark when he first reached the peak at night. His quote: “There is no distinction between difficult and easy things. If you try, difficult things will become easy. If you give up, easy things will become difficult. Climbing Solitary Beauty Peak at night is just like carrying out the Northern Expedition and there will be a lot of difficulties. But we cannot stop making preparations because of that.”
The other visits in our Guilin itinerary were:-
· Fubo Hill: Within the city centre, the peak of the hill is just slightly lower than Solitary Beauty Peak, but equally exerting to climb up the flight of steep and winding steps. One side of the foothill drops towards Li River and curbs water flow, thus causing the formation of a deep bay. Visitors can take a boat ride round the bay. At the hill’s cave mouth that opens up to the bank of the bay is a stalactite rock (hanging from the ceiling downwards) that almost touches the ground but just short of about an inch. Legend has it that General Fubo of the Han Dynasty swung his sword at the bottom part of the rock and sliced through to create a crevice, thus putting awe in his opponents who were about to attack his troop. Because of his feat, the opponents retreated. This explains the name given to it – Sword Testing Rock. I was also astounded by the numerous fine statues carved out from the wall of the cave.
· Li River Gudong Scenic Area: About 25 km away to the outskirts, it envelopes the environment of a national park or forest reserve beside a river. Hosting visitors are waterfalls, green lakes, luxuriant forest trees and shrubs, and varying landscapes. This large “back to nature” park is also a popular spot for adventurous outdoor challenges like scaling up a waterfall against plunging waters by holding on to a chain line at one side of the waterfall cliff.
· Yushan Park: The place is said to reminisce the historical birthplace of Guilin’s culture dating back few thousand years. Inside the park is Yu Mountain, named after Emperor Yu after his visit to the south. To commemorate him, a temple – Shun Temple - was built on the mountain. Just at the entrance to Yudi Temple in the vicinity of the park is a bronze statue, in sitting position, of Emperor Yu’s younger brother Xiang. History records him as the inventor of Chinese chess. Myth says that the statue was blessed when it was erected, and visitors who touch the head of the statue would be endowed with blessing of intelligence.
· Sun Pagoda & Moon Pagoda: Located strategically on Bayan Lake, the pair stands as beautiful structures of Guilin City centre. The Sun Pagoda, with nine storeys, is the tallest pagoda built with copper in the world. An underwater glass passage enables visitors to walk from one to the other. At night, with illuminating lights, both glitter majestically – the Sun Pagoda shining in gold colour while its twin dons the silver. The pair was a perfect subject for my night scene photo-snaps.
· Daxu (ancient town): One of the renowned ancient towns in Guangxi Province, Daxu is about 25 km away from Guilin. It has more than 1,000 years of history, being established in early Song Dynasty era. Most of the residents whom I saw while browsing around the old, narrow and dim houses lined along the sole 2.5 km long street were elderly people. Li River cuts through the town but the ancient cross-over arched bridge built in the Ming Dynasty era is still in robust condition to serve as the link of the two sides. No wonder it is known as Longevity Bridge.
YANGSHUO:
To reach there from Guilin and back, there were two options open to us – either by bus which would take us 80 minutes one-way journey on a bumpy road, or by ferry plying calmly along Li River but at time span of four hours. We opted for both – by ferry to Yangshuo, then by bus back to Guilin. We did not want to miss the opportunity of experiencing the river ride plus its riverine scenery, yet able to save some time returning to Guilin by bus.
Our two-day itinerary in and around Yangshuo was even more memorable. My first thumbs-up was the bamboo rafting experience on Yulong River for two-and-the half hours. Comparatively, the ferry ride from Guilin to Yangshuo was pleasant and refreshing, but the bamboo rafting feel was magnificent and fascinating! Our expedition began from Chao Yang pier on four rafts (two passengers and one “pilot” manoeuvring with a long bamboo pole on each raft). Except for a few low rapids, the rafts glided most of the time on calm current flow, rendering us a relaxing mood to capture the wonderful countryside scenery and riverine life with our cameras. We took a short break at the 700-year-old Yulong Bridge which is still being used by farmers to cross from one bank to the other. The serene countryside and river environment against the backdrop filled with wavy mountainous outline; the fresh cool air; the reflections of farm houses and trees or shrubs illuminating on the water at the sides of the river; the scene of fishermen at work with fish traps; country folks washing clothes at the banks; ducks floating; and birds flipping around or chirping – all these instil feelings of peaceful euphoria into me.
Another fascination to me was the Silver or Yinzi (meaning silver in Chinese) Cave. “Mystifying” would be the right descriptive word. It was my first time that I beheld a wide spread of unique karst cave rock shapes in the form of stalactites, stalagmites, stone curtains, stone flowers and stone pillars. Some illuminate specks of slivery glitter as shone by floodlights, which explains the name given to the cave. What I saw lent me the feeling that I was in a cave fairyland filled with rocks shining out bright colours.
Our Yangshuo itinerary included:
· Shiwai Tao Yuan: It is also known as Shangri-La or Xanadu, which are near synonyms in English. The name in Chinese means “land of peach blossoms”, indicating peach trees thrive there. As a theme park depicting a cultural village of minority ethnic groups, we first took a short boat ride on Swallow Lake to view the scenic surroundings. On land, we saw model villages, traditional buildings, craft works like weaving, art pieces, traditional dance and song performances, and ethnic cultural traits.
· Liu Sanjie Grand View Garden: The name of the site extols a legendary heroine of the Zhuang ethnic group called Liu Sanjie. As the legend goes, she was well known as a folk-song singer while also championing for rights to uphold justice and fight against suppression. The people in Yangshuo believe Liew Sanjie actually existed. To me, this place is similar to a smaller scale of Shiwai Tao Yuan from the perspective of traditional and cultural elements but embellished with folk songs of the Zhuang ethnic group sung by performers while we were there.
· Bayan Tree Scenic Spot: Still standing gloriously with full foliage is the 1,500 year-old ancient Bayan tree, spreading out a canopy of more than 1,000 sq m in area. Its trunk of 7.1 m in circumference soars up to 17 m. The tree, looking like a giant bonsai from a distance, was planted in the Sui Dynasty era around 6th century.
· Impression-Liu Sanjie Concert: Visiting Yangshuo would not be complete without attending the grand night water concert. Shanshui Theatre is an outdoor venue holding a capacity of 2,000 seats. The “water stage” is on a segment of Li River facing several mountains not too far away which serve as the silhouetted background. Except on rainy days, the show is played daily due to demand from continuous flow of visitors to Yangshuo, including Chinese from other provinces. I saw a full cast of a few hundred performers synergising their moves flawlessly on water and on numerous boats. The outstanding essence of Impression concert, in my opinion, was its impressive choreography arranged by Zhang Yimou, the director who choreographed the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Colourful floodlights added in the limelight. Although the storyline was not evident, I could guess the character of Liu Sanjie was incorporated in the entire show.
Food in Guilin and Yangshuo suited our palates well. And all the chicken dishes we tasted were succulent. In Yangshuo, we also relished the exquisite “beer fish” (fish braised with beer-blended savoury and slightly spicy sauce) available in most good restaurants. And prices were very reasonable…..an array of eight to nine dishes, together with four bottles of local beer, for dinner in a posh restaurant cost us around RMB300 or less – around RMB30 or RM15 per head for our group of eight friends.
(Taken from Guilin city-Li River cruise)
(Common sight at Li River in Guilin city. Local fishermen on rafts scouring for fish with trained birds; Close-up of Fubo Hill)
(Chengyun Palace in Prince City)
(Sun Pagoda on the right and Moon Pagoda illuminating outstandingly at night)
(Want to snap photos with them for 5 yuan? Note the two pagodas as the background)
(Taking the challenge striding up Fubo Hill - slow and steady by real tiring; The fresh forest environment in Li River Gudong Scenic Area; A waterfall in Li River Gudong Scenic Area, below)
(#NOTE: MORE SNAPSHOTS POSTED IN PART 2 OF THE SAME WRITE-UP. PLEASE SEE PART 2)
2 comments:
Thanks Jimmy....Fantastic pics & extremely insightful & interesting write-ups...Excellent...!!! I'll send this out to my friends...I've sure, they'll be fascinated by what's to experience there...!!!
Thanks for responding. I can perceive that while China is progressing fast in modernization, the nation still very much values the positive elements of the past with regard to culture and history. Obviously the government and the people preserve the positive values by way of protecting and promoting the heritage sites. Daxu ancient town is a good example. The residents, mainly the elderly ones, continue with the tranquil way of life away from the buzz of cities. I saw folks washing clothes at the river bank. I saw chickens running freely around the ancient houses, I saw old folks manually processing fresh chillies (must be from the farms nearby)into bottled chilli products from sale along the narrow main street. I could imagine how their forefathers lived in the houses in built centuries ago. This kind of scene, I had not witnessed before.
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