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Guilin was a resort of half a million people in the southern part of China, destroyed by the Japanese in 1944. The area had a large population of Yung Chinese who mostly lived in the mountain area and Syajung Chinese who were related to the Thai people.
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Every year Guilin attracts over half a million foreign tourists and 8M Chinese take their holiday there. So it would seem that there were many Chinese with time and enough disposable income to take holidays away from home. The main attraction of Guilin and the reason it had developed as a resort, was the incredible rock formations and caves that were found in the area. I'd always thought that the mist covered mountain landscape paintings with trees growing out the side of vertical rock faces were figments of the artist's imagination. Not so, the real thing could be found there.
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Li River
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To get the best views we took a cruise down the Li River from Da Yu to Yangshuo. It was fascinating, not just because of the views that were around every turn but also because we were able to see traditional life besides a rural working river. Small farms were growing a variety of crops on a lush landscape, but mostly rice that produced two harvests a year.
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Ducks were grazing and swimming at the water's edge; buffalo were paddling and grazing; goats were eating whatever they could find and fishermen were laying nets using rafts of bamboo. The slender rafts were formed from five lengths of bamboo whose ends had been curved to keep them out of the water and lashed together with the thickest ends of bamboo at the back and the slimest ends at the front. The raft was propelled with either a paddle or punted. Women were sitting at the rivers edge washing and other were collecting water snails from the rivers edge.
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Bamboo Raft
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Small farmhouses that were built using tile shaped bricks about 12" x 5" x 2", past by. The walls were constructed with two layers of bricks laid flat and then a layer of bricks laid on their long edge.
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After lunch on the boat we reached Yangshuo and a brief shopping stop before returning to Guilin.
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At the time Guilin was undergoing a massive reconstruction with new bridges and road widening schemes. There were already some roads in the town centre that had been completed at a width of about 40m with two lanes in each direction for vehicles, flanked by separate wide cycle tracks and a spacious promenade for pedestrians. Osmothus trees line each side of the road. On the works completion it would be superb but at the time it was a chaotic building site with long traffic jams. Eric, our national guide wondered if it would ever be finished, one official had been executed for corruption.
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Solitary Hill
Guilin
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After finally getting back to Guilin we stopped off first at 'Solitary Hill', which was in the University Campus and conveniently near a students art gallery, but we didn't have time to go more than part way up it. We then moved on to 'Elephant Trunk Gardens' and climbed to the pagoda at the top of the hill before returning to the hotel for a much needed shower and rest. With all the boat and bus tours we seem to have lost the use of our legs! And although it was good to get a walk in, the heat and humidity made it tiring.
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Took a short boat trip after diner to watch the local fishermen using cormorants to catch fish. They tied a string loosely around the cormorant's neck, the cormorant dived and caught the fish but was prevented from swallowing the fish by the loop of string, so it returned to the raft and the fisherman retrieved the fish and placed it in his basket. The cormorant was able to swallow the smaller fish. To attract the fish for the cormorants the fishermen fixed lights to the bow of the raft.
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Cormorant fishing
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Finished off the evening with a short stroll along the Li River and into Fubo Park.
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Visit caves and fly to Beijing
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Diving into river
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Up early to climb Fubo Hill before breakfast. Many Chinese holiday makers were up before us and doing various forms of exercise on the promenade, Tai Chi, ballroom dancing, aerobics etc. Others were swimming in the river and some diving from the side of Fubo Hill.
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After climbing to the top of Fubo Hill we walked though 'Find the Pearl Cave' at its base to see other sections of the gardens before returning for breakfast.
On the way to the airport we called in at 'Reed Flute Cave' an enormous collection of limestone caverns that were illuminated with coloured lights to produce imagined images of lions, fish, snowmen, towns, etc. Then off to the airport and Beijing for the final destination of the tour.
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Caves at Guilin
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