My trip to Guilin was a bit adventurous after I decided spontaneously to come back to Chengdu to look for my painting. I did not manage to join Marijn and Nina on the same day and had to spend a night over in Chengdu and take the first train at 6:30 in the morning. Unfortunately all the seating places were sold out and I had no choice but to buy a standing place. Well, 7 hours of standing wasn't very exciting, but I just wanted to get as soon as possible to my family. The trip was doable and I made a new Chinese friend :)
I arrived to Guilin around 13h and actually I did not loose that much time - Marijn and Nina had a late breakfast and then were relaxing in the hotel. And after I left my small luggage and THE painting, we went for a sightseeing of surroundings.
Guilin's area is one of the biggest highlights of China because of its incredible scenery of karst mountains. It attracts millions of tourists who want to see this beautiful landscape. It is so famous that it was even featured on the 20 yen note.
Already in the Guilin center I could spot these famous shapes, but we left them for later. For a moment we wanted to focus on other Guilin's attractions - Fir Lake and the Sun and Moon Pagodas located on it. They are also known as Gold and Silver Pagodas because of their colors at night. The Sun Pagoda is the world’s highest bronze pagoda and the world’s highest pagoda above water.
We walked around and admired the beautiful scenery and no people!! Seriously, for the first time in China we finally were not surrounded by crowds! Also, finally it was a bit cooler and colder than 40 degrees in the shadow.
The closer to the sunset, the more people were coming to the lake. Also we awaited till the dawn to see the beautiful illumination of the pagodas.
On the next day we went one more time for a walk around the city and then we took a didi to Yangshuo. The views on the way were really spectacular! Unfortunately when we arrived it started to rain very badly, so we spent all afternoon in the hotel. At least we had nice views... We could leave only in the evening - we found some restaurant nearby and quickly came back to the hotel.
Guilin's area is one of the biggest highlights of China because of its incredible scenery of karst mountains. It attracts millions of tourists who want to see this beautiful landscape. It is so famous that it was even featured on the 20 yen note.
Already in the Guilin center I could spot these famous shapes, but we left them for later. For a moment we wanted to focus on other Guilin's attractions - Fir Lake and the Sun and Moon Pagodas located on it. They are also known as Gold and Silver Pagodas because of their colors at night. The Sun Pagoda is the world’s highest bronze pagoda and the world’s highest pagoda above water.
We walked around and admired the beautiful scenery and no people!! Seriously, for the first time in China we finally were not surrounded by crowds! Also, finally it was a bit cooler and colder than 40 degrees in the shadow.
The closer to the sunset, the more people were coming to the lake. Also we awaited till the dawn to see the beautiful illumination of the pagodas.
On the next day we went one more time for a walk around the city and then we took a didi to Yangshuo. The views on the way were really spectacular! Unfortunately when we arrived it started to rain very badly, so we spent all afternoon in the hotel. At least we had nice views... We could leave only in the evening - we found some restaurant nearby and quickly came back to the hotel.
On the next day we took a didi in order to get to the Xianggong mountain - a famous viewpoint over the Li River and the mountains. We had to pay 60 yuan for didi and the driver told us he would wait for us for another 100 yuan. We concluded it was a good deal, as in this middle of nowhere we would have troubles to find a transport anyway. We bought our entrance tickets for 60 yuan and started to climb to the viewpoint. Although this area is a famous touristic spot, the place was really quiet and nearly empty - quite a change compared to our previous experiences in China. The views over Yanghshuo and Li River were totally magical - it was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.
We spent the afternoon and the evening on wandering in Yangshuo. As on the previous day we had a big problem with finding a suitable restaurant (no English menu or everywhere red meet) for tonight we chose a vegetarian restaurant Lotus.
Incredible how such a peaceful city by day, can change so radically in the evening. Hundreds of people on the streets and loud music all around - including Polish disco-polo!!!
On the next day, we also ordered didi and drove to the nearby Xingping - the famous place depicted on the 20 yuan note. We heard that one of its biggest attractions was a cruise with a boat, so we stood for more than half an hour in a huge queue trying to get tickets. It was one of the craziest cruises I've ever did. First of all zero magic. We were stuck in a boats' traffic - 20 boats moving slowly one by one. It was so commercial, we were being pushed to pay for everything - from snacks to the photos. But as a matter of fact it didn't bother us much. We were in the middle of world's one of the most outstanding sceneries, we were just admiring this incredible landscape.
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