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Li River, Guilin
Li River, Guilin I left Hong Kong on May 27th; I took the train from Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, for about forty five minutes to La Wu, the end of the line in Hong Kong. I walked through the border crossing to the Chinese mainland into the city of Shenzhen. Shenzhen is part of the newly formed "Special Economic Zone"straddling the Hong Kong Border, the city has been recently transformed from a simple fishing village to one of the richest cities in China, thus enticing a diverse mix people, from businessmen to illegal immigrants, creating an extreme imbalance of wealth and poverty, which inurn leads to an air of unease and depression. The language barrier was immediate and for the first time I felt slightly unnerved, as if I had strayed too far into a world beyond my experience. But once I found my way to the long distance bus terminal, and border my sleeper bus for the 15 hour journey through Yangzhou to Guilin to meet up with Tess and Chock I felt much more at ease.
I was really looking forward to Guilin, especially as it would be my first taste of mainland China. But also because I had heard
Seven Star Park, Guilin
Seven Star Park, Guilin the scenery in Guilin was to be some of the most beautiful I would ever see, and it is thought by many to be the most spectacular karst region within China. The city of Guilin is nestled on the banks of the Li River, and its scenery is quite unique; from a lush green plain laced with rivers and lakes suddenly spring steep, rounded towers of stone which loom high above the town and slowly fade toward the horizon. This amazing range of peaks has caused Guilin to be immortalized in both Chinese painting and poetry and its breathtaking sorrounds really offers a taste of a life far removed from the concrete metropolis of Shenzhen.
My bus arrived in Guilin around 09:30am and I made my way to the 'Backstreet Hostel' were I found Chock and Tess just waking up, after catching each other up on our trips to date and enjoying speaking of things from home we spent 4 really great days exploring Guilin together. We spent the first day touring Prince's City and the Solitary Beauty Peak and making our way through the market parts of Guilin city.
We spent the next day in Qixing Gong
Tess, Chock & Luke Camel Hill, Guilin
Tess, Chock, Luke infront of 'Camel Hill' Guilin. Yuan (Seven Stars Park) where we walked across the Li River from the downtown area and into Seven Stars Park. This beautiful park has been landscaped to encompass hills and natural waterways, and seemed to be a favorite with the locals and tourists alike. But especially Chock, whos green thumb attracted him to a rather large fichus which he bwcame quite fond of.
The park takes its name from the fact that the four peaks on Putuo Hill and the three peaks on Crescent Hill, which form the main part of the park, replicate the pattern of the seven stars in the constellation of the 'Big Dipper' . A further hill, known as Camel Hill is another attraction of the park. This limestone outcrop looks exactly like a camel resting among the trees. This is where we stopped for a few games of hackey sack and some trinket shopping, and posed for some photos for hordes of giggling Chinese, forget Camel Hill, we were the attraction.
After a walk around the garden, and through the zoo and teahouses we climbed a lot of stairs to one of the higher peaks within the park, where we were all really taken by the views, revealing the entire city and its beautiful surroundings. On our way down we entered 'Seven Stars Cave'. Eroded by water over thousands of years, the cave is a wonderland of stalactites, stone pillars and rock formations, and has been a tourist destination since the Tang Dynasty, and is still going strong today. That evening we had a few drinks in one of the nightclubs within Guilin city, but this was just a prelude to Friday night.
On our third day we all hired push bikes for the day ($3.00) and set off to explore as much as we could. We rode right across the city and a little off the beaten track, where we found some markets and some amazing dusk scenery. Amongst the backstreets we stumbled across some public basketball courts, where we were challenged by all the local guys to a three on three match, Australians verse Chinese. After showing off for the first few minutes us Australians used all our energy, and proceeded to get slaughtered by every team of three, except the 11 year olds. Despite this we all found this to be an experience that we will remember for a long time to come.
The next day was our last full day, and we took it by leisure, we got up rather late and took a bamboo raft down the Li River the scenery was beautiful and the experience relaxing, we spent the rest of the day "moseying" around Guilin. That evening was the night out we had planned, and needless to say it was "large". We brought out the drinking games (Wooz, Bang, Up!) and then went from club to club, where we were pretty much the only foreigners. And I dont think anyone who saw the "big round eyes" (me) slide on the wet floor and get horizontal before landing on his arse, in a mad and drunken dash toward a local police man, to practice his Ni Hao, will forget it in a hurry.
The next afternoon we were all feeling very sorry for ourselves as we packed our bags, and prepared to part ways. Tess and Choc were boarding a bus heading to Yangzhou on their way to Vietnam, and I had the un-envious 27 hour train ride to Xian.
Guilin was really good fun, and it was really great to see Tess and Chock, we coined some new phrases, had a few drinks and saw some great scenery. On top of that it has really wet my appetite for China.
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Paul Roberts
non-member comment
2nd one from Paul
China! Wow, I think anybody that's explored China gets automatic membership to the 'Man Of The World Club'. It must have been difficult to say goodbye to Tess and Chock, Luke but like you said, this is your adventure. And remember this, Luke; there are a billion people in China so even if you're a guy that's one in a million, there are still a thousand people exactly like you! Paul.