I went to Guilin from YangShuo on Monday, planning to take an 18-hr Tuesday night sleeper to Kunming, from where I would take a 4 hr bus to Dali in the Yunnan Province.
Soon after arriving in Guilin, I regretted my plan to spend almost 2 whole days there. I kept busy the first day, meeting a Chinese girl in my hostel who wanted to see Elephant Trunk Hill with me. After that, we walked through Seven Stars Park to see the crazily-lit caves. It's like a huge spectacle, and not actual nature (though it's fun... almost like seeing shadow puppets and guessing what they represent!).
Tuesday was just bad weather, so I indulged in two ice cream cones from KFC and wandered about town, only to find that the only food they have is Guilin MiFen. Every corner. And not just the corners... almost every third shop. The noodles may be famous, but a little variety wouldn't hurt anyone!
Disaster struck when I got in a cab to the train station - it started pouring, and my 10 minute ride turned into 40 minutes... I arrived at the train station at 4:50pm and sprinted to my 4:53pm
Bamboo RaftI took a bamboo raft like this to see various rock formations with very specific names given to abstract shapes...
train... which closed its doors and started moving right as I reached the platform. I was so angry! There's only one train a day to Kunming, so I grabbed my bags and booked a plane flight for that night. No way I was staying in Guilin any longer than I had to!
The TigerIt only looks vaguely like a tiger because they added an eye. This is why this cave is so silly. It's not about the natural formations and how they occurred, but rather about what shapes they have cre
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Group of PeopleLook at the black in this image. Looks like people silhouetted. The tour group actually gasped when the lights were turned on! Hehe.
The Great WallAmazing that cave formations can make anything that looks like this one!
Two PandasI saw two live pandas (very close up!) but was forbidden from taking pictures. So, I had to capture YangYang and YueYue in this way.