Guilin - Reed Flute Cave

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We arrived back again at the Chonqing airport for our flight to Guilin. After Sam’s argument with the taxi driver over rates to the airport we were able to get a cheap ticket for the flight leaving within the hour. As we were walking through the main terminal I was again shocked to see a child going to the washroom in the middle of the hallway. At least this time the mother was polite enough to hold the child over a trash can. Apart from having to check our day packs because of our pocket knives the flight was relatively uneventful.
After we landed Sam went to a nearby tourist info stand and arranged a hotel at the Golden Elephant in a beautiful section of Guilin. The street ran parallel to a canal lined with trees that appeared to be a favorite walkway. Across the street was the famous Elephant hill. This was simply a hill that had a cave cut through to look like an elephant’s trunk and body. The hill would have been a pretty site from the sidewalk trail except that the city had planted bushes and erected large banners blocking the view forcing people to pay just to get an unobstructed picture. About a block and a half from our hotel, Sam and I were searching for a restaurant when we heard the catch phrase, “English menu”. The host named Ian spoke English and guaranteed excellent food. Ian was right about the food but it is still uneasy seeing lunch sitting in cages on the sidewalk out-front. Sitting by an open window curb side, we heard a blood curdling screech. A couple of seconds later Ian walks passed carrying a protesting, squawking pheasant meant for some ones lunch plate. We had a great pork dish which we are still not convinced was actual pork. We are calling it Guinea Pork. If you see the lunch pictures note the guinea pig they call “bamboo rat”. No bamboo rat on the menu though, and one waitress referred to the Guinea pigs as pork. Makes you wonder, but either way the food was delicious.
That afternoon we went to the Reed Flute Caves just outside the city. Bus #3 will take directly to the caves but, as we found out on the return trip, can be EXTREMELY packed. The caves got their name from the reeds used for flutes making that grow around the area. After paying our fee we were then forced to line up for 20 minutes until a group was formed large enough to warrant a tour guide. Of course the tour was in Chinese so we decided to make up our own names for things. The caves are quite massive with beautiful stalagmites that, of course didn’t look good enough for the locals. The belief here appears to be that no matter how beautiful something is, it can always use some neon lights.

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Photos

Lunch anyone?
Outside where we ate lunch - snakes on bottom, chicken in middle, bamboo mouse (large guinea pig) on top. We are a little worried as one waitress called the bamboo mouse a pig and we just ate a pork dish....