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Published: September 21st 2008
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Guilin district
Graham sings to the sound of music on the Li River ... .
The limestone hills of Guangxi are famous around the world. They have inspired artists and poets for centuries. They have made people who have never seen them wonder if the Chinese actually know how to paint hills. The Guangxi hills are one type of karst, hills formed after soluble rocks have dissolved and collapsed and left strange shapes behind.
Chinese and overseas tourists pour into Guilin to view the hills. Scores of tourist boats ply the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo, taking travellers through a fairyland of karsts. The Li River, the West River, is amazingly unspoiled; we saw no advertising hoardings, no garbage floating in the water in our four hour trip between Yangshuo to Yangdi. We stood on top of the boat and marveled at the formations we passed. On the front deck beneath us a group of Chinese tourists recited and sang excerpts from the great literature that these views have inspired. A guide encouraged us to make out nine horses in the natural colours of a cliff face; we failed, but Graham was quick to name the next hill Tortoise Hill.
Guilin is a small city, large enough to have its own
Guilin district
... and I appreciate his performance. economy, but made affluent by tourism. It has a long history, but we saw nothing old. It has smart hotels, shopping malls, riverside promenades and a beautiful network of lakes. To these waterways have been added buildings that hark back to different periods of history and a number of bridges, all built in different styles and with colours that enhance the waterways. The bridge design has a surprising reliance on nineteenth century European tastes. The inside of every arch is decorated with artwork, or the texts of poetry written in the area. We joined one of the boatloads of sightseers that drift beneath them photographing madly.
Yangshuo is a small country town, made viable by tourism. Backpackers started coming here in the 1980s, as a more relaxed, affordable alternative to Guilin. Chinese tourists come here, partly to look at the town and partly to look at the overseas visitors, as well as to enjoy the bar and café culture that has developed. Many of the original buildings remain, with their shop fronts developed to meet the tourist trade. They are nestled in between steep hills, which force an Alpine village atmosphere onto the town. Actually, there is a modern,
Guilin district
Many tourist boats of this type ply the Li River ... work-a-day town beyond this inner circle of karsts, nestling among more karsts. We avoided the son et lumiere performances, but we did hire bicycles and go out into the countryside.
The Zuo Jiang Scenic Area is the perfect antidote to these two major tourist attractions of the north-east. It lies along the Left River, in a remote southwestern area near the Vietnam border. The
Lonely Planet says that tour touts meet tourists alighting in Ningming. Unable to find any more information in Chinese guidebooks or online we decided to trust the guidebook, and the touts.
A middle-aged lady dressed in blue was indeed waiting for us at Ningming station. She showed us a grubby brochure and some business cards from people around the world. Did the cards belong to satisfied customers, or to victims destined never to leave the Scenic Area? We wandered down the main street and ordered some noodles. We tried to interest a tuk-tuk driver in our onward travel. Everyone was united: this lady would help us. And so she did. She lead us through the town to the riveside. Here she made it clear that we should relieve ourselves.
And she introduced us
Guilin district
... without disturbing fishermen on their traditional bamboo rafts. to a boatman. He owned a traditional junk with a clumsy engine at the back that ran on two-stroke mix. Graham explained that we would like to see the rock paintings and find accommodation. This man took us to both. Our only quarrel with him was that he pocketed our return fare, insisting that it would be much more convenient for us to call a tuk-tuk back to the station when we wanted to leave. He was right, but he forgot about our discount!
After two hours traveling through a rural riverine paradise, we lay back in the boat and looked up at the rock paintings, the Huasan Mural. It is a freize, 260m wide x50m high, with about 1900 paintings of people, animals, objects. Thought to be 2000 years old, the intentions of the painters are lost in antiquity, but one leaflet claims,
It is said that it means fighting, celebration, language sign, offering to god for food and so on. Whatever its meaning, it is an awesome sight on a natural wall above the river and it is marvelous how the iron and aluminium compounds, and natural glues the artists used have survived.
We stayed three
Guilin district
The river winds through hills ... days at the Butterfly Valley Resort, sitting in a chalet perched at the foot of a karst and looking at the limestone scenery. We enjoyed home-cooked local dishes, we swam in a swimming pool fed directly by a mountain steam, and we went for walks along the river. We found evidence that a mega-resort is planned on the river close to the murals. How pleased we were to get there first, walking in natural beauty past farms and villages that have yet to encounter the tourist rush! Butterfly Valley was definitely the most peaceful location we visited as we flitted around Guangxi, like butterflies ourselves.
Travel Notes
In Guilin we stayed at the Universal Hotel, which at cUS$53.00 a twin room per night (prebooked in Hong Kong) was a steal. The walk-in rate was US$102.00 and would have been woth it: the room was better than standard and had a magnificent view of Liberation Bridge, the Li River, Qixing Park, and the hills beyond.
In Yangshuo, we stayed at the boutique Venice Hotel, also prebooked in Hong Kong, right in the heart of the tourist area. US$57.00 a night seemed expensive for a basic twin-share room without Guilin district
... and more hills. friendly service: but everything in this town is expensive. I have since seen their rooms listed on the internet at US$27.00-33.00.
In the
Zuo Jiang Scenic Area we stayed at what the Lonely Planet calls the
Hua Shan Ethnic Culture Village and the board outside labels
Butterfly Valley Resort. We had a self-contained chalet with balcony overlooking the swimming pool for US$10.00 a night. Meals, cooked after consultation about our preferences and once taken with the family, were cheap and delicious. Unbeatable value. There is little English spoken here.
Moral: Only book ahead when forced to by embassy staff or if feeling exceptionally nervous!
Transportation: Ningming and Guilin are both on the railway line that connects Hanoi with Beijing. We got off the international train at Nanning and then traveled back on hard seat to Ningming (two hours US$2.00) and soft seat to Guilin (six hours US$15.00), which was an unnecessary luxury as the hard seats on that train are very well padded. Yangshuo is a one-hour bus ride (US$2.00) from Guilin station, and Butterfly Valley is 8km by road from Ningming (tuk-tuk US$6.00). To see the Huasan Mural, either negotiate with the lady in blue
Guilin district
This cliff is considered to bear the images of nine galloping horses, but we couldn't see them. on Ningming station (up to US$30.00 for a group by boat), or arrange a boat at Butterfly Valley.
How I’ve been
It’s taken me a while to sort photographs and impressions of our time in China. I’m resting now in Hong Kong, for ten days or so. I’m spending the time catching up with old friends, reading, writing and walking. Life on Lamma Island is very relaxing.
Azam: I’m happy to report that Wordpress isn’t banned in Hong Kong.
Morag: Travelling and writing as well does slow one down, but I find that getting older I need to move on more slowly. I’m pleased to find that your dad and I are in the same line of business.
Dick and Debbie: … and I swore I was giving up teaching for good.
Peta: The rate of change is amazing. Siem Reap is no longer like the rest of Cambodia.
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peta
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Wow, you really are incredible... what a journey
Fantastic pictures. I'm so envious, and only wish that I had asked you to take me with you on your amazing journey. I feel I must go on those boat trips, and Hal would want to row!!! On return, I'll have to get you to 'teach' me how you have managed travel and writing and photos and blogging! Amazing. Breathtaking.....