Our next stop was the city of Guilin ("gway-lin"). If you have seen landscapes of China, you have seen Guilin -- with its limestone peaks rising out of the winding Li River.
We headed to our hotel in downtown Guilin, and then walked around two of the four lakes located right in downtown Guilin -- what a picturesque city!
ON THE LAKES IN DOWNTOWN GUILIN:
THERE ARE TWO PAGODAS IN THE LAKE -- ONE BRONZE AND ONE SILVER:
The next day, we went on a Li River cruise -- we spent about 4 hours floating down the river, admiring the view -- wow!
THE LI RIVER:
AMAZING LIMESTONE PEAKS:
WHAT A VIEW!
WHO IS THAT CUTE COUPLE???
AN OLD "CORMORANT" FISHERMAN:
LOOK AT THE CROWD BEHIND THE FISHERMAN -- THE LI RIVER CRUISE IS A BIG TOURIST ATTRACTION:
We got off the Li River cruise in the town of Yangshou, ran the tourist gauntlet, had lunch in a great little restaurant overlooking the main pedestrian street in town, and then headed back to Guilin, by car.
Back in Guilin, we went to Flute Reed Cave. Roger and I were not terribly excited about the cave -- after all, we have seen caves, stalactites and stalagmites before.... boy, were we wrong! Flute Reed Cave is H-U-G-E, with monstrous caverns and rock curtains, columns, etc.
FLUTE REED CAVE:
OUTSIDE FLUTE REED CAVE:
That night, we went back to the river, to watch "cormorant" fishing. You have probably heard of it -- the fishermen tie strings around the necks of cormorants to keep them from swallowing the fish, and train them to return to the boat with the fish they catch. It is quite a sight -- the fisherman stands on a tiny raft and pushes it along the river, the cormorants jump in and start hunting (they are very fast in the water); when they get a fish, they swim back to the raft, hop on board, and then the fisherman grabs the bird by the neck and shakes it until the fish pops out, then the bird hops back in the water and does it all over again! At the end of the fishing trip, the birds get the fish that are too small for the restaurants -- just a fraction of what they caught!
CORMORANT FISHING:
CAN YOU SEE HIM SHAKING THE FISH OUT OF THE BIRD?
OUR LUXURIOUS BOAT FOR WATCHING CORMORANT FISHING -- FIRST CLASS ALL THE WAY!
The next day, we headed to "Elephant Trunk Hill" in downtown Guilin...
ELEPHANT TRUNK HILL:
...and then drove 1-1/2 hours, into the mountains, to see the terraced rice fields. We parked and then hiked (and hiked and hiked) to get there
HIKING UP TO THE TERRACED RICE FIELDS:
We hiked up to the village, had lunch, and then hiked up more, to a viewpoint over the village...
ABOVE THE VILLAGE:
We spent the next few hours hiking around the terraced rice fields...
DO WE LOOK SWEATY? WE ARE!
CAN YOU IMAGINE CLIMBING THESE TERRACES EVERY DAY?
DON'T WE LOOK HAPPY? WE'RE ON OUR WAY D-O-W-N-H-I-L-L!!
THE PATHWAY IN THIS PHOTO IS WHERE THE FARMERS AND THE TOURISTS WALK TO GET AROUND THE FIELDS:
YES, THEY STILL WORK THE RICE FIELDS!
THE ONLY INDICATION THAT IT IS 2008 ARE THE POWER LINES:
One neat thing at the terraced rice fields was meeting some women from the Yao ("yow") minority -- known as the "Long Haired Women" -- the cut their hair ONCE in their lifetime -- at age 18. They wear their hair in 3 different hairstyles -- one when the woman is single, another when she is married but does not have kids, and the third when she has kids.
A REST STOP ON THE PATHWAY WHERE THE LONG HAIRED WOMEN HANG OUT:
A "LONG HAIRED WOMAN":
THE LONG HAIRED WOMEN WERE SO NICE!
AND THEY WERE SHORT!
THE BUN IN THE FRONT OF HER HEAD MEANS SHE HAS CHILDREN:
WE LOVED THE SCENERY:
Another interesting thing was to walk around the town -- picturesque from afar, but very primitive...
DID I SAY PRIMITIVE?
REALLY PRIMITIVE:
REALLY REALLY PRIMITIVE:
I was able to go into a local's home and meet the homeowner. The gentleman was very nice but the living situation was astoundingly primitive. Animals on the bottom floor, humans on the second floor, rice and grain storage above, limited plumbing, no heat, drafty...
THE HOME I VISITED:
ANOTHER VIEW OF THE HOME I VISITED:
We left the terraced rice fields and headed to the airport, for our next destination -- Guilin. See Part 5 for the next part of the blog...
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