While the city of Guilin is known locally for a flowering olive bush which grows up to about 10 feet, the area’s primary foreign tourism industry is tied to the unique limestone formations surrounding the city and lying along the Li River which flows through it. For my wife and me, however, our memories of Guilin would be at least equally of our culinary adventures.
We arrived at the new Guilin airport to find our guide awaiting us at the luggage turntable. After a painless ride over a limited-access road to the city fringes, we crawled in clogged traffic to our hotel. (In the near future the traffic situation will be greatly improved, as buildings have been torn down or blocked off for several miles to widen the primary thoroughfares and create a city square replete with underground parking.)
The Liiang Hotel is across the street from East Lake, some 100 yards from the Li River. Upon arrival, we signed up for a “cultural evening," settled into our room and then went out for a walk through the neighborhood. The “cultural evening" was a show of the 13 “minority nations" or ethnic groups found in the Guilin area. While many tourist books decry this performance and put down the Guilin area in general as a “tourist trap," it was an enjoyable way to pass the time. Our guide got us seated in the front chairs of a front table, assuring an unsurpassed view. Our tablemates were Chinese-Americans from New York visiting their parents’ homeland for the first time. They had been to Putuo Shan, found it to be an excellent presentation of Buddhism, and were totally enjoying their Chinese experience.
During the performance, my wife and I participated in a barrel stave dance, in which three people shared a barrel stave on each foot. Our “stave mate" was willing to go with the flow, and we literally danced circles around the other dancers.
Following the show, we took our guide to dinner at a hot pot restaurant. Guilin is also known for exotic cooking with a heavy emphasis on snakes, birds and assorted small animals. My wife and I had scouted the area and decided we would give exotica a pass. The “hot pot" is a table with a gas ring in the center and a pot with one or two sections. As first timers, we ordered both hot and mild sauces. The boiling mixtures were poured into their respective sections, and we received six plates of food we had ordered: mushrooms, sliced beef, chicken, mixed vegetables, greens and sprouts.
The chicken was a whole bird cut in pieces, including the feet and head. While I was raised Mexican, the Chinese concept of “hot" is not of my world. My wife rejected the hot sauce after smelling it, and halfway through the meal moved up wind from the hot section. Even the steam made your hair curl! I changed my drink from hot tea to iced Sprite and ate five or six mild cooked items to every hot cooked item. We drank the mild soup as we went along; not even the guide drank much of the hot soup.
After dinner, we walked to the river and boarded an excursion boat for a short cruise. Two rafts, each about a yard wide and 10 feet long, made from five or six large bamboo poles, joined us. In each, the bow held a lantern, the stern a fish box; the middle supported the fisherman who propelled the contraption with a pole. The working crews consisted of four or five cormorants. Each bird would swim along until it saw or sensed a fish, then it would dive underwater and catch it. When the bird came up, it would swim back to the raft, climb aboard and release its catch to the fisherman. Within half an hour, each bird had caught a half dozen fish.
The next day we drove down river to a new terminal for foreign tourists and boarded a boat for a cruise along the Li River. At least eight two-story boats were departing the terminal. Others were pulling out into the water from a Chinese terminal up river. The trick for the captains was keeping far enough behind the boat ahead so it would not be in the way for picture taking, while also not being overtaken by the next boat behind.
The Li River is relatively clean, the scenery along the shores is unique and varied, and there is nothing quite like floating down a river with plenty of good beer and a variety of munchies. We spotted stone aqueducts, ancient buildings, temples in caves, cave mausoleums, woven basket elevators and many interesting limestone formations. In my opinion, the Li is a must for any visitor wanting to “do" China.
The river excursions end at the village of Yanshou, which is billed as having the largest flea market in China. I found the classic antique jade Buddha at several different booths — at a variety of prices. Rule of thumb here: Never pay the asking price, and start your haggling at about 50 percent. Having munched our way down the river, we shopped in a department store market for dinner. It can be lots of fun when you don’t know what you are buying, but I recommend you get a clerk to explain what can and cannot be eaten as is.
Upon our return to Guilin, our guide took us to get our feet massaged. What a pleasant way to spend time! For an hour, you drink tea and relax while a young lady soaks and massages your feet and calves. The cost ranges from $6 to $10.
On our last day in the city, we had a leisurely morning in and around our hotel. In the afternoon, we walked along the river and visited Elephant Rock — a limestone formation with a hole through one end that suggests an elephant’s trunk in the water. Then we drove across town to see the Reed Flute Cave. The limestone hill housing the cave is known for the reeds growing on the perimeter which are used to make flutes. A few years ago, a reed gatherer found an entranceway in the hill which turned out to be a shell surrounding a magnificent cave. The community has done an excellent job of development the site, a good example of a limestone cave. Naturally, reed flutes are popular tourist items here; but they are sold green, and unless they are cared for properly, they tend to crack and the reeds cease to function as they dry.
We invited our guide and driver to join us for our final dinner on the way to the airport. They took us to a restaurant filled with locals, and we concentrated on one pot, the mild one. My wife and I enjoyed most of the dishes but drew the line at a plate of chicken feet. After dinner, we boarded a flight to Chongqing, where we would embark on our cruise of the Yangtze River.
Next: Xi'an: Land of the Terra Cotta Soldiers
