Water plays an important role in Guilin.

​A couple of lakes meandering in town complement the river: Fir Lake, edged by a small and cool garden, with its two pagodas, is really nice, and one of the most photogenic points of Guilin.

In the fast developing cities, it’s easy to loose the image of China. 

Big buildings, large avenues, compose quarters that could be… everywhere else in the world. 

However, here and there, even in the most transformed cities, it’s possible to see the views that filled our imaginary. Fir Lake it’s true China when visiting Guilin.

One of the attractions that we can’t miss visiting Guilin is the show that each night, at 8.30 PM, takes place in the rear of the hotel: from the top, a cascade of water descends along the glasses of the wall, with music in the background. It’s nice, and it is, indeed, the most spectacular way to … wash windows!

Progress against cliches
​
Descending Li River all the tourists, camera in hand, waited anxiously for the cliche: a raft standing in the river, with a fisherman covered by the traditional hat. 

Everybody failed. 

Now, life depends on tourism, and fishing is less rewarding than travelling tourists. The rafts were there but with colorful umbrellas over a comfortable chair.

70 000
​
​I was told that the people visiting Guilin to descend Li river were about 70000 each day. Correct or not, we really feel like being part of a long caravan, always with a couple of boats ahead and behind us. 

70 000, with 100 people per boat makes 7000 boats, which seems too exaggerated, but, anyway, you do never count on a calm and lonely presence in the river.

Li River banks
​
I was expecting a Li river full of live, with lots of villages bordering it and living on it. 

Wrong. 

We saw animals (not many) and a few houses, but many of them seeming… abandoned. 

I understand that the boats passing by are not significant to the local’s life, and business is only placed at both ends of the itinerary, but water is life, China has billions…

Li River Caves
​
Halfway down Li river from Guilin to Yangshuo there’s a promoted cave. 

I don’t know if it is announced for being interesting, or just for being there. 

There were some boats stopped nearby, but I saw no one entering it, and we had no chance to leave the boat, too big to approach the entrance.

Yangti
​
Descending Li river, you may receive a well detailed map, that gives a name to almost all the geological formations in the banks, and to some villages hidden in the green of the trees.

Yangti is one of those names, meaning… nothing. We may see one or two roofs, maybe a child by the river, but it’s hard to imagine the whole village that stands behind. Unless you travel by road, you will stay restricted to the magnificent performance of nature, that slides by your boat, without a real look of Chinese life.

7 Horses
​
​While you descend Li river the loudspeaker (and the supplied brochure), are putting names in everything that justifies a look. 

A large mountain with stripes in its slopes is said to be “the 7 horses”. 

OK. It’s there!

Shallow Waters
​
In summer the water is so shallow that, here and there it is hard to believe that the big boat will pass. I heard that sometimes it gets so shallow that is absolutely impossible to pass. 

So, since that descent is the great reason to a trip to Guilin or Yangshuo, if you go in the end of summer you better check out in advance how are the things, or you risk to miss it.

Snake

During the trip along the Li River, the crew tries to amuse the clients (and collect a few more RMB) with some local drinks. 

It couldn’t fail the liquor with the snake. I don ’t know the price, but no one dared to taste. Well, if selling was the idea, the snake was not the best bet!

Vendors in Li River

In Li River cruise, one raft – just one raft – approached, paddling, to the boat and offered some crafts to the tourists. 

That was something we should expect, but the surprise was… only one? 

Funny! China is really different!

Local Wine
​
​After lunch we were invited to taste a local wine on board. Some people thought that it was included, but not, they charged 50 RMB. I did taste it. It was a sweet wine, smelling like flowers, but… fresh and balanced. Not bad!

No need to say! I know that they charged the price of a couple of bottles, but… we were tourists, weren’t we?

The long last hour
​
The best of the trip in Li River is in the middle, so we may split it in three parts: the first one, when we “go to the party”, the second one, when we “enjoy the party”, and the third one, when we ”come from the party”. This means that the final part gets a little boring, turning the arrival in Yangshuo in a pleasant relief. 

If you decide to use your time for more than to sleep, read or talk, it’s interesting to notice that the coast is not overbuilt: from the river we only see a few isolated houses, respecting the dominating nature.

Elephant’s trunk
​
Visiting Guilin, the top highlight was almost a deception. 

A hole in the rock, a collection of tales, and… that’s all. Not particularly remarkable nor nice. 

The best of it, was… the people around it. Some funny details, a cool garden, good sight of the river, and it’s done.

Elephant’s Trunk Park
​
Though the elephant’s trunk it is not a remarkable spot, it’s easy to understand what it means to locals, enough to justify the arrangement of all the area. 

The small park is well maintained, and it allows some beautiful sights.

One common detail in China’s way of life is the way people gather in the streets to play, or to dance.

Mahjong or cards were played everywhere, but the funniest thing that I saw was the contrast between the lined employees in the modern malls, and the ease of the workers in the public underground market, in the absence of clients…

I’ve already posted something, somewhere in China pages, about Chinese discipline at work. Remarkable. The almost military way how they line in their working places, waiting for the clients, is something uncommon in the west.

But there’s discipline and discipline, and I think that all men will agree with me that discipline at work in Guilin has something special… a “je ne sais quoi”… a…

I wrote in my Tacoma page about the disappointment that was my visit to its glass bridge, by Chihuly. Maybe because of it (and because I couldn’t read any special reference to this one, in Guilin), I didn’t approach the Crystal Bridge in Banyan Lake.

Maybe glass, maybe plastic, maybe both, I didn’t approach it. It seems closer to what I was expecting from a so called glass or crystal bridge than the American one. The effects, at night, have a beauty that my poor camera could catch. But Banu was in the group, and, with her permission, I’ll join her version, in the reader’s profit.

It was a simple and nice idea, the installation of some statues of elephants playing in the water, in Elephant’s Trunk Park.

It gave expression to the shallow and calm borders of the river, and integrates well in the landscape and touristy attraction.

For those without time to descend the Li river (will it be anyone that goes to Guilin without descending the river?), it’s possible to make a small trip around the elephant’s trunk in a typical raft, protected from the sun and rain.

We had no time to approach the sailors, and check the prices (well… we descended the river…).

Half of the main street, in central Guilin, is closed each night for the night market (at least while we were there!).

For several hundred meters, three row of stalls sell all kind of crafts, for locals and tourists.

Next morning the traffic flows normally, without signs of the crowds and huge deals of… a few hours before.

I couldn’t see any difference between the ambiance and social conditions of Guilin, and any touristy city in the west.

Modernity, mass consummation, expansive youth, safety in the streets, only one warning: pickpockets! Once again, as in most western cities…

All the times that I separated some meters from Fernanda, a new kind girl offered to be my friend. That’s not too uncommon, also.

People skating in the yard, a large screen with a film exposed to the street, strong lights and music! Am I really in China… or am I lost in New York?

This was a common surprise in China, more in Guilin than elsewhere.

After a couple of days listening to the guides attaching names to everything that could be promoted for the tourists, I confess that I was expecting a small cave with a few stalactites seeming… bamboo.

I was positively surprised by the size and beauty of the caves. Of course, each rock and formation won a name and a story, but the cave is very interesting, due to the elaborated game of lights and the contrasts they create.

Situated only 5 km far from Guilin, they are easy to visit by taxi or bicycle, if you are not in a package as we were.