China Day 7

After the festivities of last night, we had to rise really early to get a flight to Guilin. There was so much more to see in Xi’an that I was sad to leave. The first impression at the train station was not good, but the city has a lot to offer. Kathy told us about a panda reservation in the mountains and seniors doing tai chi in the parks in the morning and people walking their pet birds in their cages through the historical city streets and the city wall, etc. I need to go back! But we headed out instead to Guilin…


Guilin is a city of 600,000 (very small for Chinese standards – versus the 9 million in Xi’an!) that sits in the southern area of China. It is known for its natural beauty and is a very popular tourist destination for the Chinese. When you think of Chinese painting (if you ever do!) and think of the limestone mountain peaks rising out of the green river valley, well, that’s Guilin. For our first day in Guilin we met our tour guide, Gary, who took us to see the Elephant Trunk Hill.

This is a natural rock formation that sits in the middle of the Peach Blossom River. You kind of have to use your imagination to see the elephant standing in the river drinking the water with its trunk, but I have since discovered that the Chinese use their imaginations to see quite a lot of images in natural formations (I will elaborate more later.)

Lunch anyone?

There were many decorations all over the country in preparation of National Day (the whole country gets the day off).

So from Elephant Trunk Hill we went to the Reed Flute cave which is half way up one of those limestone hills I spoke about.

Inside is a beautiful array of stalactites and stalagmites all beautifully illuminated and named for what they look like (see, I told you they like to use their imaginations!) Like the “Lion Seeing You Out” or the “A Bumper Harvest of Melons and Vegetables ”.

One of the most stunning parts was the reflecting lake that gave a perfect mirror image of the stalactites above it.

After the Reed Flute cave we headed back to the hotel for an early evening – we were pooped by this point! In fact Emmy and I were both in bed with lights out at 8:30!  But before bed, I did take Emmy and London down to the pool because they were both begging to go.  Never mind that it was not that warm, they had to go.  So after a trip to the "disinfection pond" - ie. chlorine water - Emmy jumped in without a second thought!  London followed suit, only to promptly jump back out.  Emmy's my polar bear - I finally had to drag her out when her lips were blue and her teeth were chattering!  The swimming cap was a requirement in Xi'an so we thought it would be in Guilin too.