On Saturday, June 8 Tony and I said goodbye to Gianni and our new friends in Shanghai as we departed for Guilin. Until this year, I had never heard of Guilin. But when we started putting together our travel plans for China six months ago, Gianni had been the first to recommend we visit Guilin to see a different part of China. Others confirmed this for us later.
Gianni also recommended a specific hotel, the Shangri-La, and the fact that they would help arrange for us a proper tour of Gulin. He was such a great host in Shanghai and we would soon find out that his recommendations for our weekend Guilin were spot on!
The package we selected for the Shangri-La hotel in Gulin included a private car service from the airport, complimentary full breakfast buffet, free wireless Internet access, and unlimited laundry service. We took full advantage of all of thisand it was completely worth it!
Our driver picked us up from the airport, handed us warm towels and bottled water when we got in the car and told us the car had free WiFi for our 45-minute drive from the airport to the hotel. Upon arrival, we were mesmerized. The hotel looked as great (if not better) than it did in the photos. One of the guys at the concierge was American – and actually from Clearwater, Florida! We had a nice dinner at the hotel and went to bed earlier than we had all week. The room and beds were as comfortable as could be.
The next morning we enjoyed a huge breakfast from the inclusive buffet and then met our tour group in the lobby. We boarded a small shuttle bus with the 6 other people on our tour and we were led by our Chinese tour guide Jeff who was translating his spiel in both English and Japanese – there was a couple from Japan, one from Russia (we think) and another from California. The shuttle took about 30 minutes or so to get us to the dock where we boarded a river boat for our cruise on the Li River.
Jeff told us the river cruise would take about 3-4 hours and that the middle two hours would be the most scenic. While this was certainly true, we were already being dazzled by the scenery just minutes into the cruise. The next few hours are almost indescribable. This was the most fantastic scenery I’ve ever seen. It was like nothing else – I almost couldn’t have imagined this place! By the end of the day, I have to say that between the mountains of Guilin and the Grand Canyon in Arizona, I couldn’t decide which was the greatest natural wonder I’ve ever seen. But Guilin makes this cut for sure. Jeff told us that all Chinese people dream of visiting Guilin at least once during their lifetime. As Tony and I looked around at what we were witnessing, we couldn’t have been more grateful for the opportunity to see this place at some point in our lives.
When we left the hotel we looked outside to see a rainy, cloudy day. We thought once again we would make the most of it only to later realize this weather was actually ideal for Guilin. And the rain was very light and just some light showers here and there. Nothing like our day in Hangzhou. The low clouds made the natural scenes in Guilin even more mythical. And the lighting was perfect for photos.
This place looked heavenly. It just went on and on for hours. Hundreds – no, thousands – of majestic mountains that made it seem at times like we were on another planet. Before we went, Gianni had described this place to us as “magical.” There’s probably no better description. And while the photos we saw of Guilin prior to coming looked great, seeing this place in person was just a whole other experience.
The cruise included lunch on the boat (less than 60 people on this triple decker boat, the top deck being open air, with a 360 degree view) and the cruise ended in the town of Yenshao. Upon arrival, there were tons of tourist trap merchants trying to sell us stuff. Once you walk beyond that you get to West Street, which is still a bunch of shops catering to,tourists, but with a lot more variety. You can totally bargin for things here – and we did for a few small items.
Our plan for the day wold have had us staying in Yangshuo through the evening for an amazing light show on the river, but because of all the rain they had this week, the river level was too high and the show was canceled. Thankfully our tour guide Jeff was able to make us other arrangements.
We ended up doing the bamboo raft option which was really cool. For about 90 minutes, we were on our own bamboo raft with a guy on the back steering us along the smaller Yen River. During this adventure, we got off once to pet (and sit on top of) a water buffalo while still surrounded by the beautiful scenery. We then floated a bit further down river and went over about a two foot “waterfall.”
While in Yengshuo, Jeff had passed us off to another tour guide and group so we could do this. He also arranged for a private car to pick us up right after the bamboo ride. That car ride was about 90 minutes into Guilin, which saved us a to of time at not a terrible expense. We arrived back at the hotel around 6:00 PM or so, showered up, and had dinner again at the hotel. Upon arrival at the hotel, our laundry was done and delivered to our room. So awesome to have nice clean clothes for the rest of our trip!
We took full advantage of being in a comfortable spot for two days, and even took advantage of the includive WiFi to Skype half way around the world with our parents. We then relaxed and watched some of the French Open final before snoozing off. The next morning we had a nice breakfast at the Shangri-La and then got our car service back to the airport, where we boarded our last domestic flight on Air China, headed to our final Chinese destination on this trip: Beijing!
[…] natural beauty I’ve ever seen. My brother Tony and I also enjoyed the magnificent sights of Guilin last year in China. But Alaska is right up there. It’s unlike any other place. If you’ve never […]