guilin: float through a chinese watercolor
there's a chinese saying about guilin: '桂林山水甲天下'. the approximate meaning of this saying is that one can see everything under the heavens in guilin's mountains and waters. this is attributable to the diverse geographic landscape of the surrounding limestone hills, which often resemble various animals or other scenery, especially when reflected in the li river.
truly, these hills live up to the reputation
float down the river li
no risk of piracy... but local vendors do attempt boardings at times... ARGH!
to say that these pictures are of guilin is really a misnomer, the city itself is just a regular mid-sized chinese city... mostly it's nearby yangshuo that steals the show
like any good tourist trap, yangshou has the local variety/ethnic dance show. however, this particular one that yangshou's got just happens to be direct by china's most acclaimed director zhang yimou (of olympics opening ceremonies fame). though his movie are sucking lately for lack of story, he did get his start as a cinematographer. did i mention how the stage is actually the mountains of guilin themselves lit up by giant flood lights and that the entire show is on water? yeah.. pretty cool even for a jaded tourist like me...
the next day was spent in the limestone caves, checking out the calcium carbonate formations.. yea i know that SOUNDS boring.. but get a load of this!
the harsh conditions of the local mountains meant that good farmland was scarce around guilin, which necessitated the making of terraced rice fields in the mountains by the local tribes some 800 years ago. ironically, this hardship has now created once of guilin's most famous (and beautiful) attractions.
streets and scenes
just in case you were tired of the majority's coffee...
why do chinese tourists cross the road? answer: they don't, they just stand in the middle of the highway taking pictures
people
"unknown thingys for sale!"
from china with love (and arrows), don
