Guilin, Yangshuo trip

Me and Hubby went to Yangshuo, Guilin during the May holidays. We reached Guilin on the 1st and went straight to Yangshuo to avoid the crowd coming in from Guilin.


First thing we did when we reached after checking into the hotel is to go look for food. We went to the West Street, something like Petaling Street, but much bigger and better! We ate at a restaurant called 没有饭店 (Don't Have Restaurant). Nothing special, we just need to get our tummy filled.

After lunch, we head immediately for a hot air balloon ride. This ride cost RMB650 per person for a 1 hour ride, and it was really cheap compared to those overseas, but it's expensive for those students biking around, so not many people took the ride. We were lucky as both me and Hubby took one balloon to ourselves. The balloon could carry 4 person.

When the balloon took off... I can hear those people cheering from below. It's like the 'Just get married' feeling. Haha!

The balloon went higher...

And higher...

And higher...

Until we were up at 800 meters above. Wow! I cannot believe that I leaned out and took so many pics from above. Now when I think back, legs also shaking. The wind was not very strong on this day, so we did not travel far. It was quite foggy as well.

Most of the best photos are those taken when the balloon was going down. The view was absolutely fabulous! This place is full of mountain peaks in odd shapes and sizes ... I think thousands of them.

After an hour on top of the world, we bid farewell to our balloon. We rush back to our hotel to freshen up before heading to the Impression Shanjie Liu show.

Before night fall, we went to watch the Shanjie Liu Impression. (印象刘山姐）

It was really impressive and geng chau. Now, what is so special about this show? It was directed by Zhang Yimou, the same director for the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony. It is staged on the Lijiang River... and I mean the river is the actual stage, with real mountain peaks background!

There are more than 600 performers, revised 109 times before the final version and the production of it took five years and five months!

This is the stage!

When the show begins, lights were shined onto the background peaks and actors and actresses started to come out into the river on their bamboo rafts. The coordination and lighting were simply amazing!




We were very tired after this but still took a tuk-tuk taxi to the West Street again for supper. We tried the famous Beer Fish but it was nothing special to us. Perhaps we didn't went to the right stall to makan.

On Day 2, we woke up pretty late and had brunch. We wanted to take the river tour along Lijiang River but were told that there were many big boats coming in from Guilin so it will be dangerous to ride on the small boats along that river. So we took a bike and went biking into the villages instead.



We came to a small harbor at Yulong River and took a ride on the bamboo raft.

The view along the Yulong river was simply peaceful and serene. It was truly beautiful and very relaxing. We managed to escape the crowd because at the time we went for the ride, all other tourist were busy having lunch.

Here are some of my favourite pics. It's a totally different feeling and scenery taken from the river compared to the scenery from above the sky.

After the river experience, we continued our journey around the village and then out to the city. We passed by some nice tourist site where many people were taking rides along the river.



Then we came the Big Banyan tree site. This tree is said to be over 1,400 years old.



Me posing like a villager...



After that, we passed by the Moon Mountain... very exhausted at this stage. We cycled for more than 4 hours by this time.

Another scenic spot that we passed by after the Moon Mountain.

The Butterfly Cave was the last spot that we passed by before heading back to Yangshuo town to our hotel.

In total, we cycled for about 5 hours and I think more than 10km. Totally exhausted. At the end of the day, I got a minor sunburn, better cycling skills, and a sore buttock and aching muscles.

On the 3rd day, we head back to Shanghai. 2 days in Yangshuo was definitely not enough for this trip. There are so many to see and appreciate. The scenery was really beautiful and something different that we could never see back in Malaysia. I wanna go back to Guilin again someday. I have not taken the Lijiang River cruise and have not seen the Nine Horses Mountain.

Overall, this trip was really worth it and the views and scenery were truly amazing and simply breathtaking. Words cannot describe. I strongly recommend Guilin and Yangshuo as the destination that must be visited if you come to China. Thumbs up!!

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