If you are an American child of the 80’s like me, one of your earliest exposures to China might have been the Sesame Street Special, “Big Bird in China.” In this special, Big Bird goes on a scavenger hunt in China, guided by the mythical Monkey King and helped along by a young Chinese girl. They visit several famous sites in China, including the Great Wall and the Li River in Southern China. They float down the Li River, watching for an “elephant drinking the river dry” among other natural features. This was my first introduction to the Guilin area, long before I knew what it was actually called.
The Guilin section starts at 3:45 in this clip, for a trip down my memory lane
Once I grew up and started to learn about China in more detail, I heard about this beautiful and unique area with a beautiful river and karst mountains. This is the area that looks like the Chinese paintings. Some of the mountains are on the back on the 20RMB bill. I put it on my lengthy list of places in China I’d like to visit. The first week of October, I fulfilled the dream. I felt like my childhood came to life. I walked in the pages of a National Geographic magazine. And it was a bit of a trains, planes, and automobiles sort of trip.
Guilin is far from Beijing (Peking on this map)! Source
I visited Guilin city, went up to the Dragon’s Back Rice Terraces, and then spent a few days in the ancient village on XingPing on the Li River. It was a beautiful trip, so I will mostly let the pictures speak for themselves.
I was travelling during China’s National Day Holiday, when there is a week-long holiday. That’s why I didn’t have to teach and could take vacation, but it also meant that millions of other people didn’t have to work, either. Many of those millions also traveled. Most of the snags I hit related to the crowds–it took a lot longer to get to and from the rice fields than advertised, because there’s only one road up and down the mountain. But even with the travel and crowds, it was an amazing experience!
Elephant Trunk Hill Park in Guilin (my childhood TV show in real life!)
Guilin rice noodles–one of the famous, common, and delicious dishes from the area
Sun and Moon Pagodas in Guilin
Dragon’s Back Rice Terraces
Dazhai Village in the rice terraces. I stayed in the guesthouse on the left–my room had a balcony overlooking this beautiful scene
Hiking through the rice terraces selfie
Li River at sunset, Xingping Ancient Village
Xingping Dock during blue hour. This particular boat is a ferry that goes to the other side of the river.
View from the window of my hotel room. The mountains were so beautiful!
The ancient part of town, full of restaurants, cafes, and stores was also really cute and fun
Hanging umbrellas in the ancient town
Happy to be exploring a new part of China!
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