China: Guilin and Yangshuo

There is a saying in China that Guilin’s landscape is “the best under heaven.” It comes pretty close. The landscape is stunning and showcases rivers (most notably the Li River) and lakes and beautiful green karsts (limestone mountains) as far as the eye can see. Clouds and fog often shroud the karsts. It is gorgeous. We stayed for 3 nights in Guilin and another 5 nights in Yansghuo, a smaller city about 45 minutes down the river.

Why did we choose Guilin? I heard about the beauty of the rice terraces and limestone karsts in Guilin when I traveled to China many years ago. I couldn’t make it part of my itinerary then, so we made it a part of this trip and we are so glad we did.

Guilin

We arrived in Guilin in the evening, just as the sun was setting, and we checked into the most adorable and comfortable Airbnb. There was hardly a kitchen but our place was a stone’s throw from Zhengyang Pedestrian Street, with food stall after food stall and tons of restaurants. We were too busy eating to get photos of the food but if you picture meat and squid and scorpions on sticks; bullfrogs, fish, and crabs swimming in buckets, awaiting their fate; and fresh fruit stalls, you’ve got a good picture of what it looks like.

Guilin is so picturesque. The city showcases its two rivers and four lakes, pagodas, bridges, and lush greenery.

We hiked up Elephant Trunk Hill; a limestone karst aptly named because it looks like an elephant drinking water. Ari hiked up without a single complaint; we were all very proud of her.

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Longji Rice Terraces

We hired a guide to take us to the Longji rice terraces – it was two hours away by car, up windy roads that left Robby and Reed very carsick. The word Longji means dragon’s backbone, and the terraces are so named because they resemble a dragon’s scales, with the summit resembling its backbone. The terraces are located within the Ping’an Village, where the Zhuang minority tribe lives. The minority tribes ended up in the hills of Guanxi Province (where Guilin is located) as they escaped persecution by the Han Dynasty, and they are closely related to the minority tribes in Northern Vietnam. The government opened the rice terraces to tourism about twenty years ago and charges an entry fee which it shares with the local villages.

We learned a lot about rice cultivation, including what it looks like before it is harvested, that it is harvested within 4 months or so of planting, and that each plant can produce about 300 rice grains. The terraces change color with the seasons: in summer they are neon green, in fall they are gold, in winter they are covered with white snow, and in spring the water is irrigated and they look like silvery ribbons.

The hike and the terraces were gorgeous but it is so hot and so humid that we would have gladly traded our neon green view for a golden one. Also, Ari whined and cried the entire way up claiming her legs hurt. She got ice cream when we got to the summit and her ailments were miraculously cured. Not a peep the whole way down.

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Yangshuo

Yansghuo is much smaller than Guilin. It is 45 minutes away by car, and has the same beautiful scenery along the Li River. Cycling outside of the city along the river is the most coveted activity here but we didn’t cycle because it was just too hot and humid and it would have been too tough with the little kids. We walked and walked and enjoyed the views.

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Food and Cooking Class

The famous local dish in Yangshuo is called beer fish. It is typically made with an entire fresh water river fish chopped up into chunks and simmered in a sauce filled with tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, and a splash of beer. It was pretty good (not earth shattering) and made for a lovely meal.

Robby and Reed took a cooking class through Cloud 9 Cooking School. The class started with a market tour. The produce section was filled with fresh vegetables, mushrooms, and tons of spices.

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The protein section was a bit hard to walk through: dogs, cats, frogs, snails, larvae, rabbits, cows, pigs. We’ve spared you some gruesome pictures.

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Robby and Reed cooked gong bao chicken, steamed dumplings, mushroom topped with ground meat and veggies, and braised eggplant with garlic and chili paste.

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Click the links here for recipes for gong bao chicken and braised eggplant with garlic and chili paste, which were both delicious.

Liu San Jie Impressions Light Show

We went to an outdoor light show in Yangshuo. More than 600 local villagers make the show happen every single night. The scenery was beautiful. We understood nothing.

Caves

You can’t have karsts without caves. There are some spectacular caves in this region. We toured one called the Silver Cave with truly impressive stalagmites and stalactites. There was an audio tour in English that the kids loved listening to. Nature is pretty incredible.

Airbnbs

We really liked our places in Guilin and Yangshuo. Kitchen comforts were severely lacking, but we had everything else we needed.

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Thoughts and Musings

We are walking a ton, sometimes up to 9 miles a day. We could not do it without Google Maps. We type in where we want to go and it gives us walking or transit directions. Taking the bus or subway has been so incredibly easy (the app even tells us how many bus or subway stops to anticipate), and the kids love it! We can’t really take taxis even if we wanted to here because we don’t have the names of places or addresses written in Chinese so we can’t communicate with a taxi driver.

We have been watching documentaries about China, and as part of Reed’s schooling, we have been reading Red Scarf Girl, a memoir of the cultural revolution from the eyes of a 12 year old girl. We’ve had a lot of discussions about the advantages and disadvantages of living in a closed society, where government isn’t questioned, versus a society that values freedom above all else. The Hong Kong protests have been a perfect (but unfortunate) backdrop for these discussions. For a more adult memoir about China, I recommend Wild Swans, which tells the stories of three daughters of China: the author’s grandmother (a concubine), mother (a Communist organizer), and the author herself (a Red Guard, peasant, and factory worker, who defected to England).

We have not been able to find a single park with swings, slides, or other playground equipment. Not a single one. There are a ton of green spaces, and places that are called “parks,” but they mostly have teahouses and a river or a stream, so we can’t really let Miles run free. We’ve learned not to promise the kids a park; it just leads to frustration.

Are we homesick?
Leemore: “Nope.”
Robby: “I miss our house, cooking, and my vices.”
Reed (10): “I miss being able to communicate. I miss having more food options, I miss our house, I miss my friends. But I like seeing all the sites.”
Ari (4): “I miss all my toys which are still at home. I like China so far but not the walking because it hurts me. People take my picture a lot here. It makes me feel shy. I don’t like the food here. I like some foods – like the french fries and cheeseburgers and hamburgers.”
Miles (2): I’m pretty sure he’s thrilled to spend every waking moment with us.

We obviously miss friends and family, but FaceTime and texting make it easier.

We look forward to sharing our time in Chengdu – a big, gray city with colorful, delicious food – with you shortly. For now, thank you so much for following along on our adventures!