Saturday, May 15, 2010

Karst Hills and Hustlers



For those of you who want to browse the gallery, it is here.

My first impression of Guilin was not good I must admit. I chose a hotel near the train station for the convenience and they were both of the main street of Guilin, Zhongshan Lu which is split into three parts. I was in the south. Zhongshan Lu is big, like 3 lanes each way and also smaller bicycle lanes each way. And lots of relatively modern buildings and neon signs. The trouble is that Guilin is supposed to have been the inspiration of countless beautiful serene ink brush paintings of landscapes. And here was I on an international street like any other in the world, being hustled by the locals for hotels, tour guides and prostitutes. I was kind of stunned. But I went hey, whatever.

On my second day in Guilin, it was covered in a mist. After the first day of city chaos, the mist was actually an improvement. But I was determined not to let this stop me. I thought about it and realised that this misty weather was also present in many Chinese paintings and is as much part of the psyche as anything else. I visited several parks like the Elephant's nose hill and Diechai Shan. There was quite a bit of hill climbing to see the sights. I guess this trip is not recommended for the frail. But getting up to the hills and seeing the sights, I finally understood why it was so inspiring. It was really like a dream world, ethereal. Too bad for the buildings of Guilin crowding all around the base of the hills. It was worth making the trip there, but somehow disappointing too. I guess that modern city life had not struck Guilin when it was inspiring poets and painters.

But I did take the two rivers and four lakes boat tour of Guilin a night. And this is totally worth it. The lighting is a bit like Disneyland, but the hills and the greenery of Guilin, and the artwork underneath the bridges of Guilin come alive with the lighting, and you can forget the city hustlers for a while.

Anyway, I headed out of Guilin to a better bet, Yangshuo. I was going to be cheap and take the 15 yuan bus ride down to Yangshuo but a taxi driver convinced me that the boat ride down to Yangshuo was not to be missed. The boat ride cost me 300 yuan but it was 4 hours long, included lunch and a tour of some sites in Yangshuo. I must admit that the scenery from the boat was stunning. Unfortunately, there was a lot of tourist fleecing all the way. Before and after the boat ride, we were taking to shops selling jade. And although lunch is included, we were persuaded to 'upgrade' our meals. As I was alone, a bunch of nice tourist from Hunan took me into their group and treated me to the upgrade. As for the tour of sights in Yangshuo, we were rushed through underground caves and literally allowed to get out of the bus to take one picture of the moonlight peak and get back into the bus. If there is any way possible, just take the boat down the river and skip any tours. 'Tours' are a waste of time and money.

I had planned to take a bicycle ride along Yulong Jiang to Yulong bridge on my first day in Yangshuo but it was pouring down with rain. I just kicked back and chilled and read a book. Just as well, the next day it did not rain and I had a wonderful bicycle ride. I was told by the lady renting the bicycle not to take the small road but take the main road. I was a little disappointed but I listened to her advice on the way to Yulong bridge. At the bridge there were touts trying to get me to take a bamboo raft back to Yangshuo. I declined and cycled through the farmland back to Yangshuo. But even without the rain, parts of the road was muddy. And true enough, I slipped and got quite muddy. I think that there will always be a little mud from Yulong Jiang in my camera forever. But the bicycle rides was one of the most magical ones I have had in my whole life. And I finally saw the Karst hills in the clouds and amongst the farmland. And I finally got what the fuss was all about. But I also knew that if one wanted to really get to the scenery, Guilin was only the place to pass through, the countryside around Yangshuo is the real deal.

Yangshuo itself, although a small town, is also a tourist town, like Ubud in Bali. But it still has some charm. And the Chinese are quite savvy, they do not just rehash tourist junk. There is some humor and modern design that makes the stuff worth checking out.

I had some sublime experiences in Yangshuo which made the whole trip worth it. And I am thinking of going back there to a place called the Giggling Tree Hotel in countryside out of Yangshuo. From there it would be possible to explore the scenery of the area directly. But the hustling was just awful. Even the Chinese tourist I met found it distasteful.

1 comments:

ShutterBug said...

wow.. nice series again. I guess the hustling comes with the territory. But aside that Guilin's scenery is quite stunning :)