Fran (the girl on the left) and Steven
Continued...
After such fantastic experiences in Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, the Yangste, Suzhou and Zhou Zhang we were concerned that we would feel let down by the extension to Guilin and Yangshou. Boy were we happy from the moment the airplane started to descend over Guilin.
 The karst mountain scenery is spectacular, unique, and includes both the unusual mountains set almost one upon the other, and pastoral old world rice paddy and water buffalo flatlands which are nestled between them. Rainy season starts in April, but our arrival on March 19 was greeted by a moist haze that was fairly prevalent throughout the visit. Fortunately the area is so exciting that this wasn't a deterrent to our enjoyment of the scenery or the exciting things we did there. Temperatures were short sleeve amenable.
The flight was on a modern craft, and we were greeted in Guilin with a wide, excited grin, by our most wonderful guide Fannie Mo (pronounced Maw), a lovely, sweet, very attractive 22 year old young lady, who escorted us throughout with our own personal car and driver as well. Mo is a recent university grad who works for CTS, another major China tourist organization, though Pacific Delight also made this arrangement for us. She speaks Japanese, English, Cantonese and Mandarin. She is very bright, personable and eager to show off her lovely section of the country. She was always upbeat and knowledgeable, but more than that personal as well. We learned a lot about the lifestyles in China as seen from her perspective. Her dad owns a factory, and she has an older sister, and she told us that so far her life has been without any major trauma. She spent a lot of time talking about how to decide on which boy she should allow to get closer to her, though she indicated that since her dad is old fashioned, she dated, but had not yet held hands or kissed a boy. Given how adorable she is, the Chinese boys must have some restraint. Mo told us that one thing she would have enjoyed growing up in china was American style cheerleaders. She loves to dance and sing both Chinese and American numbers, and even sang us a beautiful chinese folk song in the car one day. Chen, if you are reading this, start tuning up your voice.
Like Chen, she looked after our every need and anticipated our possible wants, offering us options for the days activities based on our specific interests.
"franmo@yangshuoholiday.com" is her e-mail, she works through the european and American department of the CTS Guilin office and we recommend her highly to you should you get to visit this most wonderful part of China.
After a hotel lunch where Ginny and I were swamped with delicious dishes just like when there were the original 11 of us, we headed out for the Reed Flute Caves. While I had read that they were beautiful, references to artificial lighting had me wary of schmaltz. The caves were spectacular, the best I have ever been in. Magnificent formations, huge cavernous openings with depths both in front of us and below, filled with huge stalactites/mites. A still pond reflected the formations creating the appearance of a major city's skyline. A great site to see, though crowded with tour groups. Since we were only the three of us, we were able to avoid the crush and enjoy the serenity.
After we left the cave, a farmer and his herd of water buffalo were walking along the road beside us on the way to the car. I tried to pet a couple but they veered away form me. I then tried to pet some water buffalo, but with the same result.
Our Guilin hotel, the Royal Park Garden, was the fanciest one we enjoyed in China. Our room, which we did not upgrade (Ginny tried to, but they told her we were already in the best one in the house) looked immediately down over the Li River, where boaters on bamboo rafts poled by all day, often stopping to chat with each other just under our window. Directly across from us just a 1000 feet or so away was the prominent Fubo Hill and rice paddies were visible just beyond that. WOW.
Mo offered to take us to a fine, local restaurant, not frequented by tourists, but rather by the wealthier locals. We understood that there were some "exotic" foods on the menu (which we could not read), but Mo assured us the foods which we would prefer not to see served were usually brought to small groups in private dining rooms. Snakes swam with fish in the tanks near the reception area. We had our choice of a private room, but opted to eat with the other local diners. Mo did the ordering for us, and I started getting nervous after the waitresses started delivering huge servings of soups, appetizers, 4-5 main dishes, desserts, etc. How much was this feast going to cost? For the 3 of us, less than $40 bucks with tips and drinks. In addition to delicious foods that we gobbled down (peking style duck but with the skin only, a whole fish, tofu, among many others,), we had a huge plate of small seasoned prawns with head, tail and shell all intact. Mo explained that we were to eat the whole thing. Well, as tempting as the aroma was, I wished Henry was with us.
I balked at eating the prawns, casually waiting until I saw our gentile, petite new friend, Mo, take in the first one. She was still smiling and chatting pleasantly after she swallowed a couple, so Ginny and I indulged. They were delicious, but still a few for each of us was enough. At the end of the incredible meal we defined "doggy bag" for Mo, and she was able to bring her parents some fine foods to enjoy. More continue... Back to previous page |
