Guilin: Beautiful Proof the World is Not Flat

Talk about night and day... coming in from Guangzhou, Guilin was a breath of fresh air.  Big city Guangzhou was interesting no doubt, but as the gateway to the Li River, Guilin is in one of the prettiest natural areas of China.  It's the sort of place that every Chinese sort of glazes over and says 'beautiful' whenever the name comes up...

The other plus side is that due to Monster's generosity with my recent severance, I didn't have to go super budget.  That meant I got to skip a 13 hour overnight bus ride with a one hour flight, all for about £40.  Result!

I know I've mentioned this before but man, it is simply amazing how fast China is developing.  Guangzhou domestic airport was no different, with dozens of flights an hour to all sorts of destinations I've never even heard of in China.  It's hard to wrap my head around it, but whereas the US  has something like 10 cities with over a million, China has over a 100.  Even Guilin is a town with a mere 300,000.

Right – so got sorted at the efficient and perfectly located Backstreet Hostel with a great (and yes, air-conditioned) room, then went out exploring.

Guilin and the surrounding area are renowned for the limestone karsts/hills that suddenly rear up at ever side.  Beyond great views, places like “Folded Brocade Hill” play home to temples and pagodas, all connected by entirely way, way too many stairs.  I lost track at 300 at one point.

I perked up a bit after heading downhill, and took a different route back downtown.  It's always fun to get away from the 'standard' tourist trail; you never know what you're going to find.

In this case, I was soon winding my way through a local market... and when I mean local, I mean VERY local.  I got lots of grins and shy smiles all the way through, especially in the meat section, when I asked to take a picture of... this:

… it might be normal eating to the Chinese, but they giggled and chattered to each other – I'm guessing out of surprise that anyone would want a pic of something so prosaic.

Pig snout out of the way, I then saw one of the coolest punk chickens ever... I kept thinking Billy Idol for some reason.

… before hitting the main street.  In this case, I was smack dab in the middle of 500 meters of nothing but mobile phone stores, all selling the same things.  Crazy.

And, uh, purely in the interests of cultural experience, I hit up the local arcade for some serious regression.  It was pretty awesome to be able to play games for a reasonable $.25 instead of the near-extorionate $1 plus as in the States.

Right, then it was a quick stroll through the massive main square and over to the Moon/Sun Pagodas, smack dab in a lake in the center.  Once there, I was asked to have my picture taken with a cute Chinese girl.  I'm never sure why this happens, but it seems like Chinese locals like to have random Westerners in their pics... as this was the third or fourth time in a few days, I figured I might as well return the favor, and get a picture as well...

(and a bit later at night)...

A beer in the main pedestrian plaza and then over to a Chinese only restaurant with fantastic sizzling beef/mushroom skewers was the extent of day one; let's just say that Guilin isn't going to challenge Hong Kong with its booming social scene.

The next day was even better – as I jumped on a day tour out to the famous Dragon Rice Terraces a few hours outside of town.  I pretty much loathe tour groups and guides, so my original plan was to sort out local transport, but with the number of bus changes, I figured I'd just take the easy way out this time.

Easy way, schmeasy way – the bus got us their no problem, but with the dubious benefit of having the Most Irritating Tour Guide in the world.  He had the endearing habit of explaining everything in Chinese first, fair enough, and then in English.  Great - that's cool.

What truly elevated him into such exalted heights of annoyance was his love of using MAXIMUM volume at all times, and then, for bonus points, repeating himself slightly three different ways.  And finally, his voice was just the precise pitch to effortlessly pierce my headphones' music... Beastie Boys, Moby, Rolling Stones, they all failed to combat the drone.  Ah, the joy.

On the plus side though, he did tell us a bit of good info about our first stop, where we would have an hour at Longsheng village, home of the Yao, whose women never, ever cut their hair.  By the time they're adults, it's often 1.5 meters in length and is always kept bound except for when alone with the husband.  Plus, the manner in which it was bound tells who is single, married, and/or had a child.  Hm – as a single guy, I couldn't help but think this would be helpful back in London...

Savvy to tourist rackets by now, I passed on the lcheesy ocal dance show, and walked through the village, before crossing the rickety suspension bridge, whose sign didn't really inspire confidence...

… once across safely, I brought out my balloons for the kids of the local tribeswomen.  It was fantastic, as once again, a smile and a few words of Chinese was enough to have a connection and get beyond the “oh, he's got money, let's get him to buy something” vibe.

One old lady in particular was awesome, just grinning with a fun sparkle while smoking like a chimney – she loved having her picture taken and shown to her...

We switched to a shorter bus and headed up, up, and up for about 40 minutes.  Hairpin turn after hairpin turn.  Ugh.  More announcements from our tour guide.  Fierce internal debate about what would be less painful – sudden plunge off the mountain, or twenty more minutes of his voice.  Death by crashing won out...barely.

But all that aside, once we got there – it was absolutely worth it.  The terraces are... well, I'll just let the pics do the talking:

Swarming with tourists like most major sights in China, I abandoned my tour group and headed out into the fields and got both some peace and quiet, plus some good shots looking back on the town:

Then, back in town, I had an... interesting... lunch.  First up was sticky rice cooked over an open fire inside a bamboo tube – very good, with a nice smoked flavor I've never associated with rice before.  After that though, was a tasty enough fish, but with the extra challenge of having hundreds of tiny invisible bones.  I think I spent more time picking out bones than chewing, and eventually conceded defeat – fish 1, Mike 0.

On the way out though, one of the staff had a ridiculously cute kid – so a balloon was of course required. :)

Guangzhou: Watch Your Leg Hairs Carefully.

Travelling in China sure is humbling.  Very humbling.  The way my trip worked out, I had scheduled my trip in ever-decreasing levels of English usage – from the formerly British-run Hong Kong to Macau, and now, the industrial city of Guangzhou.  I was a little nervous to be heading there – with a healthy dose of excitement to be sure, but as it was my first destination in mainland China, I was curious how difficult it would be to travel around.

And, well, much like the U.S. soccer team recent venture in the World Cup, my success was... mixed.

Basically, whenever you visit China, it will be the closest you will come to experiencing near total  illiteracy.  We're spoiled, since coming from a native English background, we grow used to seeing English words or fragments wherever we go.  No matter the country, whether it's navigating the metro in Paris to ordering dinner in Cairo, you normally can get by with guessing.

However, China is vastly different.  The country has only a tiny bit of English translation in use for tourists, so it's a mixture of fun and frustration having to navigate cities using only the slightest visual clues for guidance.  From taking the bus (numbers are Roman lettering, text/announcements aren't), to looking for street names, it's a challenge – and occasionally one that made me want to tear my remaining hair out of my head.  Even my eyes seemed eager for a break from all the complex Chinese characters, quickly jumping to wherever a scrap of English popped up on a sign.  Like this one, in fact:

Talk about prepared, huh?

But that's the logistical side of things – overall, China is a blast to be in with its own mix of contradictions in its exotic, irritating, super-helpful, sometimes incredibly selfish nature...

Getting to Guangzhou was a foreshadowing of this, as I wandered to the bus station to order a bus ticket.  No English, and my serious lack of Cantonese beyond the token hello/thank you made the process a little painful.  But, mutual patience and smiles made it work, and after navigating the warehouse-sized immigration control (with the plus side of finding a decent small bottle of tax-free Johnny Walker for about $3), I was on a bus and on my way.

As a bit of background, Guangzhou is a fast-growing Chinese city (duh - which one isn't??), and it has been making great strides in upgrading its infrastructure.  Thankfully for the tourist, that included a spotless and efficient metro system, that took me across to town for the princely sum of about $.20 a ride.

The downside is that popping out to find my hotel, I had my first experience with the perils of Chinese street signs.  Pure and simple, I got lost.  Hopelessly lost.  Wandering around the chaotic streets by the train station, waddling around doing my best turtle impersonation with my large rucksack, it was painful, especially since I KNEW my hostel was within 400 meters.  Sigh.

But, 30 minutes of sweaty perseverance paid off, and I finally got sorted into air-conditioned bliss, before heading back out to check out the town.

Back on the metro, a little boy was quite openly examining me with an intrigued look on his face – white folks are still something of a novelty to the average Chinese, I guess.  All of a sudden, what does the kid do?  Reaches over and pinched a bunch of my leg hairs.  Not just once, but three times – all the while his mother was mortified and trying to stop him... I guess the temptation of my hairy legs overcame his natural shyness.  Sigh, again.

After sharing big smiles all around, it was off to Shamian Island – a smallish island in the river, full of 18th and 19th century colonial homes.  It was so peaceful compared the main city, that it was like a breath of fresh air.  But, just like so much of China, at least half of it was undergoing feverish renovation, from road to new bistros and posh boutique hotels.  I was struck by this cool statue showing the changes in the roles of women, from peasant farmer to today:

I took the local ferry across the river, looking forward to the view.  After paying my $.15, we puttered out, where I got a wide, sweeping vista of... well... this:

China has a SERIOUS smog problem that makes LA of the '70's seem like the most progressive of environmental paradises.  Nasty.  I read that it's a global problem too, as up to 25% of California's pollution is wind-born from China's surging industrial economy.

That aside, it was great grabbing some mystery meat and flatbread grilled over coals in the street, then my first Tsingtao beer by the river.  The staff of the restaurant were no less curious than the boy, and kept looking over my shoulder while I typed... a wee bit distracting!

Dinner was my first foray into the spicy world of Sichuan cooking, and at Chuan Guo Yan Ji, I was introduced to stir-fried green beans in chili, with fiery hot eel swimming in chili oil.  Chili, chili, chili – it was fantastic, but I was pretty sure I'd be paying the price later as I headed back to the hotel, which (wonder of wonders!) I found on the first try.  Genius.

My second day was both unremarkable, and strangely satisfying.  There were no amazing sights or anything but it was great to just walk about and explore a 'working' Chinese city.

Breakfast was another attempt at the language barrier – with steamed rice/pork wrappings in gravy called changfen at a local breakfast spot.  I just pointed at what someone was having, added a badly pronounced attempt at 'please', and was all set.  I got an approving nod at the way I used my chopsticks – I'm guessing they didn't get a lot of tourists wandering in.

Then, surprise surprise, I got hopelessly lost (again!) trying to find two temple complexes nearby.  Actually, that worked out really well, as I ended up in back alleys, with schools, houses, and little market streets.  And, being completely turned around, I even got to head down them again and again...

Once I found the first temple, it was well worth the effort.  Called the mouth-twisting “Bright Filial Piety Temple”, parts of the complex dated from the 4th century.  Just a great, and more importantly,  quiet place to soak up the incense, chants, and amazingly intricate detailed carvings.

Next up was the “Lost Mausoleum of the Nanyue King”, ruler of an 8th century mini-empire around G'zhou, which was a discovered when a hill in the city was being excavated for apartments.  Just like London and Rome, digging anywhere is a bit of a lottery exercise, with so much history underneath everyone's feet.  It must drive property developers nuts to have their carefully crafted plans derailed with the chance discovery of an ancient pot or tomb.

The crypt was interesting, but the highlight was the suit of woven jade that surrounded the body.  With 2200 pieces, it was believed to protect the body from decay, and the authorities had to laboriously put it all back together.  Talk about the ultimate in jigsaw puzzles!

A rare find of my favorite German beer – Bitburger – at a riverside pub, and then it was dinner at Panzi's, a sprawling complex with a dozen big rooms and exquisite food.  No big use of fiery spice, but my sauteed octopus was just perfect.

And hey, for the second night in a row, I found my hotel room sans problem.  Maybe this Chinese language thing isn't as bad as I thought...