Guilin - Start of Tour

On Monday we flew from Guangzhou to GuiLin where our guide (Clive) for the next four days met us. Clive has completed his bachelor degree in business and is taking a year off before going to law school. To go to law school he has to pass a national exam, a la the British system and the Chinese system under the Emperors. BTW, Clive is a member of the Communist Party.

Membership in the Communist Party is limited to 10% of the college class. To join via college you must:
 Apply
 Have superior grades
 Have superior recommendations from the faculty
 Pass a background and morals review
If you are accepted, the first year is probationary. If you grades fall, you get in trouble or a faculty member/ party member says you are unworthy, you are out.





Monday afternoon we were on our own. We visited the downtown area and a park around a series of ponds and lakes. There was a twin pagoda about 10 stories high on an inlet and there were many sculptures of animals along the path. It was very pretty and peaceful. We also saw some Cormorant fishermen.


Tuesday we started early. Approximately an hour out of GuiLin we boarded a three-deck boat for a 4-½ hour cruise down the Li River. The scenery is magnificent. A long time ago, the whole area was underwater. Only the strongest rock, limestone, has survived. Spires of rock, which has been the inspiration of Chinese artists for centuries appear on both sides of the river.






Wednesday we visited four scenic areas. Fortunately only three were above ground as the temperature was in the mid-30’s Celsius (90-95 F) and the sun was burning brightly most of the day. In the morning we visited a large park, Seven Star Park. The highlights are the spot where Clinton gave a speech while he was President; some brown pandas; a panorama of Chinese history and a Buddhist temple.

Next we saw Fubo Hill Park. We were so hot we rushed through this park. For lunch we were taken to a fancy restaurant where we were whisked to a private room. Our menu was preset with some expensive dishes, a whole steamed river fish, a fried tofu dish and stir-fried carrot, greens and turnips. The food was delicious but we were still hot from the morning and could not eat too much.

After a siesta we visited the best feature of the day, Reed Flute Cave. I am usually not too impressed by caves, I cannot see most of the features they say we should see, but this cave is quite large and it has a massive main room that can easily hold a thousand people. The operators have done a beautiful job setting up the cave for tourists since its rediscovery in the 1950’s. Steps have been carved and the path is done in level stone (unlike caves I have visited in the US and Europe). Most impressive is a truly professional light design that a theater would be proud to have. [All pictures in the cave are taken without flash. The camera is mounted on a mono pod. Exposure varied from 1/30 of a second to 2 seconds. In general, I took three consecutive shots to minimize movement in the 2nd or 3rd shot.]

The final visit of the day was to Elephant Park. This park and an Elephant Park in France are sister parks. While the elephant in the rock is hard to imagine the area is very nice. Only worthy picture is the Mayor.

Dinner was at a local chain restaurant, McFound. It serves Hunan food. We chose and enjoyed a very good meal. Within an hour our lips stopped tingling.