桂林行之一

So, where in China is Guilin? Guilin is located in the province of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (广西壮族自治区 ), south-west of China. Guilin is famous for its natural sceneries of rivers, hills and mountains. There’s a saying in Chinese: 桂林山水甲天下 (the scenery of Guilin is ranked top in the whole China). Guilin has its name from the tree of the Gui flower (桂华树). Apparently, Guilin is full of this kind of trees. When the trees are fully blossomed, it creates a magnificent view similar to a sea full of the Gui flowers, therefore the name 桂林，meaning forest of Gui flowers （桂花成林）. But during my visit, the flowers were a little bit behind the blossoming schedule (according to our Chinese tour guide, it’s the weather), so unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to experience the flowery city view.

Well, to minimize the disappointment, we were treated to other kinds of Gui flower products. You have:

Roasted duck meat with Gui flower (my favourite!)

Stewed pork with Gui flower

Tea with Gui flower

Apart from that, you even have Gui flower brand toilet paper…

The first question I got asked after I came back from Guilin was “Is it fun?” There is no definite answer to this question so I am going to write a few entries on my experience visiting Guilin. To cut the story short, a walk in the streets of Guilin while observing the local people and their lifestyles give me a fresh perspective on how China really is.

I visited Beijing last year. Even though Guilin and Beijing are Chinese cities, the people, language, weather, food and culture varies. Guilin people (those I’ve met) are friendlier, and politer than people of Beijing. And it’s easier for me (as a Malaysian Chinese) to understand their Mandarin. At some points, walking in Guilin streets reminds me of Taipei.

Personally I think two important factors decide if the trip is going to be an enjoying one: the local Chinese tour guide and the weather. The weather was not my side during my trip; it rained heavily during my first two days at Guilin and the temperature dropped to a low 15 Celsius degree. Photo taking was hard (no sunlight and with an umbrella on one of my hands), everywhere we went it was crowded with tourists (and umbrellas), making the already crowded places more crowded.

Ok, so how about the local tour guide? Our local tour guide was a woman in her 30s (I think). She is from Guilin and I always imagined that the whole tour group was like a flock of sheep. Everywhere we go we were ushered and constantly reminded to keep up the with the pace; I still feel like it would be better if she could give us a little bit more freedom to walk around the places for photo taking.

One good thing about joining a tour group is you won’t have to trouble yourself with the arrangements of accommodation and transportation. But, you’ll need to bear with the boringness of visiting the local “sponsoring shops”. According to the tour guide, these shops sponsored part of the tour costs so every tour group must visit these shops for at least 40 minutes (in other words, you are being locked up in it for 40 minutes). So what are these shops? Well you have:


Shop that sells silk blankets (they demostrate the production process)…

Shop that sells Chinese tea (they provide free PuEr tea sips)…

Even knives and kitchen utensils (the manufacturer was actually producing weapons for the Chinese armies before this, so it’s like using a Rambo knife to cut vegetables and steaks)

Young salesman: "Let's buy a knife and cut paper with it, scissors are for sissys!!"

Chinese medicines (the woman is a professor)...

And of course, pearls!

So it’s fun if you have some extra money with you and are visiting these shops for the first time, you could even learn a few things and get to talk to the locals.

to be continued…