This morning we begrudgingly got out of bed around 8 am for our half day tour of the city. Having just got here we did not want to dive head first into the full day, 4 hour river cruise quite yet, plus we wanted to see some of the sites around Guilin, not just the river. So we showered and headed downstairs to meet our tour group. Our group consisted of me, Justin, our driver and an English speaking tour guide. So we all loaded into the black Lincoln Town Car and headed out for the day. The guide turned out to be a pretty colorful guy, giving us an unbiased opinion of a lot of the sites and the throngs of loud tour groups that pass through. At one point he even told us of a Taiwanese television show with a monkey that would look away from ugly women and masturbate to attractive women. He did the hand motion and everything for us just to make sure we understood.
The first stop of the day was to Fubo Hill, named after a General during one of the dynasties that conquered Vietnam. He is a big hero in China but apparently not well liked in Vietnam due to the fact that he slaughtered quite a few of them. The hill is all limestone and like the rest of the hills here shoots up very vertical with sheer cliff sides. The bottom of the hill has been dug out and forms a set of caves housing things like the 1000 Buddha cave (really only a couple hundred maybe, many destroyed by time and gunfire during the cultural revolution), the Sword Testing rock where General Fubo supposedly cut through the limestone and the Pearl Returning Cave where General Fubo turned over a boat containing rice that was thought to be pearl. After going through the bottom caverns we decided to try to head to the top. The hill has a height of about 600 feet and very steep steps to ascend to the top. But the top gives a spectacular view of the entire town and the limestone hills and mountains surrounding it. The way up was tiring and I felt even more feeble when a 5 year old girl ran past me headed to the top. But I made it with no Grand Canyon or Great Wall disasters.
After climbing back down, which is always a much easier time for me, we loaded back into our chauffeured car and headed for Reed Flute Cave. The cave is a huge cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites with curious names. The height of the cave is quiet amazing providing for huge rooms and on special request black tie dinners. It also served as a bomb shelter from the Japanese during WWII. Also of interest is that the Sheraton has a 10% ownership in the cave that allows their guest to enter the cave using a private entrance and not have to wait for a group of 30 people before heading in. It made the cave much quieter and enjoyable. The only gimmicky thing about the cave is the neon lights everywhere used to illuminate the inside. But the size of the chambers and the size and variety of the stalactites and mites is amazing and was worth the trip.
Since we were flying through the scheduled trip as we seem to always do the guide asked if we wanted to stop at a Pearl Market to look around and maybe buy some cheap pearls. We agreed, not planning to buy anything but just to look around to say we say it. Thankfully this Pearl Market was a real pearl store and not like the market in Beijing. I guess we were the first customers of the day because as we walked to the door the women inside started running around and talking into their walkie-talkies. It was like celebrities were arriving which given our VIP treatment is an easy mistake. Inside the host showed us how the oysters are grown and how the pearl is started inside the oyster. She then showed us how to schuck an oyster and retrieve the pearl inside. Probably the most valuable thing she showed us how to tell a real pearl from a fake. Then they put the hard sell on us, telling us since we were the first customers of the day we got an immediate 30% off. After looking around for a while I reluctantly bought something. I spent way more than I should have but I am not going to tell you what I bought or who I bought it for. So whoever is nicest to me when I get back might get a good surprise.
After the market it was a quick stop to the Elephant Trunk hill before heading back to the Sheraton. The hill is not to great really and our guide was quick to point out that the people dressed in minority costumes were not minorities but just actors paid to take pictures. He also informed us that Yangshou is a great town for travelers because everyone speaks English, lots of bars and the "girls are hot". He was full of useful knowledge like this and did not just spew the normal company line of how great his city is. Once back in the Sheraton we walked the pedestrian walkway behind the hotel and grabbed lunch. Justin tried to be cultured and ordered a local dish of chili shrimp. The lady gave him the quizzical "it is spicy" but he said he was fine with it. When it arrived all the shrimp were still in their shells with head and tails in tact. Using chopsticks to peel them was pretty much out of the question so Justin resorted to using his hands to eat. So much for cultured. Hopefully he does not have another buffalo meat experience on the cruise tomorow. Not being quite as daring but shying away from the club sandwich on the menu I chose fried rice with chicken. Nothing surprising there and it was pretty good. The whole restuarant was nice, with big couches to sit on instead of chairs. They had a varied menu and reasonably priced... you can't argue with 5 bucks for lunch. I think it was called Natural or something like that. We finally came back to the hotel to upload all our pictures on a good connections. So lots of pictures from Xi'an, Shanghai and a few from Guilin.
So far I like Guilin. The surrounding hills are pretty impressive, the city is much quieter and everything looks a little cleaner. I am looking forward to the river cruise tomorrow and we may take in the night cruise called 2 River and 4 lakes which takes you through all the rivers and lakes with lights everywhere to make it look romantic. Not the straightest thing we have ever done but probably not the gayest either.
