Scenic Tour from Yangshuo to Guilin, China

The sad truth is we had to depart the clean air country side of Yangshuo in Southern China after a few short days of great food, relaxation, and peace and quiet.  To wrap up Yangshuo is hard to do in words, so I have attached a fair amount of photos to the gallery below.  The photos paint the picture of the beautiful scenery.  I have no hesitation to say that Yangshuo, Guilin, China is one of the top five most scenic destinations.  My advice is go now before it turns into a complete tourist trap!  We already saw signs of new construction not far from out hotel, I hope it stays as beautiful and peaceful as we found it.

I did however manage to get the driver from the hotel (a Guilin native) to take us on some great stops along the way to the airport.  He was more than happy to since surely he knew that there was going to be a slight exchange of Yuan between us when all was said and done.  The driver took us to the 1000 year old Banyan tree, you are supposed to make a wish under it, not sure about all that but did anyway.  Hmmm, why am I not being massaged by the Nordic Olympic Swim Team on a 250 foot yacht in the Andaman Sea?  Stranger things have happened!

We stopped by some other small villages, and walked he took us right to bridges that were hundreds of years old to take in a history lesson and snap a few quick photos  Excellent local tour!

The photos are below, then just as we entered Guilin we went to one of his favorite restaurants. We consumed 5 different dishes (I forgot the camera in the car).  All outstanding, it was a first for me to eat large lettuce leaves with chopsticks.  There is no such thing as a knife and fork in these parts or anywhere in China for that matter!

What an outstanding few days, and thank you China Eastern for cutting my trip a day short due to your “air congestion”.   That may work on the locals, but western people don’t buy that excuse for a second!  So glad we sat in the Guilin airport with the same excuse for an additional 3 1/2 hours, thanks again, some of us actually had to work in the morning!

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Beer Fish Restaurant on West Street (Yangshuo, Guilin China)

West Street Eating Part II!

Rachel and I ventured back to West Street  to find the best BEER FISH and enjoy our last night in Yangshuo, China.  The street was twice as packed with locals and tourists alike than the previous evening. Restaurant hostesses outside literally pulled us to be seated as we simply walked by.   It was like being the perfect 10 girl at the bar with a bachelor party 5 feet away!

We ended up going on a locals recommendation to a particular restaurant famous for their beer fish ( Pigiu Yu in Mandarin).  Both of us were starving  (can’t imagine why???) and allowed our stomachs do the ordering.  First 2 cold píjiǔ (beer)  please, then we began to explore the menu.  I jumped for joy over the large selections, Rachel focused on the beer fish and duck.

I chose dishes that were random, Rachel stuck with what sounded normal (to her), we both agreed that we over ordered by 75%!  Trying a bit of everything of course!

Steamed Rice and Pork- in bamboo came out first.  This was perfect to have with the Harbin beer!  The rice was sticky and had a very mild undertone of sweetness, the pork was nice and spicy kick, perfect balance of flavors.  And besides poking it all out of the bamboo was the best part.

Wok Fried Duck- The flavor was ginger, garlic, and scallion packed.  Each piece was absolute punch of perfection.  The pieces were cut so small and had all the fragments of bone inside.  Using chopsticks became quite a challenge when navigating.  Neither of us could handle gnawing the bones for minimal meat then spitting them on the table (common in China), well at least not in the company of a Western woman

Fresh Bamboo Shoots- AMAZING!  The bamboo shoots were locally harvested and cooked in the wok with some secret spices.   They had a pink hue to them, just to show how fresh they really were.  Soft and silky texture, nothing like the shoots we see from Mr. Choy’s cans in the US.  AWESOME!

The Famous Beer Fish- By this I had eaten about 8 of the rice & pork pieces, nibbled on the duck, and had my fair share of the bamboo shoots, stomach on overload!  How could I not, when the beer fish arrived it was booming with strong aromatic aromas, fresh tomato, scallions, ginger, garlic and the deep layered beer sauce..  The fish was fantastic, fresh and perfectly cooked.  I would suggest eating some rice with the dish, unless you want the locals to look at you funny. We passed on the steamed rice because there was not room for another grain of carbs!

Yangshuo is a excellent destination for all travelers in search of Southern China’s best cuisine and beauty. Keep following as Beyond the Kitchen explores Beijing in the future!

Travel and Dining Tips for Yangshuo China

Bamboo rafting down the Li river, checked off the list!  We wrapped up around 2pm with plenty of time to still explore more of Yangshuo, Guilin, China.  This area was once under water thousands of years ago, and still has active caves, much like in the Yucatan peninsula.  I was happy seeing at least one cave, another “check off the list” type item.

Not exactly sure what cave we should visit we picked the one that was farthest away from where we were, thinking it would be more rustic and less touristy.  After tough negotiations with a passing by tuk tuk driver we were in route. A common practice in China, everything has to be negotiated. This by far was the longest tuk tuk ride of my life (roughly 45 minutes), let me say not quite like a Lexus ride.

The driver was going to wait for us to finish walking through the caves and then take us back, so being the nice guy that I am bought him some lunch and a few bottles of H2O.

The Caves- We felt investing the time to get outside of Yangshuo was worth the investment, well, it was a giant tourist trap!  However we did take the tour that was given in Mandarin, because (of course) English tours were unavailable, shocker.  The caves were indeed beautiful with stalagmites and stalactites everywhere, live rock, cavern type ponds with a beautiful reflections.  We did however get a little ahead of the tour, more to avoid the bumping and pushing!

Biking & Eating- This is quickly becoming my favorite past time!  We took the pirate map provided by our hotel (Dragon Villas) and ventured off through the mountains. We peddled through small villages and took a deeper look into what Yangshuo is based on before the tourists influx came, agriculture.  See the photos below in the gallery to get a better insight of how back breaking their work is.  This is China and everything is done by hand, it was not uncommon to see women that were so “hunch backed” by the age of 45, all from bending, picking, and harvesting their families crops.

Now on to a more soothing subject, the eating!  After about a 2 hour bike ride all over and outside of the city center we came across a random street vendor.  This guy had all types of freshly roasted local nuts & berries.  I had never in my life seen almonds still sold in their hard outer shell.  So granted I bought a some, along with the fresh goji berries he had, another new food find!

The almonds were the BEST I had ever had, perfectly wood roasted, slightly salted, and just done to perfection!  I would love to get more!!!  The goji berries (commonly put into green or flower tea in China) were sweet, slightly tart, and perfect to eat on their own.  My kind of meal!  On the way back we stopped to grab a few photos of the sunset by the hotel on the top of a bridge (going over the Li River.  It was beautiful, but Africa is still in first place for sunset photography!

check out the rest of the photos below-

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Tour China, Bamboo Rafting Cruise, Li River, Yangshuo, Guilin China

The morning after our all day eating binge what else was there left to do aside from eat breakfast, right?  Well, I am not big on breakfast so opted for the fresh fruit and hot tea.  The restaurant at the Hidden Dragon Villas is perched on the 3rd floor with spectacular views of the mountains.  We sat there and made our general plan for the day.  I was not 100% sold on the bamboo river rafting but it was just one of those “must do’s” when visiting Yangshou.  The Li River was a stones throw away from the hotel, so accepted the fact I was going to do a touristy event for the day.

The river ride was picturesque for photography, if you could dodge the shady floating photo booths they had set up along the ride.  (It was unreal, full computers and wi-fi set ups floating on bamboo).

One thing to have a heads up on when taking the rafting trip…

They sell or rent long-range water guns to children, so be advised they will find it funny to squirt your raft.

PS-there is no point trying to talk to the parents, first off they are allowing it, 2nd 99% of them don’t speak English, one of those things you have to just culturally accept.

However along the way there are hockers, vendors, and all kinds of shadyness to be had!  I found one of the best street food finds of my life, or I suppose in this case “floating vendor” foods!

It was a densely packed taro cake with spicy pork.  I of course ordered two, duh!

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Travel to Yangshuo, Guilin China. New West Street Best Food

After my little siesta and slow recovery from the carb overload, we headed out with one of the front desk girls that was getting off of work.  I invited her to join us for dinner under one circumstance… she picked the place.  She agreed and was so happy that she was able to practice her English… so I kept her talking for the better part of 5 hours as little by little I had her show us around the real Yangshou!  I know, natural genius!

I was deeply saddened for Rachel that the dog restaurant (see photo above) was already closed for the night-she got off the hook.  We sampled some fresh fish soup, local ice cream, the “on a stick” stand, and granted some more noodles!

Fish Soup- great experience we picked out the fish (a bit demented) then were escorted up the stairs to our table.  Out came the portable stove with a pot of water.  This is one I had not seen yet.  The pot was fired up with a plethora of fresh aromatic herbs and green onions off to the side.  I had to remind myself I was still in China, not south east Asia!  Then from no where the assign appeared with his new victim cut up into 10 or so pieces (bones and all). We differed to Sara (our new local friend) to do the honors.  She started dropping the aromatics in the pot along with the fish heads.  The room is filled with a strong bouquet of ginger and floral scent of herbs. 15 minutes goes by, then Sara drops the rest of the fish in pot and turns it off.  (Now I am all for eating some crazy things but there is no way I am eating 1/4 cooked river fish).  Sara then advises we wait (I think it was a ploy for her to keep practicing her English)… waiting… waiting… waiting…. We finally stop talking in Chin-glish and Sara reaches for the pot.  The Chinese will always serve others before pouring or taking for themselves, how refreshing!   The soup she conjured up was superb, minus the 450 pin bones. I would note the restaurant but my crash course in Mandarin didn’t cover the characters, let it be known as “FISH POT”.

Local Ice Cream-Tarro for me please!-I grabbed a quick snap shot of this as we were in the mix of people packed down West Street (the main artery of Yangshou).  The ice cream was a perfect temperature, very smooth in flavor, but was hoping for just a little more of a savory flavor.  The ice cream base had to much sugar and masked a fair amount of the tarro.  Rachel & Sara had chocolate something-or-other.

Stick Stand- there is not a country in the world that does not cook something on a stick!  I can say back at home (Texas) it’s the famous Fleichman’s corn dogs, amongst other things.  Asia and the middle east take the cake with the sticks!  You can find just about anything from tofu to dog meat, its all for the taking, and for those more adventuresome you can often find innards.  (I will leave that for Zimmern).   Again, we deffered to Sara and let her pick a few items and we all shared.  I think Sara was in true heaven, she was really getting into showing me the true eats of Yangshou!  I’m sold!

Guilin Noodles- Sara was the PERFECT person to have with us for this last experience of the evening.  We went to a place off on some side street (apparently she frequents), and she showed me how the noodles were made.  I found it weird that she just walks up grabs a bowl and helps herself, but hey it was her show! The noodles that she made for the table were topped with some extra chili and more of those crushed peanuts.  She had the magic touch, she laughed at me when I started telling her about the Lamien noodles from Shanghai.  She put her hand on my shoulder and said the real noodles come from Guilin, it reminded me of the BBQ wars in the states!

see more from the gallery below-

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