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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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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Yangshuo, Guilin, China Biking, Hiking, Eating Day Trip

After an hour car ride by our driver we arrived at Yanghshou, to the Dragon Villa Hotel where I booked a room based on a friend’s recommendation.  Let me say that it could not have been more perfect!  The views were outstanding; it was set back about 10 minutes from the main town (West Street) and had everything I was looking for.  The Li River ran right past the hotel, bike rentals, rafting, hiking, all right there!

After unpacking for 20 minutes we quickly took the  “pirate” map of Yangshou and headed off!  The air was clean and delightful, I felt like I was able to actually breathe again in peace!  Moon Hill-first stop, 2pm at this point so we wanted to make the most out of the sun light. The plan was ride to Moon Hill, hike up (little did Rachel know I  had read about a back area that would allow you to summit the mountain!) and then to grab some Guilin noodles. (Chinese noodles have become my new obsession!) Perhaps that is why I have gained some weight, nothing a few weeks of yoga won’t fix, I hope!

Intense Climb-At some points we were almost vertical, but we kept up the pace and ended up on top of Moon Hill.  A few photos and a well deserved H2O break, I found the secret back trail (Thanks for posting whoever you are!)  Rachel was not to keen to wonder into the brush, especially since the sign made it clear not to do so… uh huh!   After another intense 20 minute hike up the side of the crest (with no stairs or railings) we made it to the top!  The views were breath-taking, and all in flip-flops! (I thought she was going to kill me!)

The hike back down was actually more intense, just imagine walking backwards on a  stair master with narrow steps, all those muscles we never use were put to the test!  Even as much as I work out my legs were shaking after half way down, I will never know how these vendor ladies walk up and down all day long! “I envy you ladies”

4;30pm- what else is left to do but go eat noodles and carb it up!  We found a local shop that focused on Guilin noodles, perfect, I am always one to find the small shops, so Rachel helped get things sorted with the noodles while I ordered us some fruit shakes with tapioca.

The noodles were outstanding, they had a perfect texture, with all kinds of chili’s and spices inside.  One thing that stood out the most was the fried/roasted peanuts that were placed on the top as garnish.  The broth was of this velvety texture that slid down my throat and warmed my body perfectly!  After this intense hike and bike ride the bowl of noodles hit the spot… and I suppose so did the two cold Tsinghas we had on the roof top terrace at the hotel.  All which led to me being in the carb coma for the better part of 2 hours.  Not exactly sure how I pulled it together looking back but bounced back strong and ready to eat!

8:30pm- we head into town with our new found friend and food guide Sarah.

see the gallery below for amazing photos!

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Yangshuo, Guilin, China Vacation Trip

What a true delight to be able to sneak away from the Expo for a few days to enjoy the Chinese country side.  This has been an intense 8 week start and after 14 hour days I am ready to kick back and R-E-L-A-X.  Rachel flew in from the states a few days ago and has been exploring Shanghai on her own while I have been grinding away at work.  After talking to a few Expats that have been living with China and the general consensus was head to the South of China, and this random name kept coming up “Yangshou”.

Seems there really wasn’t much to think about so I booked a few tickets and it was time for complete auto-pilot!  Just imagine leaving a congested city of 22 million for 4 days, the simple thought of clean air alone had me sold!  Few tid bits to throw in the mix… I was told to make sure to embrace Yangshou’s beauty, try the beer fish, and snack on the famous Guilin noodles.  Done, Done, and double done!

The trip started off rather rough after sitting in the Shanghai Hongshou airport for 9 hours waiting for our flight to take off, that pretty much threw the first day out the door!  Accepting of the “delay” which was due to “air congestion” per the China Eastern Airlines, we re-booked for the following mornings flight and headed back to see Sunny for some cupping and massage action!

8AM-off we go, excited and knowing that we are about to embark on an area seldom visited by Americans, perfect, I am already feeling relaxed!  In fact, the air on the plane was less polluted than in Shanghai, scary thought!

Looking forward to the food!

Hopefully the bed will not be as stiff as the one in my apartment!