Guilin. Some adventure that takes one hundred words to explain. To cut to the chase, if you say adventure is your middle name and you want some real excitement Guilin is the place for you. Or, if your someone who likes nice long rides along the river, shopping in markets or simply just bike riding with breath taking views behind you- Guilin can deliver that as well. You might say, "What can you recommend?"
There are many fun and exciting ways to answer that. Out of the short amount of time we where there, we did things from caving with little lights to guide us to trying fresh tea in a famous tea farm.
First thing's first. How did we get there? Honestly it depends on where you live. Living in Hong Kong for the past 5 years we have had access to many fast routes around Asia. Answer, Trains. Planes are easy travel too, but for a full experience try an overnight train- in China. As expats and a full five years in Chinese culture we have come to know many Chinese words. It doesn't come easy. Trust me. If you are willing to learn and test your skills in Chinese or maybe you know a guy who know's a guy, Overnight trains are the truly local way to do it. Staying first class with a maximum of four beds for five people might seem a little stuffy. The more the merrier. Accessory in need of having is a book!! Nice long reads to enjoy long periods of travel. To sum it up- Overnight Trains, definitely an experience worth having.
Enough talking about transportation. Let's get to adventure part. Where to begin? Let's get right to the highlights. Being the day when you arrive, fresh and stinky off an over packed night train you wouldn't expect action packed days with hiking and sweating and non stop movement. Plus- it's nice to relax. (Take a shower!!!) We ended our early morning with a nice dumpling breakfast. When dining in a foreign country and you are a person for a real experience, a tip of advice is GO LOCAL!!!! See what eating like an every day Guilin-er is like! Where will it take you? After a quick breakfast you are on to rafting on the famous Li River. Accessory to have: Fresh Flower Crown! While enjoying yourself taking pictures and going down mini waterfalls is a nice way to kick off the day.
Caving is a must take part in activity. When we went- the electricity wasn't working. If you can't fix it- Improve it! Buy flashlights! In this cave you get the opportunity to bathe in mud baths, see baths and see amazing formations. Mud baths might sound disgusting but is surprisingly great for your face! Enjoy sliding down and covering each other in mud.
Tea farms are great but leaning more to the relaxing view of things. If you like to stroll and see breath taking views, hiking or looking at a tea farm is the place for you. Tea farms gives you a look at how they grow fresh tea and where the tea ( a big demand in the world ) comes from! You can learn what different teas symbolize and when they are taken in the day for what purposes. Hiking to photo taking views are sometimes better than what's on the lens. You can see a birds eye view of the whole thing, instead of taking it in one by one. Don't worry. Your journey is not over yet!
People. The next great thing. Meeting and seeing new people is a high light of my trip. One person I extremely liked is our tour guide's adopted ai yi (阿姨- auntie) who made us lunch with a smile (or the teeth she had remaining). I got the experience to try different foods (tarro chips). Also what is amazing is the vibe of the old. Out of all people in a growing village, the elders work the most. Making the food, buying the food and carrying things back and forth to the market to make a living. I tried carrying the cargo of a small 95 year old lady and I nearly fell over. I feel like a wimp, knowing that this lady has carried this much her whole life. An experience and a defeat to remember. Haha.
The whole experience led us to think about how lucky we are to experience this and how often you don't see this everyday. Caving was a little punch of adventure in a wide spread action packed journey that made you happy, tired but full of joy. Guilin has always been on the list and now with a smile we can only tick it off and wait for our next adventure.