Where in the world…

The Ostrich opens its mouth wide less than two inches from my face. Nope I’m not at a zoo, I’m not in Africa at a Safari. I’m exploring our hotel in Guilin. Only in amazing China would a hotel have a mini petting zoo which gets you up, close and personal with this big bird wonder.

Last week the kids had their half term break and we decided to finally put our Chinese visas to use and venture into the Mainland. Hubby was sweet enough to allow me to choose Guilin rather than Beijing, the most likely choice, as I had visited Beijing years ago. And it did not disappoint. A short 3 hour train ride from Hong Kong and the tall skyscrapers are replaced by beautiful, majestic karst mountains. In fact the buildings in Guilin are noticeably short (especially when coming from HK) and our guide later told us that this is by law to protect the beautiful views of the mountains.

While Guilin is the most convenient place to arrive, the scenic beauty actually lies in Yangshuo, a small city about 2 hours from Guilin. Before I moved East, I always associated China with Beijing and Shanghai. However, this eastern gem has so many beautiful, unheard of (at least in the West) places that are astounding. The Chinese clearly revere the scenery, as the mountains here are backdrop to the 20 yuan note (which is now hard to find as cash is definitely NOT king in China anymore).

We stopped over in Guilin city for the night and enjoyed our hotel (with said mini zoo). The children got to experience what being a celebrity must be like as a big group of young college students swarmed us trying to get selfies and group pictures with us (a theme repeated through our trip). I think my kids are the most gorgeous beings, but it’s nice to know that in China others share that view too!

Sadly, Covid has completely diminished international tourism in China, and it’s rare for them to get foreign tourists now, particularly Indian ones (I assume, given they way they were falling all over us, exclaiming “beautiful beautiful”. It brought back memories of my trip to Beijing over 15 years ago, where I have never felt more coveted. What stood apart for me from the whole trip was how warm and friendly everyone was, despite the language barrier. Every hotel, restaurant and tourist destination we went to, people were warm, smiling and polite, quite a contrast from HK, where everyone is too busy going about their own life.

The next morning, we left bright and early to catch a cruise going from Guilin to Yangshuo. Our local guide Ping, was a lovely young lady who shared some history and information on what to look out for on the cruise on the 1 hour bus ride to the port. I learned (and later tasted) that Guilin means ‘forest of sweet osmanthus’. Oddly, I don’t think I actually saw an actual Osmanthus tree on our trip - just tasted the tea and some pastries with the flower! As we neared the cruise port, she asked for our passports to buy tickets when suddenly a voice from the back (L) questioned- did we take our passports out of the hotel safe? Hubby and I looked at each other in dismay as we realized in our rush, neither of us had. That will definitely be the last time I insist on putting our passports in the safe as my daughter very kindly pointed out that I had insisted on putting them there! Poor hubby had to drive back with the mini bus to get our passports, miss the cruise and take the shorter, but less scenic highway to meet us in Yangshuo (thanks for taking one for the team hubby!) The cruise was beautiful with some stunning views of the karst landscape, but a bit too long at 4 hours. I have to admit I was THAT parent that allowed my children to pull out their ipads at hour 2.5.

As soon as we got off the boat, we were bombarded by tourist shops from the short walk to the minivan that would take us to our hotel in Yangshuo. L, S and V were in heaven with all the trinkets and toys. Mamma was more stressed about how I would pay for things as I wasn't quite sure my Alipay and WeChat were working - its incredible how digitized China is - even the street vendors point to a QR code to make any sort of payment. My first thought was ‘what if your battery dies’, but they’ve thought of that too as everywhere you go there are machines where you can rent a portable charger (ofcourse you need your digital paymets set up to do this!).

As we walked through a narrow alley to our less glamorous hotel in Yangshuo, L was not impressed and immediately began complaining that this was not like the Shangrila (this generation!). But as soon as we stepped though the entrance, even she was speechless - it was like entering a different world. A beautiful archway led to the "pond of magic'’ as L later labelled it in her map. Its funny how much L reminds me of Anne, from Anne of Green Gables sometimes (lake of shining waters!) - all you Anne fans know what I am talking about! As soon as we dropped our luggage in our room, the kids were off exploring the nooks and crannies of the unique hotel.

Speaking of speechless, the show we saw that evening even rendered me speechless (and if you know me well, you realize how hard that is). A light show on the water so visually stunning it was incredible, despite not being able to fully comprehend the story as it was all in Mandarin. But, the special effects with the looming mountains in the background, is unlike anything I have ever experienced. Google (if you aren’t in China!) Impression Liu Sanjie to see what I mean. I tried to get some videos but they did not capture the stunning effects.

If I thought the mountains were beautiful at night, I had no idea what I was in for the next day. We started a bit later as it was S’s birthday! I cannot believe my little girl is 8- seriously time needs to stop! Our first stop was to a tea estate. Now while that doesn’t sound like an exciting way for an 8 year old to celebrate her birthday, it actually ended up being something the kids loved! I was taken back to my childhood visits to a hill station called Munar in India. I vividly remember running through the tea bushes with my cousin and it was wonderful to be able to share that with my kids. We were given very typical Asian style conical hats and baskets to collect our tea leaves. Even more impressive than the tea were the views!

After the hard work of collecting leaves, we got to experience how the leaves are dried and made ready to use. I have a new appreciation for tea (no I’m not giving up coffee though!) and cannot believe how cheap tea is considering the labour that goes into collecting the leaves under the hot sun. We tried various different delicious teas and then drove to a lovely restaurant in a quaint old town which again was like stepping back through the centuries. Secret alleyways, an old well and a beautiful garden where we enjoyed a delicious meal. I was again, surprised at how well we ate the few days we were there. Being vegetarian, food is often not the highlight of our travels, but everywhere we went we were able to find good, delicious food (not to mention super cheap!).

Our next stop was for me, the highlight of the whole trip - the Ruyi park cable car. I can't begin to describe the beauty of watching the sun slowly setting over the stunning karst mountains. My pictures definitely don't do justice to the scenery, but I will let them do the talking!

Once you get off the cable car there is a long winding walk across several bridges - a wobbly one, and a glass bridge which was scary, but very cool. The viewpoint on the top offered some really majestic views! We ended our day with a trip to West Street, a shopping street which (as my kids had asked about visiting all day!) is a Mecca for kids. A street full of vendors selling cheap toys and enticing children (and their parents!) to buy. When I asked L what her favourite part of the trip was she said West Street without a seconds hesitation! So much for cultural exposure!

Our lovely hotel had arranged for a beautiful cake for S - what a way to celebrate the start of 8! Sadly, after a wonderful day, L and S and our friend's son picked up a tummy bug and we had to cancel some of the things we were meant to do the next day(like the iconic bamboo boat ride). We still managed to go see one of the caves that are so famous in the region - I have never in my life (and I have been to a lot of caves) seen stalagmite as tall as the ones here!

All in all, we had a wonderful trip and I would highly recommend adding Guilin to any China itinerary - it definitely does not get the fanfare it deserves!

When we moved to Asia nearly three years ago (wow where has time gone!), the thing I was most excited about was exploring this region. We have definitely done that this year - (I have been very lax about posting), but we made some amazing trips earlier in the year to Vietnam and Bali as well. Can't wait (although my wallet definitely can) to plan our next adventure!