In the land of the Ozmanthus...

Landing in Guilin was like walking into the Amazon exhibit at the Vancouver aquarium. All that was missing were some very big fish. The humidity was intense, but the city smelled like clean earth and flowers rather than sweat and rotting sewage. Which was a nice change from Beijing.

Guilin is in Southern China in Guanxi province. Guanxi borders Vietnam, and the flora and heat in Guilin had us muttering Viet-f’ing-nam under our breaths a few times. When we got our bags, we boarded a bus into Guilin city (about half an hour away). On the bus ride in, we were looking out both sides of the windows at the people wearing bamboo hats, water buffalos and rice fields and of course the mountains.

The mountains are karst (look it up) and are absolutely gorgeous. It is what the area is famous for. In fact the Chinese have a saying that Guilin has the best waterways and mountains in China (the saying has connotations that since China has the best of everything, these are the best rivers and peaks in the world). We have seen a lot of mountains, and these ones are definitely top five!

When we got into town, we fended off the touts and walked around for a bit (made easier by that fact we were carrying only small bags).  Eventually we had enough and took a taxi through the crazy traffic to the hotel we were staying at. NOTE: the traffic in this area is freaking crazy. Way worse than what we were dealing with in the North. Every time you cross a road you take your life into your own hands.

Once we had freshened up we headed out to folded brocade hill which was one of the many parks in Guilin. We knew we wouldn’t have a tonne of time in Guilin and wanted to spend it somewhere really cool. So we put our seventy kuay towards a visit to the park with “arguably the best views of Guilin”- Lonely Planet.

View from the top of fuyu hill in Folded Brocade Hill Park in Guilin.

Budhist prayer cards hanging in front of a Buddha shrine.

Budhist etchings inside a cave in Folded Brocade Hill Park. So cool!

No need for a stairmaster.

Sweaty, but happy!

After we had been in the park for a few hours we descended back to the street level and went exploring.

Paul doing his best to carefully get across the scariest wooden bridge in Asia. Of course, Kristen skipped across like the littlest billy goat and stopped to admire the scenery....

Kettle containing some sort of treacle-ish substance that when poured over a glutenous substance makes one fine dessert.

The rivers and hills of Guilin are lit up at night for the enjoyment of the tourists. And to f%*k with migratory birds.