Christmas over Li River

After the conference had finished, I decided to travel to Guilin from Guangzhou. The day after I had visited Panda Reservation with Xiaoying, I left hotel and go to the airport in the morning. The flight to Guangzhou took of in the afternoon. It took 3 hours to Guangzhou and I went to hotel that I had online reserved. I did not know the place but I just knew the name of the hotel and the street where it lied. I said the name of the street 'Beijing Road', but the taxi driver did not understand what I said. I shew him the hotel reservation, and then the taxi driver said, ooh Beijing lu .... It needed about one hour from the airport to the hotel. When I entered the hotel, it was a little hotel that always be visited by Indonesian toursts. There were some boys and girls and their parents were waiting to check in.

Lido Hotel in Guangzhou, 23 December 2014	A tea shop in Guangzhou, 23 December 2014

After I had entered into my hotel room, I took a walk to have dinner and buy a camera, because I would need the camera while I would be travelling to Guilin. The most amazing plaze in Chinese is a place called Guilin. Many presidents all over the world have spent their  trip to the incredible place. It takes two hours fligt there from Guangzhou the big city where everyone first lands in China. I really imagined someone from guiding the tour. Before I had gone to China, my friend talked me not to miss Guilin with the beautiful scene along Li River.

I decided to fly to Guilin by China Southern Airlines, and I arrived at Gulin Airport in the afternoon Once again my problem was appeared when taxi driver drove me to the hotel did not understand English. Looking at the map and hotel reservation in Chinese, he drove me to the small hotel that had been repairing. Altough I did not believed that the hotel was a good hotel with a Chinese speaking, the hotel room was very nice for a cheap hotel in China. It was winter in China and the weather was very cold in and outside the hotel, because there was not any heater in the hotel room. If I were a rich man, I choosed the best hotel, so it was very comfortable to stay.

Guilin Airport , 24 December 2014	Hunan food in Guilin, 24 December 2014

Heating the cold body, I tried to find a restaurant for dinner. There was a Hunan restaurant near the hotel, where I ate the delicious hot food. After having dinner I took a walk to see some souvenirs at a little market near the restaurant. While I was passing, there was a countless tour agent, and then I stopped and entered the office. The owner was a Polish who got married with a chinese women. He said that he had liked the Chinese living before stayed in Canada for many years. I choose from the dozens of other some trips he we offerer.

Let us at Guilin Tour shew us the breathtaking views and incredible landscape that the mountain had to offer. During the jorney we travel along a streth of track that at 150 km kilometers long over Lie River. I was astounded at how amazing it was. Everyone who had travelled there agreed that there was breathtaking. It had an effect on everybody who came here. A girl sotimes explained what the the mountain ment. That was what being a tour guide was all about. The date was 25 December 2014, when people in my country celebrated Christmas and had a holiday, while people in China worked as the always did. And I was on a boat, travelling from Guilin to Yangzhuo.

On a boat over Li River, 25 December 2014
Scene along Li River, 25 December 2014	A vihara in Yangshuo, 25 December 2014

Leaving the terminal at Yangshuo, we re-enter civilization approximately 4 hours after our departure from Guilin.  The premiere of the Yangshuo Light Show was at the Sanjie Liu Sing fair, about a mile from West Street. The performance utilizes the natural surroundings to create a spectacular outdoor theatre which is the largest of its kind. The Li River itself is the stage and twelve mountains serve as the backdrop. My friend had talked me to spent one night at Yangshuo attending the performance, but I could not realize it because the day after I had to fly back to Guangzhou. I promised to myself to come back to Yangshuo again attending the performance. So I just took a walk aroud the souvenir shops and having break at KFC.  

After we had had spent two hours at Yangshuo, a part af the tour members went back to Guilin passing Shangri la by bus. Shangri-La is the "Eden in dream". Since it first appeared in British novelist James Hilton's Lost Horizon in the 1939, it has been associated with the mystique of a place which could not possibly exist here on Earth. In Tibetan,Shangri-La means the "sun and moon in heart", an ideal home only found in heaven.There the lofty and continuous snowy mountains, endless grasslands, steep and grand gorges, azure lakes and the bucolic villages always leave a deep impression on visitors. The model of the atmosphere could be found and it was amazing I could see the model of traditional Chinese living.

 

With Chinese friends in Shangri la, 25 December 2014
At the gate of Shangri la, 25 December 2014	Making bread at Shangri la, 25 December 2014

back