Guilin City

INDEX 深圳桂林旅游路线

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28th Sun

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25th November 2010 Thursday 4th Day in China

Shopping: 1. 2. 养生坊浴足 3. 帝宝丝绸 4.黑师傅刀店
1.
2. Yang Sheng Fang (Herbal Foot Spa)
3. Di Bao Silk Fashion 帝宝丝绸
4. Hei Shi Fu Knife Shop

8:27AM Group photo in front Friendship Gate at Friendship Bridge at Rong Lake

THE VIP GATE at Rong Lake

This is the first group photo we have after 3 days touring together. We are all from Eastern Malaysia (Sarawak and Sabah).

All booked through the same Chinese travel agent in Malaysia.
Everything was of course in Chinese. The tours are well organized, packing a lot into the day and combining everything with good accommodation, and three meals a day fit for VIP. That is what Chinese side expected us to be, VIP, for our "milk" as "milk cows"

By joining a package tour, you can best enjoy yourself without worrying about air tickets, hotels, or itineraries ..... but you need to worry about pocket money being swindle away by buying unnecessary things in VIP rooms* brought there unknowing beforehand by the tour guide. (Not in the above photo but the one help taking this group photo).

The whole journey is geared to buy, buy, buy trying to get you to buy some junk at lounges for foreigners VIP guests

This is infect my trip but I bring along 2 children (leaving the mother to take care of home). For I want them to learn and experience China, see the beautiful landscape of Guilin, learn about the local stories and traditions, taste their food and ..... well prepare to meet their impact and challenge when they grew up.

One of the blessing we have for the trip is NO rain. For this 7 days trip from Shenzhen to Guilin we hardly used our umbrella except briefly in Shangri-la.
Guilin weather was pretty overcast but not wet.
The city is surrounded by Karst Mountains, bizarre steep sided rocky outcrops that are scattered throughout the city. Nice collection of lakes in the city centre, all linked together by bridges and rivers that made for a good half a days strolling. Our first item for the day start with this lake surrounded with parks where plenty of activity, dance classes, Tai Chi and water calligraphy using giant sponge paint brushes dipped in the puddles and then writing on the pedestrian path.

林西金宗儀

8:33AM as we our tour group stroll pass Guilin Rong Lake Branch Library, a small crowd gathered to watch a dance rehearsal in full swing.

Their performance in a theater will be on Saturday (3 days later). They are all amateur.

More about 裊裊舞群(圖書館晨練隊)
　

8:42AM We reach this famous South Gate of Guilin

This ancient South Gate of Guilin was constructed in Tang Dynasty and expanded in Ming Dynasty.

The gate lies in north bank of the Rong Lake.

In front of the gate is a 1,000-year-old Banyan tree with flourishing leaves by the lake. (Photo below) The “Shadow of the Ancient Banyan Tree” is one of the famous scenic spots of Guilin in Qing Dynasty.

From here our morning walk strolled on. We saw the famous White marble arch bridge (古榕桥）on Rong Lake. This 22.4 meters long, 2.64 meters wide Crystal Bridge is China’s first use of the special crystal glass block system for the practicality of bridges.

See detail of our visit to : Guilin's Rong Lake

Photo Above : Retired Military Old Folk Home in Guilin

桂林抗战英雄退休干部安老所

We left Rong Lake at 9:20Am in a hurry urged by the tour guide. The tour guide toke us to yet another sales location not listed on tour programme.

9:30AM to 10:20AM Retired Military Old Folk Home in Guilin.
This is an interesting place to be in thought we did not wander around this Old Folk Home. It is the home for the aged high ranking military officers who are regarded as hero in protecting China from invasion during the WWII.

An old man was selling at a cigarette boot. I chi chat with him and asked. He told me he served under General Lin Biau. Old generation of Chinese knows very who Lin Biau is. He was support to be the successor of Chairman Mao Tze Tung.

This is certainly not a place for public, but we tourist where bought here because the old folk home allocated a block of building for commercial purposes in promoting the sales of Chinese medicine to the oversea tourists.

Malaysian Chinese might be familiar with the name of yi shen tang cream - Chinese government's production. Well, this sales room in old folk home is an official distribution of this cream.

More about : 寶樹堂 Bao Shu Tang

At an open space some old folks were playing a type of ball game (photo below)

10:30 AM - 11:10 AM The Silk product shop is just beside the Old Folk Home.
桂林市帝寶絲綢織品有限公司
DI BAO SILK THE PRODUCTS COMPANY CO LTD, GUILIN

This is Di Bao Silk. One of the activities that is a must when you follow a tour.

If I am not mistaken this Silk products show room only set up couple of years ago and received guests mainly from Malaysia and Singapore. Those joining a package tours from Malaysian will always be brought here by China tour agents. However the tour agents do not bring Western customers to this show rooms. Western tourist have separate shopping rooms.
　

More about Di Bao Silk sales room

　

We have lunch at this small and homely restaurant by Li River. For last few days we had meal in big restaurant with large noisy crowd with smokers sitting just the next tables. Now with this home small eating place with just the 2 tables of us it a change of atmosphere.
Li River is just across the road of the restaurant. This section of Li river is where I regarded as the most tranquil location during this Guilin Trip.

桂林醉香楼

More about Jui Xiang Restaurant and the near by Li River

Li River and 10 Famous Hills
船游桂林市内漓江
http://bbs.futrip.com/dt_001_8487.htm

沿途觀賞桂林市內十大名山:象鼻山、伏波山、疊彩山、七星山、穿山等
乘坐遊船遊覽市內漓江（龍船坪碼頭——木龍洞），沿途遠觀桂林城徽——象鼻山、“半枕漓江”——伏波山、桂林市內最高峰——疊彩山、鬥雞山、穿山、塔山、七星山、獨秀峰、老人山、鯉魚攔江等景點，體驗桂林山水與城市的美妙融合。用時約90分鐘.

桂林的山水風光、人文景觀令人神往，而多姿多彩的民族風情則更加令人迷戀。壯、回、苗、瑤、侗等28個少數民族各有各的特色，壯族的壯戲、侗族的侗戲、瑤族的長鼓舞、苗族的刺繡蠟染等無一不馳名中外，在飽覽秀美的山水的同時，感受一下桂林的人文風情.
桂林市地處南嶺山系的西南部，平均海拔150米，屬典型的“喀斯特”岩溶地貌，遍布全市的石灰岩經億萬年的風化浸蝕，形成了千峰環立、一水抱城、洞奇石美的獨特景觀，被世人美譽為“桂林山水甲天下”。

最具有代表性的景點有：
1)象鼻山、
2)伏波山、
3)南溪山、
4)堯山、
5)獨秀峰、
6)七星岩、
7)蘆笛岩、
8)甑皮岩、
9)冠岩、
10)明代王城、
11)榕湖+杉湖景區。
　
The cruise include view of Elephant Trunk Hill (象鼻山), Fu Bo Hill (伏波山), 叠彩山 & etc. The strangely shaped hills, or karsts along the Li River. Imaginative name were given to some of the peak.
As this is only a sightseeing cruise for 1 hour, thus, it only cover a few peak along Li River. I strongly recommend a complete Li River cruise from Guilin to YangShuo. There are more gorgeous Karst peaks give you surprises at each bend of the limpid river.
More about Cruising Guilin Li River
Elephant Trunk Hill 象鼻山 (photo below) and Fubo Hill 伏波山 is the most famous within the mountain. Elephant Trunk Hill is located at the confluence of Lijiang. It looks like a huge elephant stretching its trunk drinking water hence the name. Elephant Trunk Hill has been the symbol of the karst landscape in the area. Half of Fubo Hill stands in the river and the other half of it on land. Since the galloping water is always blocked here and eddied, the hill is considered to have the power of subduing waves.

桂林甲天下广场-桂林国际会展中心
Guilin International Exibition and Conference Center

桂林国际会展中心位于桂林市中心，规模和设施位于全国会展场馆前10名，是一座现代化的国际会展场馆。
鑫海集团大楼, 甲天下广场

桂林市虞山公園
Yushan Park

3:44PM we arrived at Yushan Park and leave the park at 5:30PM
Yushan Park is in the north of Guilin and by Li River. Here visitor can follow the tracks of Great Emperors through 1000 years of Chinese history.

Yushan Park is the principal sightseeing attraction of Guilin Mountain and Lakes, and the birthplace of Guilin's history and culture.

In the Yushan Park Guilin there are Huangzetan Lake and Shaoyin Cave, wich have been regarded as Fairy Mountains, Fairy River and Fairy Cave. More of 4000 years ago, Yu Emperor (Shun Emperor), one of the principal primogenitors of Chinese civilization, once toured in this lands.

Qin's people erected a temple to commemorate him. The temple still remains for over 2000 years. From long time ago, pilgrims came here unceasingly. They attaches the color of Confucian Culture to it and accumulates historical culture contents for the Yushan and Yu Emperor Temple.
The main scenic spots of Yushan Park Guilin are yu Emperor Temple, Wenshao Building , Sanjue Stele, 5-Happiness Tower, , Yiqing Garden, Shaoyin Cave, and Meiquan Palace.

More about Yushan Park of Guilin

Guilin is a beautiful city.
The Chinese summarize the beauty of Guilin into “3 hills 2 caves, 2 rivers 4 lakes” (三山两洞，两江四湖).
The 3 hills are 1) Elephant Trunk Hill (象鼻山), 2) Fubo Hill (伏波山) and 3) Folded Brocade Hill (叠彩山).
The 2 caves are 1) Seven Star Cave (七星岩) and 2) Reed Flute Cave (芦笛岩).
On our first night in Guilin, we went for a night cruise that travels through the
2 Rivers 4 Lakes Scenic Tour Area (两江四湖环城水系) located in Guilin’s downtown area. As the name suggests, the scenic area consists of 2 rivers and 4 lakes.
The 2 rivers are 1) Li River (漓江) and its tributary, 2) Taohua (Peach Blossom) River (桃花江).
The 4 lakes are 1) Rong Lake (榕湖), 2) Shan Lake (杉湖), 3) Gui Lake (桂湖) and 4) Mulong Lake (木龙湖).
　

Zheng Yang Pedestrian Street
正陽步行街

8:00PM We came to Zheng Yang Pedestrian Street (Walking Street)
This is another interesting street but I did not take much photos because my small compact digital camera does not produce sharp night photos especially moving objects at night.

But you can Google at :http://www.google.com.my

正陽步行街是桂林小商品經濟的代表，由於地勢上靠近市中心，客源比西城步行街偏多，商品的種類也相對多於西城步行街。
There are three major shopping districts in Guilin City:

1) Zhong Shan Road and
2) Zheng Yang Pedestrian Street (Walking Street) located in the city's center, and
3) Wa Yao Wholesale Shopping District in south Guilin.

Zheng Yang Pedestrian Street (Walking Street)
Zhang Yang Pedestrian Street locates in downtown Guilin paralleled the Zhong Shan Road. The main entrance to Zheng Yang Pedestrian Street is opposite to the entrance of the ancient Ming Dynasty princes' palace.

This walking street is Guilin's most hip and popular shopping district that consists of many fashion boutiques, bars, nightclubs, high-end hair salons, and restaurants. No vehicles are allowed to enter the streets. It is the best place in Guilin to find fashion clothing and places to hang out. It is where to see and be seen in Guilin.
　
More about : Zheng Yang Pedestrian Street 正陽步行街　
　

桂林两江四湖 - 桂湖景區夜景

Photo above : Mulong (wooden dragon) Lake (木龙湖). The hill on the right is Folded Brocade Hill (叠彩山). The short curve bridge in the middle is Mulong Bridge (木龙桥).
9:12PM 2 Rivers 4 Lakes is a newly developed tourist rote with 2 hours night cruise available. Since night cruise is not part of our schedule, the tour guide just drop by one of the scenic point for 15 minutes just for photographs for remembrance.

The 2 Rivers 4 Lakes night cruise - one and a half hour cruise.http://lifeislikethat.com/?p=1973

　

Homepage of Wong Family Website April 3, 2009 / Thursday, June 30, 2011 02:25:37 PM