广西

Today is cold. And icy. And miserable. I’m stuck at home watching the ice accumulate on our back porch and icicles form on the trees. THIS IS NORTH CAROLINA, PEOPLE.  I did not come home to sunny, warm, fabulous North Carolina to be iced into my parents’ house. Nevertheless, I’m trying to make the best of this day. I’ve been hangin’ out with my wonderful parents, watching Downton Abbey, relaxing in the hot tub, and eating homemade donuts… you could say we’ve turned this nasty day into a nice one. I also figured this would be a perfect time to continue chronicling my summer 2012 saga. So, I’ll start where I left off, which is when my Mom, sister (Sammy) and I were on to part II of our adventure in China!

At least I've got these baby donuts
to keep me warmz!

Mom and Sam Visit: Part II


The Beautiful Guilin
That’s right… I did not say Beijing. I said Guilin. Most people are surprised to hear that when my mom and sister visited China, I did not take them to the world-famous capital. And, no, we did not see the Great Wall. And, yes, we were perfectly fine with it! When my mom and I were discussing all the potential trips we could take during our two-week vacation, we both agreed that architecture and history were not our priorities. So, when we read about the lovely Guilin and its surrounding areas, known for their breath-taking scenery, delicious food and cultural diversity, we were sold! We hopped on a plane in Hangzhou and flew out to Guangxi province in Western China for the second leg of our adventure.

Sam, Pam and Me!

We were greeted at the Guilin airport by our tour-guide, Pamela. Pamela is a native of the area and she is the sole reason our trip went so well. Pamela showed us the most beautiful areas around Guilin and was able to explain its history, geography and culture to us in excellent English (with an adorable Cantonese accent, I might add). Our trip consisted of three main highlights: The Longji Rice Terraces, the Li River through Yangshuo County, and exploring the city of Guilin.


Longji Rice Terraces
Our first stop on our Guangxi adventure took us up into the rolling hills outside of Guilin where we hiked through traditional Chinese villages and caught a glimpse of classic Chinese culture, in the form of rice, of course! The Longji rice terraces are some of the biggest and most well-known rice terraces in China. Hundreds of years ago, Chinese farmers literally carved the terraces into the side of the mountain in order to better harvest rice. “Longji” actually means “Dragon’s Back” because that is what the hillsides resembled. The hike was full of beautiful views and refreshing cool air (which was certainly a nice break from the hot and humid heat of Hangzhou). This was a part of China I hadn’t experienced yet – rural, clean and fresh. We all really enjoyed our day at the rice terraces.

A taste of the village we hiked through

Dragon's Back... get it?!?

And a close-up of the rice paddies themselves

LiJiang and Yangshuo
Our next adventure took place on a river cruise through one of the most scenic parts of China – the Li River and its surrounding mountains. This scenery is so famous, its picture is actually on the 20RMB note. The river cruise lasted about three hours and included lunch, drinks and, of course, some more amazing views. The mountains we saw surrounding the river were unlike any we’ve seen before – my mom was actually calling them “Dr. Seuss Mountains” because their unusual shape reminded her of something out of a Dr. Seuss book!

Check out that view!
(Wait... the mountains or the fabulous hair? ;)

Cruisin' down the Li River 

And here we are, holding up the 20RMB note
in front of the scene that is pictured on
the 20RMB note... inception, anyone?

Our morning river cruise landed us in a “village” of Yangshuo County, where Pamela proceeded to attempt to murder us lead us on a bike ride through the city. And while the idea of a bike ride would normally seem quite appealing and relaxing, biking through road traffic in China is a whole different ball game – one that involves dodging cars and trucks while navigating poorly maintained roadways. Pamela tried to point out different views during the ride, but we were too preoccupied with trying to survive to enjoy them. And while it was a little scary, it was also a lot of fun and we are proud to say we biked in China successfully!

I don't wanna say I survived,
but that I thrived...

Around Guilin
The city of Guilin served as sort of a base during this mini-trip, so we did a lot of quick sightseeing while we were there. This included:


Some Typical Chinese Pagodas

The Moon & Sun Pagoda Towers

Seeing “Elephant Hill”

The mountain behind us is supposed to look
like an elephant...

Checking out this spot – legend has it that hundreds of years ago, a Chinese warrior wanted to test the strength of his sword, and so he attempted to slice through this here rock… and he was successful, as you can see.




And not drinking this stuff – it’s snake wine… you know, to help a man with his “snake.”

Does it actually work? We will never know...

Much like the Li River, the city of Guilin is surrounded by those unique, rolling hills. And, underneath each and every hill is a series of caves (there is an explanation for this, but I can’t remember it…). So of course, we had to do a little “spelunking” in one of Guilin’s more famous caves. I put “spelunking” in quotes because this spelunking experience was pretty glorified – we saw women walking around these caves in heels, if that means anything to you. Not to mention, all the stalactite and stalagmite formations were horrifyingly tastefully lit up with tons of  harsh lovely colored lights. However, the caves were enormous and all of the formations, even with the terrible lighting, were unbelievable.

See how enormous it is?!?
Look at those tiny people down there! 

Our trip to Guangxi province lasted about four days and, as you can see above, it was freakin’ awesome! We got to see so many sights and scenes unique to China – plus, we had a lot of fun chatting with Pamela and, as usual, doing a little shopping. The only negative part of this trip? Its end meant we were that much closer to the day Mom & Sammy were headed back to America.

However, we did have a few more quality days before I sent them off to the Shanghai airport, and I’ll tell you all about those final days in my next post. As for now, I am going to go enjoy another one of my mother’s amazing meals (man! how I’ve been enjoying those) and spend the night watching movies and singing karaoke with my parents.

Zaijian, y’all!