How to Plan an International Trip: Travel Tales and Tips : China Trip Report Day 10: Guilin

Day 10, March 25, 2018, Sunday:

Guilin boasts China's most beautiful karst landscapes. There are 30000 karst peaks in the vicinity. It is a favorite for painters and poets. (Karst is limestone that has been eroded by dissolving in rain water and runoff, forming steep peaks and caves.)There is an old literary saying in China: 'Guilin's hills and water are best under heaven' (桂林山水甲天下). They are on UNESCO Heritage list

Guilin is a perfect place to enjoy rural life in South China.

We took the morning flight from Xi'an to Guilin. China southern at 10.25, reaching Guilin at 12.25. Our Xi'an hotel advised us to leave the hotel by 7.30 as the airport is an hour's drive away. The bell desk hailed a taxi for us. When we were booking we could see the Sunday flight was higher priced and even contemplated taking the Saturday flight. But we were keen on our day trip to Luoyang, so paid the higher rate. No regrets at all!

We had booked vegetarian meal on the flight but they supplied only rice with pork. I asked the FA if they were mixed or served separate. He showed that the pork was to one side, rice in the middle with veggies on the other side. There was a bun and salad, fruits also and we tried to eat avoiding the pork corner. The FA came back with another set of meals saying it was a package specially ordered for the flight crew... plain rice and veggies both separate. Very sweet of him!!

We had heard that internal flights in China are prone to be late but both our flights were on time. As usually reported they did change the time of our Xi'an Guilin flight pushing it forward 2 hours, but it suited us fine! We had intimation of the change from ctrip site where we had booked quite in advance saying we can cancel and get refund if change was not approved.

Secret Courtyard Hotel, Lujia village:

We stayed at Secret courtyard hotel, Lujia village near Guilin.

FANTASTIC experience under our time constraints. .. as the hotel is conveniently placed for airport as well as rice terrace drives. Yangshuo would have entailed an hour more drive time.

We availed the hotel's airport pickup and drop off services (5 am for 7.15 am flight) at 120 CNY , 180 CNY respectively. It's 45 min ride to airport. Our pickup was waiting with a name board when we came out of baggage claim.

Amy was awesome over emails and phone to finalise arrangements. All other staff also spoke fluent English and were GREAT.

Paid for all taxis and room charges by Credit Card at one go when we checked in.

Village signboard here

No cars beyond this bridge as you can see from the sign

Lovely views of karst hills from the bridge

Rooms have lovely cane décor and had a mountain view. The hotel as said is in the lovely Lujia village with great views of the karst hills. Breakfast which is included is great with many options for vegetarians

Welcome fruit from the hotel!!

Wood carvings

Hotel lobby

Hotel building

We wanted to enjoy the karst scenery and chose to go the elephant trunk hill park. They rang for a taxi at 20 CNY to go there and lent us a umbrella as it was drizzling.

Elephant Trunk Hill 象鼻山:

Elephant Trunk Hill (Xiangbishan) is the landmark of Guilin. Located in Elephant Hill Scenic Area (Xiangshan Park) at the confluence of Taohua River and Li River, it has been a famous tourism destination since the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907). The hill looks like a giant elephant drinking water from the river. There are not only many spectacular natural scenes around the hill, but also some ancient constructions, such as Puxian Pagoda, Yunfeng Temple, and Sarira Dagoba.

Elephant topiary here...

Elephant benches

Elli musicians

Elli dancer

God Elephant, who used to be the mount of the Emperor of Heaven was separated from the Emperor in a war and stranded in Guilin with severe wounds. A local couple saved its life and took good care of it. The animal fell in love with the life there and decided not to return to the heavenly palace. The Emperor bestowed a pagoda to help it suppress evils and protect people. Since then, it never left this place and became Elephant Trunk Hill. Puxian Pagoda is on the top.

The constant drizzle made everything grey and obstructed the view of the karst mountains. The sign boards were confusing. We missed going to one side completely.

We chose not to walk up the hill as we felt there may not be views in the constant drizzle.

We got out of the exit.

Sun and Moon Pagodas:

We wanted to go to the Sun and Moon pagoda area. We asked people and walked in the direction. We could see the scenic areas we had missed inside the Elephant Trunk park.

When we asked for directions, a girl sheltering from the rain at a bicycle stand gestured us to follow her and walked on... it was a LOOONG walk and we were surprised why she was doing this for us. We decided she'll ask for a tip, and were contemplating we would stop at 10 CNY. In fact we were a little annoyed that she chose to do it this way instead of just pointing the way. We reached the destination, she gestured us to cross the road and waved us goodbye before trudging off! What a sweet girl!!

again the view of the pagodas was a little underwhelming.

We sat there for a while waiting for the lights to come on. No great shakes even then. We wanted to go back to the hotel. Had some difficulty hailing a taxi. After a while got one and reached our hotel. The driver cheated saying we gave him 5 CNY less. Hardly even 1 USD but it was annoying.

Not the best possible day but we had to be satisfied with what we saw. In fact there were tour groups near our hotel enjoying the ambience which was much better than what we had seen at Guilin.