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Guilin
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‘Fabled’ is a bit too
strong a word for Guilin. In
fact, it’s a fairly ordinary city, relatively clean and
modern.
Guilin’s claim to fame is location, location,
location —
situated up the Li Jiang,
easily one of the most beautiful rivers in the world. With a kayak,
inflatable, or some other small boat you could, as many do, put into
the water right at Guilin.
Most tourists, and
there are droves of them,
take one of the many busses to a deeper spot downriver where boat after
boat takes a roughly three-hour cruise to Yangshuo. We did that and
it’s a nice ride. However, embarking around nine in the
morning and disembarking at noon means you miss the soft misty-pink
sunrise and rich red-orange sunset colors. Going by small boat and
camping on the river would make for a more interesting experience.
Meanwhile, the standard tourist
version is easily arranged, with busses leaving to the
boat
launch from the hotels. The view above left is from a balcony in the
Guilin Holiday Inn. It is... well, a Holiday Inn... clean, comfortable,
reasonably priced. It is located at 14 Ronghu Nanlu and can be
contacted by telephone at +86 773 223950. Pictured above right is
Banyan Lake, at the far end of which is the CITS office, 14 Ronghu
Beilu, reachable at +86 773 222648. The building in the foreground of
the picture at right is the Ronghu Hotel, 17 Ronghu Lu, +86 773 223811.
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