Pigging out in Guangdong and Guangxi

  Guilin and Guangzhou, China
Monday, April 23, 2007

Guangzhou Day 1 ~ pigging out!

view from plane

view from plane 2

view from plane 4

constance and i reached guangzhou at 11am. bot a local phone card and called up a few hotels to check vacancies. turns out that some were fully booked and others were v expensive by china stds(at about S$80 for double rm). this was partially due to the annual trade fair that was being held. so we made the decision to fly to guilin that day. managed to get discounted tix from shenzhen airlines to guilin for that evening (S$80). after leaving our luggage at the baiyun intl airport, we took the airport shuttle into the town centre.
guangzhou is known to be the food capital of china so we wasted no time in checking out the recommended restaurants and street food. had lunch at this traditional restaurant called li wan ming shi jia. all the dishes we ordered were fantastic! including chee cheong fun and wantan noodles. also tried pigeon soup for the 1st time.

streets of guangzhou 1

streets of guangzhou 2

alley in guangzhou

we then walked around the pedestrianised street, di shi fu road. it was nice looking at so many shops, but after some time, i got rather bored as i'm not a shopaholic. the only things i bought were pastries from this highly recommended bakery called lian xiang lou, preserved fruits to snack on during the trip, and a short-sleeve shirt for william.
the 1-hr flight to guilin was v noisy as there were a huge tour group of cantonese aunties on the plane. i was tired from the sensory overdose from walking the streets and slept through the din. It was nearly midnight by the time we checked into the flowers youth hostel in guilin.

Guilin Day 1 ~ had an amazing lunch and had my fortune told

flowers hostel 1

flowers hostel 2

the flowers youth hostel in guilin is really cosy and not too pricey (S$25 for double rm). the staff are v friendly too. i've always loved the atmosphere in youth hostels! see http://www.yhaguilin.com/ for info on the hostel. 

 

breakfast at canteen

eating place 2

roadside stall in guilin

roasted snacks

fruit seller

smelly beancurd

guilin town

both of us on fubo hill

for breakfast, we had noodles with the locals at a canteen beside the long-distance bus station. we had cantonese-style porridge and dumplings. after which we took an open-top bus (S$0.20!) to fubo hill which had lovely views of guilin town as well as limestone karsts in the distance. constance spent q abit of time indulging in her photography hobby. after which we had an amazing lunch at 'hao da ma' (meaning good auntie) which is a canteen-like restaurant with more than 20 stalls displaying foods from all over china categorised into cold meats, vegetarian foods, cold noodles, duck, porridge, soups, dimsum, desserts, etc. the ordering concept was q good - we were given a card by the waitress that states our table number, we then pass this card to the assistant in charge of each food stall who will indicate the dish we want on the card and then send the food to our table. we ordered roast goose, five-spice fish, towfoo soup and 2 dishes of veg. plus desserts of red dates and gingko nuts in a wheat-based paste which was absolutely delicious! and all these foods cost only S$15!
to digest our huge meal, we shopped around town. constance managed to buy some gifts for her parents and colleagues. along the way, we took a break at the riverside and a fortune teller approached me asking to tell my fortune. even thou i refused, she said that she'll tell me something for free bcos my fortune is v good based on my face features. she was about 60% accurate as she correctly informed me that i was analytical, strong-minded and kind. she even told me that i was healthy except for a poor digestive system and that i was slightly amnemic, which were totally true too. i think she does have some knowledge up her sleeves. anyhow i was disappointed when at the end of the session, she asked me for a so-called donation to her temple. i parted with S$10. 

Yangshuo Day 1 ~ cruised the extremely scenic li river and watched a zhang yi mou production

cruise boats

cruise on lijiang

cruise on lijiang 2

cruise on lijiang 3

cruise on lijiang 5

cruise on lijiang 7

fisherman 2

cruise on lijiang 6

cruise on lijiang 8

fisherman

nine horses painting mountain

we took a half day cruise along the scenic li river (S$50) from guilin to yangshuo (~80km).
we had opted for the chinese-speaking cruise boat as it was significantly cheaper than the english-speaking one. the cruise was extremely touristy with about 100 tourists on board (understand that this can't be helped) but i must say everything was well provided - observation decks, commentaries, drinking water, lunch and even photographers if you wanted to have your photos taken professionally. the scenery is nice, with lots of limestone karsts, but doesn't really excite me since i've been to halong bay, which is somewhat similar. certain parts were especially scenic, with the karst peaks reflected in the shallow green waters. one of the most famous karst peak is the nine horse painting mountain (jiu ma hua shan) from which you can pick out up to 9 horses.
reached yangshuo in the early afternoon and checked into xiao cheng bu luo (S$16), which has a bar cum restaurant on the street level, but as we stayed on the 3rd floor, it wasn't noisy for us.

streets of yangshuo 2

yangshuo reminded me of the old towns of yunnan with lots of backpacker-oriented shops and cafes. as we were suffering from an overdose of sightseeing, we spent the lazy afternoon browsing the shops and sourcing for the next day's activities.
in the evening, we watched a production by zhang yi mou, called ying xiang - liu san jie (S$40). This production was really one of a kind as the performance was done on the waters of the li river with the mountains as backdrop.  It was a v large-scale production and the creativity of the directors were amazing!

Yangshuo Day 2 ~ visited the local produce markets and cycled to moon hill

tandem bike 2

tandem bike

we went touring in a tandem bike today (rental is only S$2!). it was a challenge for both of us as constance can't cycle and i have difficulty with the steering as she's q heavy. but we both got the hang of riding the bike after some time and after experiencing a near-crash!

market in yangshuo 1

market in yangshuo 2

market in yangshuo 3

eating place 1

our first stop was the local produce market which was an assault on your senses as there were so much produce - veg, fruits, poultry, rabbits, dogs, seafood, packaged foods, etc. for me, it was interesting to see rice being sold in big sacks. but i left the market feeling v queasy as i'd watched a dog being beaten to death by the seller (for dog meat). it was really horrible as the hawker beat the dog on its head with a metal thing till it stopped struggling and bled. its even more horrid that the live dogs were placed in a cage right beside where the hawkers were preparing the dog meat. i had initially thought of trying dog meat but i've put off the idea forever as i think the dogs had their lives ended in a v inhumane way.

moon hill from a distance

view from moon hill 1

view from moon hill 2

view from moon hill 3

after which, we cycled about 10km southwest to moon hill (yue liang shan) which had v lovely views of the li river valley. The hill is named after a crescent-shaped hole near its peak.  its my personal fave scenery in guilin and yangshuo thus far. 

baby in cot

brick houses in yangshuo

butterfly

embroidered ball

flower lady

lovely flowers

paddy fields 1

paddy fields 2

paddy fields 3

along the way, we also visited the banyan tree where liu san jie (a famous chinese movie character) threw her embroidered ball (xiu qiu) at her admirer in the movie. the tree was nice. but i've seen a much larger banyan tree in calcutta india. 

free range chicken

fried cakes

yummy desserts 2

we were really famished by lunch time as we did not really have a proper breakfast. stopped by a farmer's house cum restaurant for lunch. The highlight of our meal was free range chicken (tu ji) which was running around, then caught and slaughtered for us there and then. the chicken was tasty and rather chewy.
it was late afternoon by the time we got back to town. As we both have had enough of sightseeing, we decided to go for a massage. unfortunately my masseur's skills were not up to mark but nonetheless a massage is always nice.

Longji Day 1 ~ had lovely views of the longji rice terraces
to reach longji, we had taken a 1.5 hour bus ride to guilin, followed by a 2hr bus ride to longji bus stn and another mini bus to ping an village where the longji rice terraces were located. we shared the mini bus with peng ge, a chinese civil servant posted to the village to explore development of the farmlands. xiaozhang and qiqi, both from guangdong and Anthony, an english guy who was learning taichi and teaching english in yangshuo. the website he created for the taichi school in yangshuo can be found at: http://www.southchina-taichi.com/?gclid=CM2ahP6o5YsCFSUPTAodFUFiSw

accomodation in ping an village 1

accomodation in ping an village 2

ping an village

peng ge recommended us to stay at the guesthouse that he was putting up, zhuang jia lou, and we all accepted his invitation. (phone no: 07737583033 ; 13977316051). Our guesthouse was also the residence of a zhuang family and was a traditional-styled wooden house. Ping an village itself was rather charming, with narrow and never-ending cobbled paths. 
lunch at our guesthouse was fabulous, comprising local dishes of smoked pork, fresh bamboo shoots, beancurd (made by the neighbour) and veg. also tried the local rice wine (20% alc) which tasted like sweet dessert wine. constance and i acted as interpreters for anthony when he wished to communicate with the chinese. i could really appreciate the advantages of being bilingual.

waiting for mist to clear

longji rice terrace in the mist

the ging-gang of us walked to the lookouts of the rice terraces. As it was v cloudy when we reached the lookout named seven stars half moon (qi xin ban yue), we waited around chatting away while waiting for the mist to clear. the mist did clear for a short while and we were rewarded with amazing views of the rice terraces.

bamboo glutinous rice

dinner was just as fabulous as lunch, comprising very fragrant glutinous rice cooked in bamboo, mixed with extra-hot chillies, and some stir-fried veg.


Longji Day 2 ~ did a long trek to jin ke rice terraces and visited the home of the yao minority

ploughing

rice terrace 1

rice terrace 2

rice terrace 3

rice terrace 4

rice terrace 5

rice terrace 6

rice terrace 7

villager

yao old lady

yao woman

we had planned to leave longji after breakfast. but on our way out for a short walk, we met a chinese tourist who told us about the jin ke rice terrace, which according to him, is even larger in scale than long ji rice terraces. and that the walk there takes about 3hours. i jumped at the opportunity for a long walk. constance wasn't confident of doing the walk so she thought she might just walk with me to another lookout in longji which was on the way to jin ke rice terrace. it started raining when we reached the second lookout in longji so there was no view. constance changed her mind and decided to walk with me to jin ke rice terrace. We were duely rewarded as the mist cleared somewhat and the views along the way were fantastic.   

cooking

sleepy cat by the stove

veg oil

drying feet and socks

lunch at yao home

we had lunch at the home of these 2 yao ladies that we met along the way. they had approached us to take photos with them and thereafter followed us to their village called zhong liu, which was located at the jin ke rice terraces. it was really nice to visit the house of a local farmer and observed how the yao women cooked. lunch was simple but extremely filling with steamed rice, sweet potato, bamboo shoots and a local veg called jue cai. the yao women shared with us that they had enough to eat and enough to wear, but they did not have money to buy things.  it was still raining when we continued on our way to jin ke. as constance was not confident with slippery steps, it took us some 3.5hours to reach our destination, da zhai village where we could take a bus back to ping an village. according to the locals, the average time to walk from ping an village to zhong liu village is about 1hour and another 2hrs from zhong liu village to da zhai.   

zhongliu village

da zhai village

we got back to ping an village at 6pm, just in time for yet another delicious dinner of local dishes. I really liked this place and wished William was there to share the experience too... i was also really glad to see that the local govt had many plans to develop the rice terraces, including the planting of herbs, improved irrigation, promotion of eco-tourism and etc.  
 

Guilin Day 2 ~ had another amazing lunch

rainy day in guilin

we caught the earliest bus (7.30am) for longsheng town, where we were to catch another 2hr bus back to guilin.  Anthony was heading back for yangshuo so we travelled together to longsheng.  we had a nice chat on v diverse topics, including our country's political system, foods, views on immigration and etc.

constance's birthday

my fave dessert

chilling out in guilin

we decided to go back to 'hao da ma' for another great lunch. this time, I decided to order many small snacks so that I can try more dishes. its constance's birthday today, but we din really do anything special except for the great lunch.  As there was nothing else that we wanted to do in guilin, we spent the rest of the afternn chilling out in the flowers youth hostel, reading magazines and surfing the web. Headed for the guilin airport at 8pm for our return flight to Guangzhou. Thankfully, this time, the flight was not full nor noisy.   
 

Guangzhou Day 2 ~ more pigging out!

shamian island

we stayed at the Guangzhou youth hostel located on shamian island, which is a rather charming place, with much less hustle and bustle than mainland guangzhou. Shamian island used to be occupied by the French and the british which explains some of colonial looking architecture.  As it was the annual trade fair week, all the accommodation in Guangzhou charged higher rates, so we decided to stay in the dormitory for S$20 per pax, which was actually the most pricey accommodation we've stayed during this trip. our first night in the dormitory wasn't a very good experience as the dormitory was unisex and 3 of our roommates were very drunk when they returned to the room at about 2am. the guy sleeping above me (on the double-deck bed) fell off the bed in the middle of the night! I asked him how he was but he didn't replied. And no one else got up to assist him, eventually he got up on his own and somehow managed to climb back to bed. I was extremely pissed with him in the morning as he stepped on my thigh when he was trying to get out of bed to go to the loo. this, plus the fact that the dormitory room is in a mess as the guys have strewn their stuff all over. I'm usually q a considerate room-mate but when antagonised, I can exhibit very bad attitudes. While everyone was still in bed, I got up, packed my stuff noisily and stomped out of the room. Even thou we're staying another night at the dormitory, I decided to store my backpack in the luggage rm rather than to leave it in the dorm, as I felt that I couldn't trust our room-mates.  Thankfully, constance understood why I was pissed. 

dim sum

yummy desserts 1

fish noodles

our main activity in guangzhou is always about food, so we checked out the supposedly best restaurant in Guangzhou for breakfast. The dim sum was really good! After which, we stopped by another shop for lovely desserts.
its our last day in Guangzhou so we did our final shopping. I was hoping to buy some outdoor gear for william's trekking trip to iran in july, but somehow we didn't come across any good outdoor shops and I didn't feel like searching for them as Guangzhou was q a big place. I managed to buy some hoodie jackets at some factory outlet shops that we chanced upon. Also went back to the pedestrianised street, di shi fu road, to buy pastries from the recommended bakery. And visited the supermarkets to buy tons of foods. We got around Guangzhou taking the metro which appeared v similar to singapore's mrt and we guessed that it might have been modelled after sg's system.