Guilin, China

Asian break after graduation! 

Okay, i have been waiting for this moment for quite some time. I have got a free ticket to everywhere Air Asia flies. My initial plan was to go Thailand because i wanted to see strippers ahem... Tiffany Show and of course people were telling what a shopping paradise Thailand is. But all this changed because i got no one on my side. In the end, i gave in to China. That was a family trip, not with my family, it was with my uncle's family and my second aunt. The reason we chose Guilin was because my parents have been there once and they were enjoying a lot. They have been to Mulu Cave (the famous cave in Borneo) and kept saying it was like in heaven. But all this changed after the Guilin trip (blink)!

Okay, our flight to Guilin was 7am. We stayed at KL Tune hotel and woke up early morning like 4am and got ourselves ready.

When we reached at the check-in counter, it was already a long Q. I saw many aunties and uncles. WHAA... fine!



The journey from KL to Guilin was about 5 hours. Luckily i brought my RD and MP3 with me. 

We went through security check and immigration clearance and finally trolley-ed our luggage out to the arrival door. The hotel personnel was already waiting for us with a piece of white board with my uncle's name on it. 

This city has long been renowned for its unique scenery. Little did we prepare (not clothing, just emotionally) for such a cold weather. It was 6 degree Celsius. I LOVE IT!! But it got colder and colder for the next 7 days which i ended up SCARED of it. The wind made it worse and the best thing was holding a baked potato in hands.


This is our first meal in Guilin. Local duck cooked with chillies. This was about RMB 150 (RM 75). Nice but I would say kinda expensive because the duck was sooo skinny that we hardly got a bit of the meat!

This has been Guilin local breakfast staple, Guilin rice noodle (桂林米粉). Not a love at first sip, but you just gradually fall in love with it. It is a blend of sour and spicy. You can have it dry or with soup. Must try. RMB 3 (RM1.5). Well, it depends on size you ordered. The largest cost only like RMB 5 (RM2.5).

 

This is a must try too. Egg fried rice. RMB 5 (RM2.5)

Okay, i know this is disgusting. Who on earth wanna eat these puppies? Where's your love, peeps?!!  China people do eat dog meat some event go to the extent of cat meat and rat meat. However, it depends on season if you wanna eat those meat. However, I was lucky enough this time that they serve dog meat. At first glance i thought they were just fried piggy. But the face look so.....abnormal, till the waitress introduced them. It was already cold, but that "DOG" just chilled down my spine.

Food done. Now, let's look around Guilin...

(Pic: Elephant trunk hill)

 (Pic: Guilin twin Pagodas)

(Pic: Liu San Jie, Sister Liu stage performance)

(Pic: Pretty Sisters Liu) 

(Pic: Cable car @ Yao Mountain)

(Pic: View from cable car)

Bird's eye view...

I found my family name on top of the Yoa Mt!!

China's fruit candies...

Fried drumstick is very popular in this cold season. Hot and crispy with pinch of pepper. RMB 5 (RM2.5). I never thought it would be that cold here till i need a pair of gloves!

Guilin cuisine is known for its snacks and the use of spices, especially chili. The famous Guilin chili sauce (桂林辣椒酱), used widely in cooking by locals. It is made of fresh chili, garlic, and fermented soybeans, and is considered one of the city's Three Treasures (桂林三宝). The other two of the Three Treasures are Guilin Sanhua Jiu (桂林三花酒), a variety of liquor distilled from rice; and Guilin pickled tofu (桂林豆腐乳).

This is how they chop the chillies and garlic together...

This is the Moon Hill. Do you see the curve shape that looks like moon? Well, this is named so because of the shape of the semicircular hole.

Only at Yang Suo that you can find this delicious dish...The beer fish.  RMB 45 (RM 25). This is really nice! 

 

The Li River, pearl among the beautiful landscapes in Guilin. This immortal scenery can be seen on the back of the RMB 20 notes. Cruise along this river took us around 1.5 hours.

 

Enough of scenery? It is always good to shop at other people's place just because all the stuffs are like so fresh to me and most of all..it is CHEAP shopping here! I never tried bargain so fiercely before in my life. Back here in Kuching, the most i know is like 20% off and not to say Singapore, they have this no-bargain attitude. Well, those are the boutiques, not the in-mall type which always goes up to 70% knock off and the probability of 2 people with the same clothes come face to face is higher.

What a girl want when shopping? Do i hear BARGAIN? In Guilin and i believe in most places in China too, you can actually call for a price which is half off the figure on the tag. Then the sales ladies would tell you that she is not earning much or price below cost bla bla bla... But once you stepped out of shop, they will call you back and put your stuff in the shopping bag. CLOSE DEAL! How i not love it? *Blink*

Xiao Xiang Gang or Little Hongkong is the best place to shop. Shops range from beauty (facial, manicure, pedicure, massage, tattoo etc), shoe, clothing, bags and all the stuffs you can think of.

 

Ta da... end of Guilin tour ^.^