Holidaying in Guilin China

I have a good and memorable holiday tip visiting Guilin - my maiden trip to China (21-27 February 2011, 7D6N).

Guilin is a very scenic place nestled in all the surrounding hills where rivers are meandering through the plane; birds chirping on trees and the osmanthus flowers (gui hua) emitting the sweet fragrance.

Your truly (KC)
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Do click here to view photos taken by yours truly ... click Slideshow in Picasa photo album
Boat cruise at Li Jiang (Li River)

In my original impression, I thought that this place is full of jungle (as the name Lin). I was totally wrong. It is a city almost as big as Kuala Lumpur. China is evolving with time. The houses are quite new. In the countryside, they have re-built their houses but all having the similar look that painted in uniformity white.

Alex, the tour guide from Guilin holding a Malaysian flag for ease in identificatin by the group. Background is Elephant Trunk Hill.

The tour guide for this trip, Alex, can speak English quite well other than Mandarin. Besides, he can tell jokes which make the journey quite lively.

The Guilin jokes: Alex knows a few Bahasa Malaysia phrases (while leading other Malays groups in Guilin), said the BM language has many 'ma' (mother) sound. This is how he remembers our language: for example, Terima Kasih (thank you) – sound like 'tai ni ma khan see' (bring your mother see movie). Nasi lemak (a popular breakfast) – sounds like 'lak shi ni ma' (spicy kill your mother). So combine the two, it is like bring your mother for movie then buy her nasi lemak that is spicy enough to kill her ... :-)

The choice of hotels were good and the food was good also. Every meal, there were 8 to 10 dishes; 2 bottles of beer and a bottle of soft drink per table. So we always exchange the soft drink to beer. The icing on the cake is that the ground arrangement is only RM 900 for a 7D6N all included package.

I have been drinking beer for 7 days, twice a day. I was a bit worried that if I stay there for another week, my well-maintained shape will start to go sideways.

These birds are excellent for catching fishes in the river ... Lau ST

Merryland Theme Park

This is the one of the countries for holidays where the Ringgit is stronger: everything in China is half price to us (about 2 Yuen = RM 1).

One thing that excites us is not the modernization – it is the toilets without doors. We can only see this type of toilets at the outskirts area, at the petrol stations. On the other extreme, there is one toilet in the performing theatre where there is a small LCD TV on the wall at eye level for every urinal bowl; so one would not miss any scene of the performance while peeing. For the ladies that did not go to the toilet, they enquire whether the LCD TV is mounted on the floor.

Group photo at the minority tribe village

In my opinion, going in March or April could be a better choice – spring time. Another good time to go is in Sept or October (autumn). Currently, it is still at late winter (21-28 February) where the misty effect could not see much scenery.

Toiket with LCT TV

Posted by KC Leong

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