Guilin and Minorities

I: Guilin

Fri, 4 Sep 2015 19:21:30 -0700

a: The Guilin Waterfall Hotel.

The hotel for our stay in Guilin was the Lijiang Waterfall Hotel, located right in the middle of the city. It was one of the best hotels in the region; they had a huge indoor atrium, where on one evening they used for a huge wedding party. No, we were not invited. We didn’t bring our high society togs with us.

right: the huge indoor atrium of the hotel. On the first floor you can see the restaurant for our breakfast.

The reason it is called the “Waterfall Hotel” is because every evening at 8:30 p.m. one side of the building is “converted” in a waterfall. Water is pumped along the top of this 45 meter wide facade to drop down 75 meters below like a huge waterfall, covering that side of the building, which has been constructed at a slight slope to facilitate the flow of the water..

left: the waterfall on one side of the building of the “Waterfall Hotel”.

Considering the amount of water involved, I am sure they have big pumps to recycle the water. And if your room is on that side, you cannot see outside because of the curtain of water overing your windows during the duration of the show.

The hotel is located very close to a large midscale shopping area, which makes it a fun place to walk and browse around.

right: The main shopping street close to the Waterfall Hotel. Right on this street is also the restaurant where we take our lunches and dinners.

right: There is even a cafe where robots bring you the drinks you ordered.

right: And you can take one of these cute three-wheeled taxis. A bit small, but it can carry two passengers protected from the rain.

And just outside the hotel is a big lake. where the golden and the silver pagodas serenely stand next to each other.

right: These golden and silver pagodas are one of the more well-known landmarks of the city

b: The Reed Flute Cave

This is a huge underground cave, which is one of the most important tourist attractions of the region. Many of the stalactites look like reed flutes, hence the name of the cave.

It was still about a half-an-hour drive by taxi from the hotel, but the driver only charged us RMB 80 for the round-trip fare plus the 1.5 hour wait for us to visit the cave. It was a nice new Toyota Camry with a lady driver. Entrance to the cave was quite expensive, RMB 120/per person, and when we arrived there, it was still a long walk uphill to get to the entrance of the cave from the parking lot. So we took the special tram to save time, for which they charged us an additional RMB 35/per person one way.

The cave was huge, but not much different from the other caves we have seen in other parts of the world. The lighting was pretty good in some places. Printed descriptions were in Chinese and in English, but the tours were all given in Chinese. Unless you came with a private tour with your own private guide. I managed to join a group where the guide gave the explanation in Indonesian, a language I am quite familiar with. The tour takes about one hour.

left and below: Some of the more colorful displays in the Reed Flute Cave are shown to the left and below.

c: The Elephant Trunk Hill Park.

One morning we walked to the Elephant Trunk Hill Park, about 5 minutes away from the hotel. This is an enclosed park on the banks of the river; in the evening the park is lighted and the entrance fees go up.

right: The park itself is on the right and behind the picture-taker. In front is the Elephant Trunk Hill. The trunk of the elephant is not clear in this picture; it is on the lower left of the hill.

Legend has it that the elephant once belonged to the Jade Emperor (which is another name of the Emperor of the Heavens), who came down to visit Guilin and then liked it here so much, he didn’t want to go back. So the emperor came down himself from the Heavens to get him to come back, but the elephant still refused. The emperor had no choice than to kill him. He then planted his sword on the top of the hill, which you can still see now, but it is now a pagoda.

This picture is taken from an island, which used to be called the English corner, because people would come here to practice their English. But since these people are mostly younger people with similar goals in life, the island pretty soon evolved into the Lovers Island, because a lot of students coming here to practice English ended up finding a soul-mate.

There are many pleasant walks and sculptures on the island. There is also a children’s playground.

left: A large plastic bottle in a swimming pool. Kids can play inside the rolling bottle.

Note the many sculptures around. Many of these are made of papier-mache, and lighted in the evenings.

right: Some of the sculptures on Lovers Island.

II: Yangshuo

Thu, 3 Sep 2015 18:38:28 -0700

We left the Lijiang Waterfall Hotel in Guilin at 9:30 a.m to drive south to Yangshuo. Travel was slow in many areas, mainly because there was a lot of roadwork going on. Everywhere we saw pylons being erected for superhighways high up in the air, which will make travel by motor car rapid and easy in just a few more years.

right: Half-finished pylons are everywhere in China.

But we are not yet there now and it took us about 2 hours to get to our destination. It was blazing hot and we were glad we had our umbrellas along with us to protect us from Helios’ rays.

There were three reasons to drive to Yangshuo. One was to cruise the Li River . I faintly remember that 30 years ago we boarded our cruise vessel in Guilin, and I suspect that with increased industrialization, the river there would not be as picturesque anymore, and that was the reason to go further away to enjoy the bucolic landscape around the river.

The second reason was to visit the amazing rice fields in the area; the third reason was to attend the spectacular son et lumiere show Liu San Jie. We did not overnight in Yangshuo; we actually spent the night in the Hua Mei International Hotel, way up on a hill overlooking the town of Longsheng, and a few miles away from Yangshuo.

a: Visiting Yangshuo

Anyway, our van parked downtown in Yangshuo, and we were given an hour and a half to walk around to enjoy the sights of the city. Yangshuo is a tourist resort and many people from Guilin come here during the weekend and during holidays to enjoy the area. In the pictures below, the streets are usually packed with visitors in the evenings during the major holidays.

left: This is the entrance to downtown;

I am not sure in what connotation the word “Orderly” is used here. You can see a few of the karst mountains close by in the background.

So we walked to the tourist area with the streets lined with little shops, restaurants, etc., to assist the tourist in getting rid of some of their cash. But it was really too hot for us, so after a while we ducked in an air-conditioned bar and spent most of our allotted time nursing a cold beer, which was RMB 16/can

top: main tourist street.
right: creekside restaurant
below: entrance to main tourist street.

b: Floating on the Li River.

If you go to Guilin as a tourist, you have to cruise the Li river and watch the fishermen on their shallow rafts catch fish with their cormorants. Our bus dropped us in a crowded parking lot, from where it was still a good 10 minute walk through a street lined with tourist stalls to get to the boarding area for our cruise.

left: This is how the standard cruise vessel on the river looks like; a two level vessel packed with passengers.

But we opted to pay RMB 20/pp extra to get a “private” bamboo raft (6 passengers maximum), which looked to be more fun.

right: A six-passenger bamboo raft.

We were on the water for about one hour. It was still very hot and we were thankful for the small breeze over the water to cool us down a bit.’’

For longer distances, we would have taken the larger vessel, where you can get food and where there are toilets. We didn’t see any fishermen with their cormorants because it was broad daylight, and fishing is best at dusk or in the evenings, using a light to attract the fish.

left: The boarding area. The person on the boat in the front passenger seat is Ken, a member of our tour group. His mother, Vivian, is next to him and his Dad, Ken Sr.,is behind him on the right.

right: we saw many buffaloes on the banks of the river.

b: Impressions of Liu Sanjie.

This is an amazing open-air “son et lumiere” show, where the action takes place in a large cove of the Li River, with the Karst mountains on the far side of the river as background. The presentation has been created by Zhang Yimou, the same person who created a similar Impression show in Hangzhou as well as the spectacular performances during the opening and closing of the Beijing Olympics a few years ago. This was his first major work, and it earned him the commission to do the Beijing Olympics. This show, with over 600 performers, was inaugurated in 2008.

left: A billboard poster advertising the Sanjie Liu Impression show.

The title refers to the third sister of the Liu family, who was a famous singer of the Tang dynasty. She used to sing revolutionary songs and ballads, describing the plight of the poor and oppressed, and was therefore way ahead of her time.

The show itself has little to do with this lady, except to pay homage to her; but it is more of a grandiose well choreographed presentation of hundreds of actors performing together on hydraulically operated platforms in and out of the water in the cove, so you will often see the actors “walk” on the water crossing from one bank to another.
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As can be expected, the performers are not paid much; there are just too many of them. Many of them have a second job. They are paid RMB 800/month, for being in a performance every day. If there are two performances in a day, they get an extra RMB 50; if there are three performances, they get another RMB 50 for their efforts. At the time of this article, the RMB is about US$ 0.15. A show like this can therefore only be produced in a country like China. With the high rates Equity charges, it would not be economically feasible to produce it in the USA. It was a spectacular show.

c: The amazing rice terraces of Yangshuo.

These terraces date back to the Yuan dynasty, and the fields extend from the foot to the top of Longji Mountain, also called the “Dragon’s Backbone”. In Yangshuo there are 11 ethnic minority groups, with the Zhuang minority being the biggest. They have been driven into the mountains by the Han, where they have created these terraces to fit in the contours of the mountain. The irrigation system developed by them is amazing in its ingenuity.

Tourists park their vehicles in a special parking lot, get their tickets, and then board a special bus which takes them high up in the mountains into a Zhuang minority village. It is just as well that we go in their special buses, because the roads are narrow and steep.

right: This is the village at the end of the bus ride.

After walking through this village there is another path, about a mile long, which took us to another village where lunch would be served. You could walk this distance or take a small shuttle bus to get there; fares are negotiable.

Lunch was therefore in Long Ji village, where some 300 families live, a total of around 1300 people. Most of the inhabitants carry the surname Liao and they belong to the Zhuang minority.

It was actually a wonderful walk through the terraced rice fields, interspersed with fields of sweet potatoes, chili pepper, ginger, etc.

On our way back, we walked through Long Ji village. You can see this village in the picture at the top of this chapter, in the distance on the left, about an inch from the top and left border of the picture.

top: part of Longji village.

left: red peppers being dried in the sun in Longji village..

below: and another closer look at the rice terraces.

III: Xinjiang

Wed, 2 Sep 2015 11:46:44 -0700

We left the Hua Mei Hotel at 8:45 a.m. and drove to Xinjiang to our hotel there, the Dong Xiang Guest House. Guest House is something of an understated statement; this was the best hotel we had during our trip. A big living room with a balcony several floors up and with a wonderful view of the surroundings. There was a separate area for a desk and another separate dressing area. The luxuriously appointed bathroom was at the other end of the room far away from the beds.

But we saw all this only in the evening; we only stopped there for a bathroom stop after 3 hours of driving.

a: The Dung Minority village.

left: Construction vehicles make driving slow; but just wait a few more years. China is making a big push to improve their infrastructure of roads.

The itinerary called for us to go immediately to the Dung Minority village. It was slow driving because there was a lot of road construction and repair going on. China is working very hard to improve their infrastructure.

We finally arrived at our destination, after taking about three times as much time as usual for that section.

Minorities have been persecuted in the past, but currently the central Government is putting more effort and assistance to improve the lot of these people. Many of these minorities are now showing off their villages as tourist destinations.

Entrance fees to this Dung village was RMB 60/pp. The skies were overcast but the weather was still hot and humid. There are actually 8 villages here, called the Cheng Yang 8 villages area.

right: The entrance to the Dung village is this multi-roofed covered bridge, typical of the Dung minority. The village itself is on the other side of the stream

left: And this is the inside of the covered bridge, with locals selling their locally produced wares. There were beautifully dresses at reasonable prices

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right: The roof construction of the covered bridges.

left: In the village there are of course shops catering to the tourists; not many, though.

right: There is another multi-roofed covered bridge in the village.

This village looks quite prosperous, with healthy-looking rice fields and a thriving cottage industry making colorful dresses for sale to tourists.

left: The village also grows a variety of vegetables.

Note the air conditioning units in the newer buildings. This was a quite prosperous village.

right: Note the many waterwheels in the river to pump water into the fields.

b: Liang Li Dong, the Miao minority village.

We drove back over the busy road to Xanjiang, which was not that busy anymore, because the road repair crews have called it a day and had already departed. From Xanjiang was a short distance to the Miao minority village nearby.

It was clear that these people were not as prosperous as the group we had visited earlier. There were 23 families in this village, comprising of some 90-100 people, housed in small houses recently built. They actually came from a distant area and had been relocated here some five years ago for reasons which were not clear, but which had to do with better economic prospects. The government had also given them some land to cultivate.

We were welcomed by a group of women, who chanted us their welcome song.

left: Welcome to our village. The stalwart lady on the right is our Han guide.

Then they asked whether we would sing something for them, and so we sang:’ You are my sunshine ..... “ as we danced together in a circle.

right: Dancing and singing with our hosts.

We were then led to a small area between the two rows of houses, where they started the process to make rice cake. There was a lot of pounding to be done

left: Pounding to make rice cakes.

right: the chewy and tasty finished rice cakes being served on dining table.

After the table was set we were all invited to eat, lavishly being served with white rice wine all the time.

left: A young mother with her baby and her older son.

After the food, we said goodbye to them and left. As you can see the houses are simple and and probably cold in winter and hot in summer.

Most of our hosts were women; our Han guides claim the men are lazy and are just relaxing and playing cards in their rooms, while they let the women do the work.

These visits have to be arranged in advance and a fee is involved to give some income to the village. There was also a jar, where we could drop a few RMBs as tip.

c: World’s Longest Covered Bridge.

In Xinjiang, just a few minutes walk from our hotel is something the locals are very proud of; the world’s longest covered bridge. But with a length of 268 meters, this bridge is actually the world’s second longest covered bridge, a bit shorter than the Hartland Covered Bridge in Hartland, New Brunswick, which is 291 meters long.

below: This is the 268 meters long covered bridge in Xinjiang, as seen from our hotel room

left: And this is the bridge at daylight.

A surprising thing to note is that there were no tourist shops in the structure. I suppose not too many tourists want to walk this bridge. Xinjiang is also not really a tourist town.