A Glimpse of Guilin, Guangxi

In September 2020, after a round of the pandemic ended, I finally chose to travel alone to see the landscapes of Guilin, take a bamboo raft ride, and wander the famous West Street...

The entire trip involved taking 4 boat rides, visiting 2 karst caves, and climbing 3 mountains.

I experienced a rare stretch of consecutive sunny days locally, and was also lucky enough to take a bamboo raft in the rain, witnessing the misty Lijiang River in its full glory.

Guan Yan Scenic Area (The Crown of World Karst Caves – National AAAA-level Lijiang Guanyan Scenic Area is located in Caoping Hui Autonomous Township, in the middle section of the scenic Lijiang River.)

One of my favorite spots on this trip. Driving a self-operated small train into the cave was the highlight. Along the way, I enjoyed the mountains, water, and trees—a truly pleasant experience.

Guan Yan Cave is really, really huge! It has waterfalls, underground rivers, and facilities like an observation elevator and a small train inside the cave. It's much more interesting and fun than Yinzi Rock Cave. Highly recommended!

After exiting, you can climb the mountain for a panoramic view. At the foot of the mountain by the river, there is the original entrance used for early cave exploration, with an inscription by Li Zongren above it.

On sunny days, Guangxi looks like the hazy days of northern China—not very clear. So as a northerner, I preferred the drizzling rain here.

Climbing the mountain and seeing the waterfall—if you don't intend to experience climbing the waterfall itself, it's skippable.

Taking a 4-person boat from Yangdi to Xingping Town, the rafting section is quite long, passing the famous Nine Horses Fresco Hill along the way. It's best to go on a rainy day, when the entire river view looks like a misty ink wash painting.

Staying in Xingping Ancient Town, which is quite small and not very busy, but has most of the elements you'd expect from an ancient town.

There is a large supermarket in town—remember to buy some fruit there!

The famous Yulong River rafting uses 2-person bamboo rafts. The scenery here is completely different from the Xingping section. Although it's shorter, the beautiful phoenix-tail bamboos along both banks leave a deep impression, and the whole experience is peaceful and serene.

Having seen ancient towns like Lijiang and Dali, West Street is just so-so.

If you have spare time, it's better to visit Yangshuo Park across from the Party School Guesthouse. I strongly recommend climbing the mountain there—there are some historic relics on the hill, and you can get a bird's-eye view of the entire county.

The large meadow at the foot of the mountain, where we stopped for lunch, is a great place for photos.

In Guilin city proper, besides the traditional Elephant Trunk Hill and Two Rivers and Four Lakes, you can also climb Diecai Hill for a view or fish by the banks of Taohua River.

The trip was short; many places were passed by quickly, and not many were worth remembering. Famous spots weren't necessarily outstanding, but occasional unknown places could bring surprises.