May Day Holiday: A Spontaneous Guilin Landscape Tour

Poetry and distant places, at least one is worth pursuing. So when the May Day holiday arrived, a few friends and I took an impromptu trip to Guilin's landscapes. Guilin is a great place for tourism, with absolutely unique scenery. The banks of the Li River are beautiful, the air is very fresh, and boating on the Li River to see the Ten-Mile Gallery is very pleasant. The karst landform scenery is also very nice. Besides the natural scenery, Guilin also has a lot of delicious food.

Speaking of travel, first you have to plan the itinerary and accommodation hotel. We thought of finding a hotel close to the main attractions with a good reputation—the Hampton by Hilton Guilin Lingui. It is a simple, bright, and artistic business hotel with a unique personality. The hotel is equipped with a multi-functional elite conference hall, a Western restaurant, a lively gym, and other facilities. Each room is equipped with the American Hampton Bed standard dual-patent mattress and bedding, as well as a movable desk with high-end ergonomic chairs, very suitable for typing.

Of course, when you come to Guilin, you must go to the Li River. The Li River Scenic Area is the world's largest and most beautiful karst landscape area, the essence of Guilin's scenery. It is known as 'A hundred miles of Li River, a hundred miles of gallery.' The Li River has a different flavor in different weather: on sunny days, green peaks reflect in the water; on cloudy days, mist covers the mountains; on rainy days, the Li River is shrouded in rain and mist.

Even on overcast and rainy days, you can see the vast mist on the river, the mountains looming in and out of view, floating clouds weaving among the strange peaks, and the rain curtain like a light veil covering the landscape, just like a myriad of colorful ink wash paintings. It is exactly 'Guilin's scenery is the best under heaven, and the exquisite Li River in autumn is like a painting.'

The Longji Rice Terraces are not uniform; they follow the curves, heights, lengths, widths, ridges, and slopes. There are no two terraces with the same shape, nor any of equal size. The largest is no more than three or two mu, and the smallest can only plant one rice seedling.

Longji Rice Terraces are located in Ping'an Village, Heping Township, Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi. What people call Longji Rice Terraces refers to Ping'an Terraces. In fact, Longji Rice Terraces mainly consist of Ping'an Terraces and Jinkeng Terraces. Both terraces have uncanny workmanship and picturesque artistic conception.

Silver Cave is located in Lipu County, Guilin City, and is a typical karst landform. Its cave runs through twelve peaks, and inside the cave are stalactites from different geological ages, crystal clear, white and flawless, like the Milky Way pouring down from the night sky, shining like silver, hence the name 'Silver Cave.'

Two Rivers and Four Lakes refers to the collective name of the Li River, Taohua River, Shanhu Lake, Ronghu Lake, Guihu Lake, and Mulong Lake in the city center of Guilin. By boat, visitors can not only tour three main scenic areas with distinct features: the classical Chinese garden—Rongshan Lake area, the ecological garden of harmony between man and nature—Guihu Lake area, and the Song historical and cultural garden—Mulong Lake area, but also enjoy views of more than ten famous traditional mountains around the water system, such as Elephant Hill, Fubo Hill, Diecai Hill, Yao Hill, Baoji Hill, and Laoren Hill.

Elephant Trunk Hill Park: Elephant Trunk Hill is named for its shape resembling an elephant standing by the Li River drinking water, commonly referred to as Elephant Hill. It is a representative of Guilin's scenery and a symbol of Guilin city. Many local products in Guilin and even Guangxi use Elephant Hill as a logo. The late state leader Comrade Yang Shangkun once said: 'You must take a photo in front of Elephant Trunk Hill to have truly been to Guilin; this is a unique scenery.'

'Peach Blossom Land' is located near Baisha Town in Yangshuo County. It mainly consists of a lotus pond, Swallow Lake, Swallow Cave, Dong village customs, and a primitive tribe. If it is the season of 'rain that just wets the clothes from apricot blossoms, and breeze that doesn't chill the face from willow catkins,' stepping into the Peach Blossom Land, you will see a beautiful landscape of countryside.

Solitary Beauty Peak is located inside the Jingjiang Prince City in the city center. It is steep and lofty, majestic in stature, known as the 'Southern Pillar of Heaven.' It stands tripartite with Diecai Hill and Fubo Hill, and is one of the main peaks of Guilin. When bathed in morning light or evening glow, the solitary peak seems to wear a purple robe and golden garment, hence also called Purple Gold Hill.

Yangshuo - West Street: 'Guilin's scenery is the best under heaven,' and that 'best' scenery mostly refers to Yangshuo. The mountains and waters here are most suitable for romance. Every undulation is a soft curve, like lovers leaning on each other, tenderly making one's heart melt. In this peaceful and comfortable town, there is a bustling and petty-bourgeois street—West Street, a street full of charm.

Butterfly Spring is a tourist scenic area integrating strange mountains, beautiful waters, secluded caves, and rural scenery. It is located in the essence of the 'Ten-Mile Gallery' in the Moon Hill Scenic Area of Yangshuo, Guilin. It has the reputation of 'If you don't reach the top of Butterfly Mountain, you don't know the scenery of Yangshuo.' Butterfly Spring gets its name because a spring gushes out from the cliff on the mountainside inside the Butterfly Cave.

In addition to the beautiful scenery, Guilin's cuisine should not be missed.

Guilin rice noodles are famous far and wide for their unique flavor. The workmanship is exquisite: first, high-quality rice is ground into a slurry, bagged and drained, kneaded into a dough, cooked, and then pressed into round strands or slices. Round ones are called rice noodles, slices are called cut noodles, collectively known as rice noodles. They are characterized by being white, fine, soft, smooth, and refreshing. There are many ways to eat them.

Beer Li River Fish is a famous local dish in Yangshuo. It uses fresh big carp from the Li River in Yangshuo. First, it is deep-fried in raw tea oil produced in the northern Guangxi mountains, then braised with top-grade beer produced in Guilin. It has a unique crispy, tender, and fresh flavor that will whet your appetite.

Guilin's most famous 'Eighteen Stuffed Delicacies' are eighteen kinds of stuffed dishes. 'Stuffed dishes' are a local specialty: various seasonings are added to meat filling, then stuffed into 'coats' made of different vegetables or shells, steamed or braised until cooked to make 'stuffed' items.

Stewed Old Duck with Ginkgo is a 'signature dish' in Guilin restaurants. The main ingredients are ginkgo (white fruit) produced in Xing'an and Lingchuan areas of Guilin and old duck. It is simmered over low heat. It is characterized by a slightly bitter soup, fragrant fruit, sweet meat, rich nutrition, and is suitable for all seasons.

Steamed Pork with Lotus Leaf and Rice Flour is a traditional home-style famous dish. It uses pork belly with skin, mung bean flour, lotus leaves, Guilin fermented bean curd, and various seasonings. The meat is boiled, fried with soy sauce, coated with mung bean flour, wrapped in lotus leaves, placed on a plate, and steamed over high heat until done. It is characterized by green-yellow color, fragrant lotus leaves, soft and fluffy texture, rich but not greasy, and has the functions of clearing heat and detoxifying and lowering cholesterol.

Lotus Leaf Duck is a traditional nourishing famous dish. It uses green lotus leaves grown in lotus root ponds to wrap a plump and tender duck, with fresh and tender, floury ingredients as filling. To make this dish, you need to master the heat to bring out the unique flavor. Because of the fresh lotus leaves, it is fragrant, the duck meat is smooth and tender, the filling is delicious, and it has the functions of nourishing the stomach, promoting body fluid, strengthening essence, and replenishing qi.

Stir-fried Li River Shrimp is a typical Guilin flavor dish. It uses river shrimp from the Li River in Guilin, stir-fried with a little Guilin Sanhua wine. Because the Li River water is clear and cool, the shrimp meat is tender and pure, retaining the original flavor. This dish has a bright red color like gems, a crisp and tender texture, and a light fragrance, and you can taste the purity and sweetness of the Li River water.

Guilin Field Snails, named because they grow in rice paddies. They are characterized by large size, plump meat, and delicious taste. When cooking the snails, you must use Guilin's special pickled chili peppers, and add green onions, ginger, Sanhua wine, and other ingredients to stir-fry and cook. When eating, the taste is sour, spicy, and delicious, especially appetizing. When cooking, you need to knock off the tail of the snail to allow the flavor to penetrate and to make it easier to suck out the meat.

Guilin Sponge Cake is made by grinding an appropriate amount of glutinous rice mixed with japonica rice into flour, mixing it with a little brown sugar water, and then sprinkling the semi-dry semi-wet rice flour layer by layer into a steaming bucket and steaming for one to two hours until thoroughly cooked. Freshly steamed sponge cake is the best. The steaming hot sponge cake is usually sliced, soft and refreshing, sweet and pleasant. If paired with diced Lipu taro, the taste is even more wonderful.

Fenli is made by finely grinding high-quality rice into a slurry, rolling it into small cylinders, steaming until 80% done, then taking it out and drying. Guilin Fenli is said to be on the market around winter and Spring Festival. When eating, cut into strips, stir-fry with cured meat, celery or cauliflower, green garlic, etc., and serve. It is characterized by bright color, delicious taste, fragrant and smooth.

At this point, our Guilin trip ended. We ate well, played well, and the scenery was great! Guilin left us a wonderful impression. Let's make a date, friends, you will not regret this trip.