Guilin

I enjoyed a stay in Yang Shou in September. There was haze all the time but
I also observed the same hazy conditions as I moved south through Vietnam
and Cambodia. I liked Yangshou. Tourism is the main activity but I guess
most people using this group are tourists of some sort. With tourism
increasing there is a lot of building in progress and the town area was
dusty. Construction appears to be controlled to maintain a style not out of
place with the older existing structures.
Accommodation was good value, a wide range of tasty food available and
people were very friendly. What impressed me more than anything I saw no
uncared for child.
Hire a cycle or motor cycle taxi to take you out of the township for some
outstanding scenery. A raft trip should provide some good shots. Off the
tarmac roads cycle tracks or footpaths are the only links other than the
river and a guide or map showing off road tracks highly desirable. I was
unable to get a good map.
I didn't look for rice terraces.
Jim
 >> Stay informed about: Guilin 

Alfred Molon <alfred_molonREMOVE DeleteThis @yahoo.com> writes:

 > Could it be that Guilin is overrated ? The karst scenery with peaks and

Stay at Yangshuo, not Guilin. The landscape there is really beautiful,
certainly worth to see.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Guilin 

Head to Yangzhou. You can catch a bus from Guilin.
Yangzhou has some beautiful countryside surrounded by those karst peaks.
Renting a bike to ride through the countryside is the way to do it. One of
the days I was there, we rode to Half Moon Peak (picture:
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.raysadventures.com/china/photos/ChinaTrip1996/HalfMoonMtn-China.html" target="_blank">http://www.raysadventures.com/china/photos/ChinaTrip1996/HalfMoonMtn-China.html</a> )
..
You can read more about it here:
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.raysadventures.com/forum/about29.html" target="_blank">http://www.raysadventures.com/forum/about29.html</a>

Enjoy the trip.
--

Raymond

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"R@L" <reply.DeleteThis@usenet.com> wrote in message
news:e2f73$419d1d3d$513b789c$15240@news1.zonnet.nl...
 > "Alfred Molon" <alfred_molonREMOVE.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
 > news:MPG.1c071afa224771f798a8e3@news.supernews.com...
  >>I browsed through some photo galleries about Guilin and Yangshuo on
  >> pbase.com and I'm not that impressed. Most photos showed Guilin covered
  >> with clouds or fog, and the scenery was not too impressive. The only
  >> interesting thing seemed to be those rice terraces. By comparison,
  >> Zhongdian in Yunnan seemed much more interesting (based on the photos I
  >> saw).
  >>
  >> Could it be that Guilin is overrated ? The karst scenery with peaks and
  >> caves is also available elsewhere in East Asia - it looks for instance
  >> much better in southern Thailand in the Pha Nga bay and around Krabi. Or
  >> am I missing something ?
  >> --
  >>
  >> Alfred Molon
  >>
  >> <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm" target="_blank">http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm</a> - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
  >> Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Germany, Austria,
  >> Prague, Budapest and Portugal
 >
 > It all comes down to you own percetion of course.
 > I loved the scenery combined with the friendly people. I advise you to
 > hire a bike.
 > Also Yangshou is kind of special to me. I love it for the atmosphere and
 > the people -again- who are most interested and loving the contact.
 > This atmosphere you also find in Dali.
 > Zhongdian is different. The monks are nice but there is no atmosphere
 > whatsoever that make you spend the evening there. The scenery, the plane
 > especially, is lovely but that depends on the time of year. Best in
 > summer.
 > What's overrated, in my opinion, is Lijiang. That looks like a Disney
 > park.
 > One tip: visit Lugu Lake in Sichuan but close to Zhongdian/Dali.
 >
 > Ronald
 >
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Guilin 

"Raybman" <ray DeleteThis @raysadventures.com> wrote in message news:<o%1qd.161423$R05.33617@attbi_s53>...
 > Head to Yangzhou. You can catch a bus from Guilin.
 > Yangzhou has some beautiful countryside surrounded by those karst peaks.
 > Renting a bike to ride through the countryside is the way to do it. One of
 > the days I was there, we rode to Half Moon Peak (picture:
 > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.raysadventures.com/china/photos/ChinaTrip1996/HalfMoonMtn-China.html" target="_blank">http://www.raysadventures.com/china/photos/ChinaTrip1996/HalfMoonMtn-China.html</a> )
 > .
 > You can read more about it here:
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.raysadventures.com/forum/about29.html</font" target="_blank">http://www.raysadventures.com/forum/about29.html</font</a>>
 >
 > Enjoy the trip.
 > --
 >
 > Raymond
 >
 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.esparzawebdesign.com" target="_blank">www.esparzawebdesign.com</a> - Website Creation and Consulting
 > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.raysadventures.com" target="_blank">www.raysadventures.com</a> - Travel Experiences
 > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.raysadventures.com/forum" target="_blank">www.raysadventures.com/forum</a> - Travel Forum
 > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 >
 >
 > "R@L" <reply DeleteThis @usenet.com> wrote in message
 > news:e2f73$419d1d3d$513b789c$15240@news1.zonnet.nl...
  > > "Alfred Molon" <alfred_molonREMOVE DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote in message
  > > news:MPG.1c071afa224771f798a8e3@news.supernews.com...
   > >>I browsed through some photo galleries about Guilin and Yangshuo on
   > >> pbase.com and I'm not that impressed. Most photos showed Guilin covered
   > >> with clouds or fog, and the scenery was not too impressive. The only
   > >> interesting thing seemed to be those rice terraces. By comparison,
   > >> Zhongdian in Yunnan seemed much more interesting (based on the photos I
   > >> saw).
   > >>
   > >> Could it be that Guilin is overrated ? The karst scenery with peaks and
   > >> caves is also available elsewhere in East Asia - it looks for instance
   > >> much better in southern Thailand in the Pha Nga bay and around Krabi. Or
   > >> am I missing something ?
   > >> --
   > >>
   > >> Alfred Molon
   > >>
   > >> <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm" target="_blank">http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm</a> - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
   > >> Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Germany, Austria,
   > >> Prague, Budapest and Portugal
  > >
  > > It all comes down to you own percetion of course.
  > > I loved the scenery combined with the friendly people. I advise you to
  > > hire a bike.
  > > Also Yangshou is kind of special to me. I love it for the atmosphere and
  > > the people -again- who are most interested and loving the contact.
  > > This atmosphere you also find in Dali.
  > > Zhongdian is different. The monks are nice but there is no atmosphere
  > > whatsoever that make you spend the evening there. The scenery, the plane
  > > especially, is lovely but that depends on the time of year. Best in
  > > summer.
  > > What's overrated, in my opinion, is Lijiang. That looks like a Disney
  > > park.
  > > One tip: visit Lugu Lake in Sichuan but close to Zhongdian/Dali.
  > >
  > > Ronald
  > >
  > >
  > >

Guilin has nothing going for it, and if possible don't even consider
staying overnight there. Take a bus immediately on arrival at Guilin
for Yangshou, which takes about one hour if I remember. Yes, the Li
River is certainly worth doing but do not take the boat downstream
from Guilin coz the cost for foreigners is outrageous. Instead take a
boat upstream from Yangshou, which is much cheaper and goes about
2/3rds up towards Guilin before returning back to Guilin. The best
scenery is in the middle between Yangshou and Guilin so you will still
see as much as the expensive Guilin boat. But the boats are fairly
basic and it is best to take your own lunch. Most of the travellers on
our boat took their rented bicycles on the boat and hopped off on the
way back to Yangshou at a village about 2 hours cycling time from
Yangshou. Yes, renting a bike at Yangshou and touring the nearby
sights is a great way to spend your time, but allow yourself a few
days to just hang about Yangshou and appreciate the atmosphere.
Patrick<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Guilin 

In article <1fba6ffe.0411272026.55cc24ea.RemoveThis@posting.google.com>, Patrick
says...

 > Guilin has nothing going for it, and if possible don't even consider
 > staying overnight there. Take a bus immediately on arrival at Guilin
 > for Yangshou, which takes about one hour if I remember. Yes, the Li
 > River is certainly worth doing but do not take the boat downstream
 > from Guilin coz the cost for foreigners is outrageous. Instead take a
 > boat upstream from Yangshou, which is much cheaper and goes about
 > 2/3rds up towards Guilin before returning back to Guilin. The best
 > scenery is in the middle between Yangshou and Guilin so you will still
 > see as much as the expensive Guilin boat. But the boats are fairly
 > basic and it is best to take your own lunch. Most of the travellers on
 > our boat took their rented bicycles on the boat and hopped off on the
 > way back to Yangshou at a village about 2 hours cycling time from
 > Yangshou. Yes, renting a bike at Yangshou and touring the nearby
 > sights is a great way to spend your time, but allow yourself a few
 > days to just hang about Yangshou and appreciate the atmosphere.

I just came back and agree that Guilin can be skipped in favour of
Yangshuo (the boat trip from Guilin to Yangshuo is however interesting,
but you have to do it in the right season (rainy season is best, because
the sky will be clear after the rain). By the way, the Reed Flute cave
in Guilin is GREAT - even better than the Mulu NP caves in Malaysia.
--

Alfred Molon

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm" target="_blank">http://www.molon.de/Galleries.htm</a> - Photos from Myanmar, Brunei,
Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Egypt, Germany, Austria,
Prague, Budapest and Portugal<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Guilin