China - Part 2

April 16, 2009 - Day 4 - Qing Xiu Tourist Park, Yiling Cave

Qing Xiu bills itself as a tourist resort and is a vast park with sightseeing attractions at various points, much like a theme park. And while many of these buildings look like they've been around for a long time, there were lots of other things that were being built as we walked through the park which made me wonder if the whole place was built just so they could charge an entrace fee...

Looks old, but seems to serve no purpose but house the stairs leading to the next floor. All 9 floors contain nothing. It's hard to imagine this being an honest historic building... Note the lights placed on every level.

At first glance, however, things sure are pretty...

See??

The pond in front of the building above is packed with koi. A few RMB buys you a bag of "feed for the ornamental fishes" that lets you send them into a feeding frenzy. It's quite a scene to watch, especially with the sound of splashing water that goes with it.

The view of Nanning from that 9-storey tower I posted above. Note the dense urban lanscape and things (like the bridge) constantly "under construction", all nestled within lush vegetation and encroaching on the farmland. I think it's symbolic of China...

The Yiling Cave is actually an entire spectacle in itself. A free hourly tour has natives of the area take you around their park, showing you various things of their culture. Things like traditional dance, crafts, and food, including a very delicious rice wine made from sticky rice. Food that rather hostile monkeys like to sneak up and steal. Our guide was careful to warn us that they are not trained nor are they docile, though not violent. They can (and did) take things from people.

Of course, you can't name a place Yiling Cave without having a cave. Like the mountain market on the Vietnamese border and the Qing Xiu park, they've done their best to make it as much of an attraction as possible to make as money as possible. Here, the 1km walk through the cave shows off various exhibits. While they're basically someone's wild imagination accentuated and justified by strategic lighting, it does add a bit of spice to what would otherwise be just a long walk through a dark cave. This one is two lions sitting down. Their eyes glow red...

Indeed it is...

April 17, 2009 - Day 5 - Longji rice fields

The climax of the trip, and rightly so. While they're not the only place that terraced rice fields can be found, these are particularly large. These are actually a part of a larger rice field area known as the Longsheng Terraces, although what separates the two main fields is simply distance. Otherwise, they're pretty similar.

Being a mountain top terrace field, it does include a walk up the mountain. Free of charge. Actually, I'm lying- it wasn't free. You have you buy a ticket before they let you go up...

After hiking to the highest lookout point, you're greeted by an amazing view of the terraces cradling the village the farmers live in. As you can see, they've only just started to fill the fields with water and over the next few months, the entire mountain side will start to look like a giant stepped mirror with all the strips of water reflecting the sky. Click here for a full-sized version of this picture.

While many in the village still farm, others are very happy to sell you lots of things to supplement their income. Things like handmade scarves...

Much like the rest of China, the villagers have embraced tourism as a means of earning extra income. But the village is still a functional farming village first, evidenced by people going about their daily lives. Click here for a full-sized version.

As mentioned before, embracing tourism means almost every building in the village has been converted into a restaurant or a hotel. We stayed at the Longji One Hotel, which is a relatively new 4 storey building. Aside from the amazing view, the photojournalist owner and his wife have given the hotel fantastic charm. The hotel is entirely wood and all the furnishings are wood, wicker, or rope. Note the slices of tree trunk that act as stools and table legs.

Or these coat hangers. The hotel is actually extremely comfortable with all the modern amenities. And with the brown tones complementing the greenery outside, the quiet mountain range punctuated by roosters crowing and pigs oinking in the distance, the fresh air carrying the faint smell of... well... manure mostly... it's one of the most calming experiences imaginable.

April 18, 2009 - Day 6 - Guilin

On the last day, we left Longji in the morning and made the trek towards Guilin. A popular tourist destination, we spent a few hours there before catching a plane back to Shenzhen. I did manage to see one of the most famous sights in Guilin- the Elephant Rock.

It's a rock. That looks like an elephant...

Actually, the whole park is elephant themed...

"AND"?!? No wonder the seats are always empty...

And that's it. Like that, the tour was over, I was back in the crowded metropolis of Hong Kong, wondering how all the terraces were replaced with high rises so quickly. A day after that, I was back in Japan.

And for all that I thought was similar between Japan and China, I can see now just how wrong I was...

I'll have more time to explore that side of things as well, as starting from next week, I'll be off to various other parts of Japan. See you then...