Wednesday, October 29, 2008
After the "Impression", we were all quite annoyed because we had been feeding those bastard mosquitoes for nearly an hour. The whole crowd left immediately after the show, but we were not really impressed by the show because there were not much surprise or breakthrough, though I have to admit that they do put some effort in completing the show. We reached our mini-van after a few minutes walk and headed our accommodation. We were a bit tired but we had not had our walk along the night market in Guilin near our hotel. It was nearly 9pm and the market was heating up with the crowd increasing.
We had to walk for about ten minutes before reaching the market and along the path, we stopped by some shops with special discounts on their goods. When we reached the market, we were a bit surprised by the crowded atmosphere and we could wait to drill ourselves into the crowd. I did saw some VCDs and DVDs of "The Impression" but I bet they were all pirated because of the difference in price. There were a lot of handicrafts available here, but they were all quite costly. One handmade ball-bell for RMB10, but you can actually get one for less than RMB5.
Somewhere near the entrance.
Knitting and marbles handicraft. Quite significant, but expensive.
To finish the whole street, you need around 1 hour or maybe more, if you are a shopaholic. 
Catchy keychains with food, e.g. sushi, pork steak...
An interesting name for a restaurant, 没有饭店 ("No Restaurant" in English).There were quite some bars and pubs along the market street, mostly managed by foreigners who enjoyed staying in Guilin and opened their own business here. We were told that most foreigners worked in their own country for several months and they saved all their earnings to spend in Guilin. They would spend quite a period of time in Guilin till they finished spending their money and they would go back to their own country again, repeating the loop again. I'm really impressed by their freelance spirit, but I won't do so. Not my style.
The walk was getting bored very soon as I couldn't find anything that really caught my attention. We went back at around 11pm, but suddenly realized that one of my uncles was lost!! OMG!! We searched every alley and corner but all we could find was nothing. We were so worried he might have got abducted, drugged or whatever. We couldn't reach his cellphone and everyone of us panicked. We gave up looking for him, assuring ourselves with all kinds of reasons. Maybe he just went back to the hotel. When we reached our hotel, he was actually in his room watching tv!!! WALAU EH!!! My grandma scolded him like a kid and the whole scene was so funny. Enough of the nag, we all went for our sweet sleep.
Time passed by without noticed and it was our last day in Guilin. We had our breakfast in the reastaurant's cafeteria. BUFFET!!! The food was okay but I didn't eat much. Still dozing.
My uncle noticed this hill and there was actually a small house on top of it. Zoom and look.
My uncle noticed this hill and there was actually a small house on top of it. Zoom and look.The breakfast was brief and we left for our next destination, 叠彩山 (I don't the English translation for this, "Mount Die Chai"). We were told that this mountain was actually Guilin highest mountain, but it would be a dwarf if compared to Malaysia's Mount Kinabalu. There was nothing really special about that mountain, unless you are interested in history and myth of Guilin. I forgot much of the story but I'll just let the pictures tell the story.
Welcome to Mount Die Chai.
There were people available to carry you up with that traditional bamboo-thing, but for RMB200+. 
I like this dragon+turtle statue pouring water. The water was actually filtered naturally, cold and icy.
Finally, almost the top of the hill.
Here is the famous Wind Cave (Not the one in Malaysia) in Guilin. Very historical and mythical.
Cheese~ 
风洞, Wind Cave~~
The portrait of some patriots and poets. And also some Buddhism carvings.
Hehe. 
Ei, I think I messed up the whole story!!
We walked so many stairs in Guilin.
Continued walking.... 
Some old village near the mountain... 
The bird-view of Guilin city from the top of the mountain. 
The sky was quite foggy because it was raining...again...
Hehe, my retarded face!! Leaving now~
I don't know why, but my fingers looked a bit deformed here.... 
Next destination. Read the plate from the right to left, not the reverse. 
The garden was quite good looking. 
Another dwarf-like mountain. 
Peacock bushes~i like this one so much. 
Here's the famous LiJiang, again. 
During the winter, some beh-kia-si people will come here for winter swim. Weird hobby.
Here's the endangered tribe in Guilin, 水上人家 (Water Resident? No idea...)Talking about the 水上人家, these people had been living on their boats in the river for their whole generation and they have some weird "restrictions" regarding their lives in the river. If someone were found drowning in the water by these people, they were not allowed to save those drowning victims, directly. They assumed that if they saved those victims, they would be considered unrespectful towards the God of the Sea, as it was the god's will to drown them. The most they could do was to pull you out from the river and put you on a random isle near the river, but not on the land. The China Government tried to presuade those people to live on land, but many of them could not get used to the modern living on land. Weird huh...
This is the 千人锅 (Thousand People's pot). It was used to cook food for thousands of refugees in a temple during the Japanese attack. The Japanese bombed the temple and the pot was a little bit damaged. The authorities moved the pot from the temple to here and preserved it well. 
An ancient bell passed down for generations. The bell was carved with hundreds of officials and poets to show their protest against the emperor's decision to marry the princess to the barbarian's ruler.
There was an entrance near the ancient bell leading towards another side of the mountain.
There were alot of these Buddhism statues carved along the passage decades ago. 
Two poets playing Chinese chess?
The 还珠河 (River HuanZhu).
Look at that direction pointed by the lady. That was the most precious and age-old artifact carved on the wall. The carvings were fading so you can't see them clearly.
WAH!!! ADMANTIUS ("women of steel" in Latin) CARRYING A GIANT STONE!!!
This is actually the legendary stone which was penetrated by the legendary General's arrow.
These are the pictures drawn by blowing the ink onto the paper. Found it at the hill foot.
This is the statue of legendary General whom I've mentioned just now. Today is actually the last day for us in Guilin. We had to be at the train station before 6pm so we had our our dinner a bit early at the local restaurant. We were served with their famous Cantonese food and I have to admit that the food is really good.
Roasted duck~with it's head served. "Please eat me~~Dumb DUMB!!"
I like this one too. Fried fish fillet with sweet and sour sauce.
What is this?? Oh ya, deep fried fish with sauce. It's just so so.
Steamed winter melon. This is my first time having winter melon in a such creative approach. Nice!
This is pork with yam (or taro). Guilin's specialty. You have to have both the meat and yam together.
I like their toilet. I mean their washing basin. For their toilet, every toilet is connected with a drain. If someone had their poo poo at the other toilet, you could actually see their "gold" flowing along the drain. Yucks!
The restaurant's interior, very oriental.
We finished everything, except some of the yams. Lol, not enough meat to eat with.
So, this is the look of the restaurant.After the dinner, we were brought to a famous silk showroom in Guilin. I was trying to take a few photos in it but I was caught by the salesgirl. Damn. One of them actually followed me for some time to make sure I was being obedient. Anyway, they said that many country leaders came to Guilin for their high quality silk, but I don't buy that anyway. The silk produce here are quite expensive, due to their quality and workmanship. But the only trouble is their designs are a bit off-fashion. Or outdated in other words. Big flowers and cheackboards design, but many people prefer plain design these days. Anyway, the quality is really good. One pillow with so-called therapy purpose and silk sheet cost RMB100+...walau eh...
I only managed to take this photo. Can you see Dr. M in it?After the silk factory, we were to a nearby massage centre, specially made available for those retired armies, but we were given a chance to try it. Actually, the whole massage centre was based on Tibetan medicine, with Tibetan physicians there. We were told that Tibetan physicians normally practise their diagnosis by looking at their patients palm and face. Something similar to the Chinese fortune teller stuff. Believe it or not, I don't really. Talking about massage, I really "enjoyed" the massage there because my massager kept on touching and "molesting" my feet, instead of giving me pain and scream. The most important thing is that massager is a GUY!!! WALAU EH!!! THAT WAS SO GAYISH!!!!
That's one of the Tibetan physician giving the introduction.
This is the typical map you see at every massage center. I don't really understand those feet.Well, the massage was a new experience for me, especially when a guy "molested" my hairy feet. Maybe he just like the way my feet smells. Anyway, at the massage center, there were a few Tibetan physician giving everyone of us a little examination on our palm and the way they speak was what I expected. There are only two ways: 1, they would say that you are very healthy, but you would need one or two of their "specially" prescribed medication; 2, they would look t at you with a very mysterious and frightening look, and say that you need urgent treatment because your sickness would cause you a lot trouble. Some believed them, but it might need a lot more effort to convince me anything about this.
It was getting late so we had to hurry up for our train. Before we reached the train station, we were brought to another shopping street in Guilin, somewhere near the station. We should be there at the first place when we reached Guilin because there were a lot more stuff to look at here. But anyway, we had to rush so we just bought some mineral water and bread for our first train trip!! Haha, it was actually our 1st time taking a long-distance trip by train. Kinda excited though.
That was our train's departure time. Have to fight and rush to reach our seat in the train... 
This is the toilet at the train station, very similar to the one at the restaurant I mentioned just now.
Me in the train!!! Hehe, inaugural trip, here we go!!When the gate opened, everyone rushed and squeezed as if the train station is going to exploded within seconds. It was quite far before we could reach our designated compartment and we didn't really have much time to take extra breathe. Everyone became Hercules in that instant because we had to carry our burdensome luggages and we actually ran with them! Adrenaline really helped a lot when we got nervous and stressed. We booked 6 hard-beds and the beds we booked were actually not so bad for such considerate price. The journey was a bit bumpy at first, but when you got too tired and sleepy, you won't anything while sleeping.
On the way to GuangZHou~~~
That's the kitchen in the train.
The seats in the cafeteria.That's all for the train and Guilin. For the details about the train, i'll just make it brief. There were ladies selling almost every basic stuff you need along the trip, e.g. food, toothbrush, fruits, drinks, towels and many more. Except those rubber tubes (if you get what I meant ^^). There were toilets and basins at every end of the compartments, and also hot-and-cold water. We left Guilin at around 7pm and arrived in Guangzhou 13 hours later, approximately 8am. Not bad for my first train experience.
I guess that's all for Guilin and the coming posts will be about GuangZhou. So, thank you for visiting my blog. Best wishes to everyone and may the angels of love be with us who are away from home and families. Frankly speaking, I really miss my hometown, though I promised my parents not to be so homesick. But, as I always say, "外国的月亮特别圆，但终会有点缺，而那块缺就是家. The moon in foreign places looks specially round, but there is always something missing and that something is the feeling of being home." Home is always the best and warmest place on earth. I love you all!!! See you all when I'm back to Kuching!!! Till next time, take care and bye bye!!!
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