Sunday, October 12, 2008
Following the 4th of September, after the bamboo raft trip along the river, we headed for lunch at the local restaurant. The food there was so authentic and a bit similar to Malaysian style that we considered it the best food we ever had in Guilin. The restaurant was called 农家庄 (maybe "Peasant Restaurant"?). The environment was very relaxing. Imagine having your lunch with your family near the silent river. Sounds so idyllic. Here's some pictures again. Enjoy.
Welcome to 农家庄!
The environment here is so pretty, like what I expected. 
We saw this floating balloon which is big enough to fit 3 persons near the river, but we could not find the person responsible for it, so no fun... 
So, this is where they store the unused bamboo rafts. 
I took this at the restaurant. A scenic view, isn't it?
This was what we had for lunch. I actually enjoyed all the food. It's finger licking good!
This is the 辣油鸡. I liked it too.
This is the steamed conch. Not bad, just not so fleshy.
Watermelon fishies!The food suited our appetite and as for myself, I wanted to have more but we had to keep up with our itinerary. Next location, river tour at 漓江 LiJiang. We had to walk through a small village before we could reach our boat. When we entered the village, I could feel like I went back 30 years ago in China. You'll get what I meant later in the photos.
This is too blur, but you'll get the picture. 
Walking through the village. The villagers there kept on looking at us in an eerie look through their houses' windows. So scary. 
This is the SiFu making paper fans. He's good in what he's doing.
I took this at the fan factory. I love it.
Cute kitten scratching its back on the broom. So cute.
Tiny woolen shoes for babies. But I bet the prices are not cheap because this is a tourist area.
Still walking. These buildings are a bit ancient to me.
These dolls were my favorite. So mischievous.
Thai-style mini cab.
Here's our ship!
The inner view of the ship. Quite cozy. We had watermelons, peanuts and tea in the ship.Before we entered our mini-cruise, the weather was superb. But when all of us stepped our feet into the ship, rain poured down like buckets of water. The rain was really a wet blanket...
Poor cow...
These are the Phoenix bamboo. 
We went up the ship for a closer view of the river when the rain was smaller. 
You can see China flags everywhere in the tourist area. Unlike Malaysia...
I forgot what's so special about that house. Maybe it's age.
A small village near the river.
These are the fish farm, with algaes around. Anyway, the river was green because it was rich with algae. Very clean and unpolluted.
Well, the river trip wasn't very long, but the view was magnificent. We seldom see such clean and well-protected river in Malaysia, even in my own hometown. When we reached the port, the rain just stopped. What a joke.
We went back our mini-bus and headed our hotel. This time, our hotel was better than the previous ones, because we were in a 4-STAR HOTEL!! Wow, our last and best hotel. There's a late-night shopping area near the hotel, but we had to wait till night for it. But anyway, we didn't have any spare time to stroll around the hotel because as soon as we had settle down our luggage, we had to go to another place, for our "main-course" in Guilin, the "Impression SanJie Liu 印象刘三姐". All of us in the tour was having great expectation for that live show because we had been hearing a lot of praising comments about it. My father went for it last year and one of his friends recorded down the whole show. In the tape, the show was so grand and marvelous, but I still wanted to see it with my own eyes.
I saw these clay-made puppets at the hotel hall. Pretty, right?
We had our dinner in the hotel before we left and the service was superb (compared to our previous dinner). The name of our room was special and regarding the food, it was just so so.
Our dinner room! In english, means "Fairy's room". 
These 仙女果 (i don't know the english name, maybe Fairy's Fruit?) should be, but these were a bit sour... 
These are deep fried shrimps, but barely anyone had eaten it because of sanitary reasons. 
A brief look of our dinner, didn't have much time.
The show was going to start at around 8pm but we had to be there earlier because the seats were always almost-full everytime. A bit exaggerating, right? But that was a fact. We reached there at around 7.30pm and the whole hall was flooded with tour groups. The hawkers there were clever enough to rent you binoculars, coats, electronic fans, and even mosquitoe repellers for sale. If you were clever enough, you won't buy or rent anything from them, not only the price was a bit outrageous, but the troubles awaiting. I was told that if you rent their binoculars, when you returned them, the owner would find whatever excuses to accuse you for breaking their binoculars. Some even spoilt the binoculars because renting them out.
When it was around 7.40pm, we went in the hall and we were each given a one-time-use raincoat, in case of raining. We walked along the path for around 5 minutes with the crowd and when we reached our seats, we were shocked with the amount of people attending the show. It was 10 minutes before show and the seats were already full. Anyway, we were allowed to take photos or record them using your camcorders, but my c702 could perform well with dimmy light. What a waste...
So many people waiting for the show. 
Oops, shaky hands. We were walking to the stage, exercising at the same time.
These were the crowd waiting, impatiently. Quite noisy too. 
This is my ticket for the show.
My uncle bought this DVD of the show as a souvenir. RMB50 o. 
The show started soon, but this was what my c702 managed to do...
The show was very grand, with the lighting, sound and people.
Poor cow...
These are the Phoenix bamboo. 
We went up the ship for a closer view of the river when the rain was smaller. 
You can see China flags everywhere in the tourist area. Unlike Malaysia...
I forgot what's so special about that house. Maybe it's age.
A small village near the river.
These are the fish farm, with algaes around. Anyway, the river was green because it was rich with algae. Very clean and unpolluted.Well, the river trip wasn't very long, but the view was magnificent. We seldom see such clean and well-protected river in Malaysia, even in my own hometown. When we reached the port, the rain just stopped. What a joke.
We went back our mini-bus and headed our hotel. This time, our hotel was better than the previous ones, because we were in a 4-STAR HOTEL!! Wow, our last and best hotel. There's a late-night shopping area near the hotel, but we had to wait till night for it. But anyway, we didn't have any spare time to stroll around the hotel because as soon as we had settle down our luggage, we had to go to another place, for our "main-course" in Guilin, the "Impression SanJie Liu 印象刘三姐". All of us in the tour was having great expectation for that live show because we had been hearing a lot of praising comments about it. My father went for it last year and one of his friends recorded down the whole show. In the tape, the show was so grand and marvelous, but I still wanted to see it with my own eyes.
I saw these clay-made puppets at the hotel hall. Pretty, right? We had our dinner in the hotel before we left and the service was superb (compared to our previous dinner). The name of our room was special and regarding the food, it was just so so.
Our dinner room! In english, means "Fairy's room". 
These 仙女果 (i don't know the english name, maybe Fairy's Fruit?) should be, but these were a bit sour... 
These are deep fried shrimps, but barely anyone had eaten it because of sanitary reasons. 
A brief look of our dinner, didn't have much time. The show was going to start at around 8pm but we had to be there earlier because the seats were always almost-full everytime. A bit exaggerating, right? But that was a fact. We reached there at around 7.30pm and the whole hall was flooded with tour groups. The hawkers there were clever enough to rent you binoculars, coats, electronic fans, and even mosquitoe repellers for sale. If you were clever enough, you won't buy or rent anything from them, not only the price was a bit outrageous, but the troubles awaiting. I was told that if you rent their binoculars, when you returned them, the owner would find whatever excuses to accuse you for breaking their binoculars. Some even spoilt the binoculars because renting them out.
When it was around 7.40pm, we went in the hall and we were each given a one-time-use raincoat, in case of raining. We walked along the path for around 5 minutes with the crowd and when we reached our seats, we were shocked with the amount of people attending the show. It was 10 minutes before show and the seats were already full. Anyway, we were allowed to take photos or record them using your camcorders, but my c702 could perform well with dimmy light. What a waste...
So many people waiting for the show. 
Oops, shaky hands. We were walking to the stage, exercising at the same time.
These were the crowd waiting, impatiently. Quite noisy too. 
This is my ticket for the show.
My uncle bought this DVD of the show as a souvenir. RMB50 o. 
The show started soon, but this was what my c702 managed to do...
The show was very grand, with the lighting, sound and people.The show ended at around 9pm, not the time I expected for a grand show like it. It was too short and a bit different from what I saw in the tape recorded. It was less fascinating and surprising than what I expected, though it was still a good show directed by Zhang YiMou 张艺谋, the international Chinese director. The only thing that left me a alot of disturbance and anger was some of the irresponsible and low-quality audiences. They spitted a lot and the sound they made was an ear-sore. Some talked as if they were shouting and some childish adults even play with his bamboo whistle during the show. The smell of cigarrattes pissed me off a lot too. Bad experience, though a great show.
That's all I have for today, though I've delayed a lot. It was a hectic these days because of some activities by the Malaysia Student Association (MSA) and Malaysia Cultural Tourism (CT). I was also a bit annoyed too by some personal matters. They were quite offensive so I don't want to post them in my blog. Anyway, thank you to whoever visited my blog. A bit boring, huh? Bye Bye~
That's all I have for today, though I've delayed a lot. It was a hectic these days because of some activities by the Malaysia Student Association (MSA) and Malaysia Cultural Tourism (CT). I was also a bit annoyed too by some personal matters. They were quite offensive so I don't want to post them in my blog. Anyway, thank you to whoever visited my blog. A bit boring, huh? Bye Bye~
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Okay, regarding the part that I missed for 3rd of September, there's actually not much to tell about, but at least there's something that I would like to share with you all. Before I forget, I forgot to mention to you all that we even went for foot massaging in GuiLin. It was my first time going to such place because in Kuching, most massaging centre are not-so-clean. Okay, enough of the crap. Here we go.
I didn't take much photo for this tea house because my handphone was in low battery mode and I was also lazy taking pictures. All I wanted to do at that moment was to enjoy my cup of tea in peace. Mmmm....
My aunts and granma.
The tea set. I heard that they cost more than thousand for the whole complete set of it. 
Our introducer had very good charisma because she's good at talking. Even when she asked you to buy even more of their tea leaves.
This tea has a little bit of Ginseng, but I like it, just that the price was not as what I expected.
This one smells nice and tastes nice too. You have to slurp loudly whe you drink it. It won't be so hot when you do so.
There were a lot of flowers,桂花 in it and one flower is enough for a cup of tea.
This tea brick is PuEr, 普洱茶, one of the best tea from YuNan. This one is the purest of all and it cost more than hundred for one block. Expensive, but good quality.
This is also PuEr, but a little bit low quality because it is darker and not as fragile as the PuEr tea brick. You cannt drink tea with an empty stomach, but not for PuEr. Nice huh.The lady in the tea house told us that PuEr tea is the most precious tea in the world because the older the tea grows, the better quality it will be. Some of the tea leaves are hundreds years old. I was surprised to hear that you could even ask for some of your money back if you couldn't finish your PuEr tea. Just bring your tea to the tea house with your certificate and that's all. It was so precious that you will be given a certificate to certify your PuEr is authentic and as a recognition that PuEr is some sort of priceless collection. I thought tea is just a drink, but this changed the way how I think about tea.
What is this poo-like thingy standing near the entrance?
Haha, it's PuEr tea! But it's look is a bit odd for me.Next stop, massage center. It was raining cats and dogs but that didn't put out our passion to travel in GuiLin. The center was a bit dim, but relaxing. We were told to give a little tips for those massagers as appreciation to them. A few RMB will do. Anyway, it was a whole new experience for me to visit such place. We had to soak our smelly legs into buckets of herbal "soup" to remove the smell first so that our massagers won't faint before they touch our feet.
Cosy lazy-chairs made me sleepy. 
We even had TV in our massage place. 
This is my hairy feet. I really admired those who dare to massage my feet, or smell them. 
And this is Tiffiny's.
And these are our feet.Talking of Tiffiny, she seemed to enjoy her massage a lot, not only that it was relaxing and soothing, Tiffiny laughed alot during the massaging process. Why? Her massager seemed to tickle her alot and she just couldn't resist the tickle. But it's okay to feel tickled, because some massagers give you a hell lot of pain, though it's a good thing.
We left the center after nearly 1 hour there. We went to have our dinner at the local restaurant, mainly specialised in Cantonese food. The food was just okay, but I still enjoy eating them.
This is the local brand Cola. In Guilin, the real Coca-Cola is more expensive than their local beer. 
This is what we had for dinner.
One of my favourite, steamed sauce Chicken. 
Mini scallops, but not so nice.
We left the center after nearly 1 hour there. We went to have our dinner at the local restaurant, mainly specialised in Cantonese food. The food was just okay, but I still enjoy eating them.
This is the local brand Cola. In Guilin, the real Coca-Cola is more expensive than their local beer. 
This is what we had for dinner. 
One of my favourite, steamed sauce Chicken. 
Mini scallops, but not so nice.After dinner, we rushed to our next destination, 梦幻漓江 for our long anticipated live show. The whole place was full with buses and vans from different tour agencies. We managed to squeeze ourself in and we had the last row of seat because our tour guide said that from her past experience, sitting in front of the stage is not so ideal because it will be too loud and you can't see the whole stage. She's right. Oh ya, we were not allowed to take any pictures during the show.
Welcome to Dream River Lijiang!
The stage of the show. 
After the show, all the actors and actress gathered at the hall for everyone to take pictures.
Another picture.
Bye bye~
After the fascinating show, we were brought by our tour guide to the famous 日月塔. I forgot the English name for them, but I call them the Guilin Twin Tower. When we first reached the location, we could see a glowing white orb in the middle of a circle altar. We walked further till we reached the famous 日月湖 and there stood the Twin Tower I mentioned. Those tower were not any historical building, but the tourism department of Guilin built them. I cannot deny the beauty of the towers, but besides that, there's nothing much to do there.
Looks like the Pagoda.
We turned on the Night Mode and the effect was different.
We didn't stop for too long and next we headed the palace in Guilin. It was not as magnificent as the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, but it still caught my attention. There was an artificial fountain nearby, but I mistaken the fountain for water leakage before the tour guide told me about it. Sorry for that.
There's the Palace. We could not get nearer so this was it.
From the palace to the fountain. Too small for you to notice the fountain anyway.
Here's a look of the fountain. Hope you see why I misunderstood it for some water leakage.
Welcome to Dream River Lijiang!
The stage of the show. 
After the show, all the actors and actress gathered at the hall for everyone to take pictures.
Another picture.
Bye bye~After the fascinating show, we were brought by our tour guide to the famous 日月塔. I forgot the English name for them, but I call them the Guilin Twin Tower. When we first reached the location, we could see a glowing white orb in the middle of a circle altar. We walked further till we reached the famous 日月湖 and there stood the Twin Tower I mentioned. Those tower were not any historical building, but the tourism department of Guilin built them. I cannot deny the beauty of the towers, but besides that, there's nothing much to do there.
Looks like the Pagoda.
We turned on the Night Mode and the effect was different.We didn't stop for too long and next we headed the palace in Guilin. It was not as magnificent as the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, but it still caught my attention. There was an artificial fountain nearby, but I mistaken the fountain for water leakage before the tour guide told me about it. Sorry for that.
There's the Palace. We could not get nearer so this was it.
From the palace to the fountain. Too small for you to notice the fountain anyway.
Here's a look of the fountain. Hope you see why I misunderstood it for some water leakage.That's all we had for today. I'll continue posting about the following days in Guilin as soon as I'm free. It's a bit hectic these days because we have some assignments to do. In spite of that, everything is still okay for me, just a little bit pissed by some of the local people's attitude. Got to get used to them, right? God bless us in China. Amen.
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