GUILIN - XING PING - YANGSHUO - LONGSHENG - 3-8.9.2009

FOR NEXT TRIP 2010 - call Eddie at +6012-3076821

or email to: ecoeddie@playvillage.com.my

FOR PHOTOSTOCKS - log on to ecoeddie.blogspot.com

FOR BEST PHOTOS - log on to innerglows.blogspot.com

EXPERIENCING STAY OVER AT TUNE HOTEL, LCCT

Rather than leaving home at 4.30am to catch the earliest flight out to Guilin, we checked out the experience of over night stay at Tune LCCT which was a 10 mins walk to the terminal. Our rating for the experience was 9/10! Here's the great parts -

1. Easy check in

2. Free WiFi at Lobby; it's also available in the room for a fee

3. Great bedding quality

4. Largest shower head

5. Reasonably priced meals at the cafe

6. Foot reflexology outlet

7. Pay per use aircon

8. Sunset Photo opportunity

9. Convenient Store

The only not so great part was the musty smell of the room at the beginning.

GUILIN - DAY 1 - THE DAWN FLIGHT

Again, since we were heading northwards, the choice of seats was to the right side of the plane which will allow for sunrise in midair. The plane wasn't full so we could snap shots from both sides of the aisles.

Snap-shot from left side of the aisle.

Snap-shot from the right side of the aisle.

Snap-shot of another flight going in the opposite direction. 

Snap-shot of Guilin Airport.

GUILIN - DAY 1 - JOURNEY TO XING PING

Pick up was punctual from the airport and we decided to take the old road via YangShuo to XingPing. Being a Thursday morning, the road out of the airport seems to weave through "some heavy traffic" like buffalos and large tipper lorries. The vicnity of the airport is very much rural with harvested padi fields abound and it was dry and dusty. Along the road to YangShuo, you can get a glimpse of the limestone mountainsin the distant, remnant of old houses, small villages, farms and small towns the size of Karak. You will also get to see local people plying the roads on bicycles, motorbikes and larger vehicles, some of which you will never get to see in Malaysia. Along the way we decided to stop in a small village town to have our first sample of the local food. 

Here are some snaps of the journey -

Karst limstones adorn this small town.

Our first close up view of the famous karts limestone mountains of Guilin.
 

Lunch bowls and saucers hygienically wrapped up in plastic says much about the general hygiene of the restaurant. We were recommeded herbal chicken soup and fried chicken in black sauce etc. The interesting surprise was the owner slautering a whole chicken - half for the soup and half for the fried menu! If you think the wrapped bowls only applied to this shop, you'd be wrong. The wrappings of bowls and saucers, we did find in a couple other shops and more interestingly, in one mountain shop on the road to Long Sheng, the plates, bowls and saucers were stored in an oven like "fridge". The style of slaughtering the whole chicken "live" and served somewhat "fresh" is also common practice (like the way they do to fish here..imagine if you want to order a larger animal?!).

XINGPING - DAY 1 - XINGPING VILLAGE TOWN

XingPing is a small town surrounded by limestone karst mountains that is located in a prime area on the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo. In a way, the town does look like the old part of Taiping and has a history that dates back to more than 500 years. YangShuo Travel Guide.com writes this about XingPing, "the village is surrounded by many spectacular hills with imaginary names such as "5 fingers hill" or Sengni Hill that resemble a monk and a nun bickering at each other. South of the village you can find Carl Hill and Snail Hill while in the west there lies Pen Holder Hill and Belle Peak. Around town you will find the village's own camel Hill..". This was one of two reasons why we came to XingPing. The other is that the most spectacular limestones are located down river between XingPing and YangShuo.

Here are some scenes of the town and village -

(L) Green Garden Hotel was our recommended hotel as the owner is an experience photography guide. R) View of a strret in XingPing

Views of the the limestone mountains surrounding the town.

(L) Mr Wang briefing Arthur on the photo itinerary (R) One of the scenes displayed on the hotel walls

XINGPING - DAY 1 - AFTERNOON VILLAGE WALK ABOUT

There was sporadic firecracker fire all around town and little did we know that it was the festival day of the Hungry Ghost Month according to the Chinese calender. Unfortunately, here in Kuala Lumpur, while I have heard of the mention of the Ghost Month, I have never seen wide public celebrations let alone hearing the sound of firecrackers which is banned in Malaysia.

According to Wikipedia, the Ghost Month is the opposite to the QingMing Festival. In the Ghost Month, ghost and spirits..come out..to visit the living while during the QingMing Festival, it is the other way around. The Ghost festival is held on the 14th night of the seventh lunar month and on the 15th day Taoist and Buddhists would perform rituals to transmute and absolve the sufferings of the deceased.

Here's some snaps of the festival and the village -

XINGPING - DAY 1 - LI RIVER SUNSET SHOOT

A walk up the street to the XingPing riverside passes by two rows of dusty looking shophouses with mixed provisions such as noodle shops, restaurant, hotels, post office, banks, mini market and souvenir shops. At the end, The Old Place Hotel, an international youth hostel with a modern amenities was the only sign you could tell that foreigners other than us are in town.

At the riverside, a motorised "bamboo raft" "modernised" with white cyclindrical plastic pipes lodged together to resemble the original bamboo rafts was awaiting with a boat man. Another man stood on an original bamboo raft tied to the main craft. On it were fishing nets and "cormorants". Cormorants are seabirds and are somewhat duck-looking and have black and white feathers. The bills are long, thin and sharply hooked and their feet have webbing. Cormorants are fish eaters, they dive from the surface into the water and once in the water, they propel themselves with their feet.

Upon reaching a specific spot of hight photo opportunity, Mr. Wang anchored the raft and went about getting the props ready for our sunset shoot. Here are some shots of the evening -

 

Net casting by Mr. Wang.

The sun in a light limestone silhoutte.

A cormorant fisherman readies for the shoot.

Lamp lighting snaps as the darkness settles in.

REST OF THE DAY

1. It was back to the hotel for dinner. Mr. Wang, hotel owner, photography guide and restaurant chef (all in one) prepared a truly sumptous authentic local menus of catfish, chicken and vegetables.

2. Photo downloads was the usual end day order

3. The hotel room was large with one flourescent lamp and tv channels were a host of CCTV mandarin programs. Bathroom was basic. Room cost RM 60.00 per night.

XINGPING - DAY 2 - EARLY MORNING PHOTOSHOOT AT DOWN RIVER XINGPING

3.00am - It was wake up time. There is no coffee served in any of the shops in XingPing (and perhaps everywhere else in China), however, we managed to get Nescafe at the mini market.
3.30am - We started our walk to the riverside led by Mr. Wang. The road was dark and the street lights were a distant apart. A noodle shop ran by a husband and wife team were preparing for the morning business. The moon was round, full and clear.

4.00am - We boarded the motorised bamboo raft and proceeded down river with the same raft team and props. It wasn't really cold. The weather was warm and humid even at 4.00am. Looks like we were the only ones this early out. The river was calm, the water dark and the sky lit by the moon made majestic silhouttes out of the limestones mounatins. It was like riding the boat into an old Chinese painting says Pat!(albeit with kopi-o on board!!)

5.00am - Mr. Wang parked the raft by a rocky mound which seemed to be a permanent look out point. He picked the spot to get the best shooting angle. It was relatively still dark but you could get to see the beautiful dark silhouttes of the mountains.

5.30am - The sky starts to open up up river with its morning glow and further reveal the length and heights majestic limestone mountains. Our photo shoot began with the cormorant fisherman lighting their lanterns and the shoot continued till the sun beared itself.

Here are some snaps of the majestic environment -

XINGPING - DAY 2 - MID MORNING PHOTOSHOOT LI RIVER

7.00am - Although the first glow of the morning begins at 5.30am, it wasn't until after 7.00am before we could see the sun rises behind the heights of the limestone mountains. It was after this that, the photoshoot continued further downstream. By this time, the mountains looked greener although there was still light haze.

Here are some scenes of the mid morning Li River tour -

  Reflections on the calm water

   Women washing clothes

  Pitstop for tourists

  Motorised taxi raft plying

  Seaweed-like grass in river

  Majestic karst limestones

  Resort along the river

  Convertible taxi raft

  More great reflection snaps

  More silhoutte snaps

  Convoy of rafts full of tourists

  Large river boat ferry

XINGPING - DAY 2 - XINGPING RIVERSIDE JETTY

8.30am - For a small village town, the "well hidden" jetty was reasonably vast with concrete stairs and pathways leading to the river. A variety of raft, boat and ferries are visible throughout the day becoming great foreground subjects for a great panorama shots of the area. In and around the jetty, a variety of small business galore! Take a look - 

XINGPING - DAY 2 - XINGPING ROAD SCENES AND PEOPLE

11.00am - Sitting infront of the Green Garden Hotel, you can get to see locals plying their trade using a variety of transport vehicles - 

XINGPING - DAY 2 - SUNSET SHOTS FROM HILL BEHIND TOWN

4.30pm - With the assistance of a guide, we trekked uphill to a vantage point where we could see the town and the river to shoot the sunset. The flat trek passed vegetable plots before going inclined steeply through thin forest trees. With short stops for Pat and Kristine, we reach the vantage point in 45 minutes.

Here are the shots -

REST OF THE DAY

1. It was back to dinner and this time we had yesterday's catfish menu, a freshwater carp menu, fresh cucumber with vinegar and a vege. Wala! it was another great dinner by Mr. Wang!

2. Then the customary photo transfer followed by a quick trip to The Old Place to check on emails and another early night off.

XINGPING - DAY 3 - EARLY MORNING PHOTOSHOOT

3.00am - The usual wake up call

3.30am - The usual walk to the jetty. The same noodle shop was opened and setting up; and we took a few shots of their interesting routine.

4.00am - The raft ride down river and this time to another vantage point reputedly the best.

5.00am - We arrive at the vantage point but this time we had company as Mr. Wang had 3 other rafts filled with local photography buffs.

5.30am - The cormorant fishermen set out and the shoot began. There was constant chatter and banter from the locals. It was another humid morning somewhat hazy morning with great conditions.

Here are the shots to appreciate  -

Noodle shop owner preparing "yau char quay" with his wife setting up the noodle soup pots.

XINGPING - DAY 3 - AFTERNOON TOUR OF OLD VILLAGE

2.00pm - The old village is located up river, a route we had not taken since we arrived. Mr. Wang arranged for a local guide to direct us across the river from the jetty using the local ferry. The guide revealed that it is the local government policy to use the local ferry to cross and take the smaller bamboo rafts from the other side. This is provide a spread of income to support the local ferry operators. The crossing cost 50sen each and took 5 minutes.

2.30pm - On the otherside, we trekked along the river bank towards our arranged raft.

2.45pam - Not far from the launch spot, we could see that the landscape was different from the one we had been down river. One of the most obvious were the various shapes and sizes of the larger ferries. The terrific thing was the "river boat traffic" was long but orderly!!

Check out these photos as proof. Have you ever seen a river filled with a long line of boats back to back like one of the regular traffic jams on Jalan Kuching?

These relatively large boats look like they would fit into the size of the Yangtze and can take between 100-150 passesngers. It is a wonder why with so many of such boats plying the Li River, it's waters is still clean and crystal clear?!

The ride to the old village took a mere 20 minutes. From the landing we could see that it was a tourist attraction. Here are glimpses of the village -

REST OF THE DAY

1. Pizza break at The Old Place

2. Noodle & rice menu for dinner

3. Photo downloads

XINGPING - DAY 4 - MORNING TOUR OF COUNTRY-SIDE (ROAD TO CHANGPING)

7.30am - At the bus station, we managed to hire a taxi for RM 75.00 for a 3 hour tour to the country-side. Interestingly, just outside of the village was a very dry and dusty dirt road and we pass village houses and their farms. Along the road, there were also interesting honey farms and fruiting persimon trees. The journey took us to a look out point by the road where we could see another village down river from XingPing. Check these scenes out -

8.30am - We arrrived on a rustic village and discovered the unique conditions of the people and their humble abodes -

9.00am - Tour of an ancient mud house. We were told by the taxi driver about an ancient old house made of mudbricks within the village. Although many houses have changed to the stronger brickwork, there are still some who have mantained the old. Here are snaps of two mudbrick houses - 

The walls of the house reputedly more than 200 years old made with mud bricks.

The front fracade of the house with stone base and steps.

Part of the left side of the hall that leads to the kitchen and tree trunk stools used as shelves in the kitchen.

(L) The ladder leads to the upstairs bedroom. (C) The wood fire stone stove. (R) The washing area.

This is the owner of the ancient mud house. Smoking is common in the rural communities still.

    

In an adjacent house, it had a covered courtyard at the entrance and an open air space before the main facade of the house. As you enter, you can see baskets on the floor by the left wall and on the right is the door to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, we found an old lady frying long beans on what seems an ancient-like stone wood fire stove.

10.00am - Road back to XingPing -

12.00nn - Check out and depart for YangShuo.

12.45pm - Check into Tulip Hotel, YangShuo, and immediately proceed to Yulong River Bamboo Rafting.

YANGSHUO - DAY 4 - YULONG RIVER BAMBOO RAFTING

1.30pm - Compared to the bamboo rafting at Mae Ping River in Chiang Mai, Thailand, this one in YangShuo is a pretty interesting experience. The rafting at Mae Ping goes down river but has muddy waters and secondary tropical forest by the river and along the route. The Yulong bamboo rafting is much much longer in crystal clear water and karst limestone hills all the way. The route we took presented us with 9 artificial rapid drops ranging from 2 - 5ft high. In between, you can get to buy drinks and have meals sold by stationery rafts either in the middle of the river or at the river side. Check the following scenes out -

The starting point.

The limestones hill background.

Floating stalls that sells drinks and fruits.

Floating stall that sells bbq fish and beer.

Local folks on their own bamboo rafts.

One of the river rapids.

Fun drop on a 4ft high rapid.

Albeit, the karst limestone hills along the Yulong River at YangShuo gives a different perspective when compared to the ones along the Li River at Xing Ping. Comparatively, both rivers have their own unique karst limestone landscape.

YANGSHUO - DAY 4 - SILVER CAVE

3.30pm - The silver cave is located about 3km from YangShuo town. It is a multi-tiered cave and all in all, one would have walked more than 1km from start to finish. True to its reputation as the best cave at Guilin, it has many outstanding outcrops both stalagtites and stalagmites. The artificial colourful lightings in the cave exposes the picturesque beauty of the the cave - It's almost magical -

YANGSHUO - DAY 4 - MOON CAVE HILL

5.00pm - Not far away is the Moon cave Hill, a hollow cave near the peak of a limestone hill -

YANGSHOU - DAY 4 - SUNSET AT GONGNONG BRIDGE

6.00pm - CHECK OUT THE FOLLOWING SCENES -

YANGSHUO - DAY 4 - LIU SANJIE MUSICAL PERFORMANCE ON LI RIVER

8.00am -

   

YANGSHOU - DAY 5 - OLD VILLAGE SCENES

6.00am -

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

YANGSHUO - DAY 5 - BREAKFAST SHOP

10.30am -

 

 

LONGSHENG - DAY 5 - LIU SANJIE TEA FARM

12.00NN -

LONGSHENG - DAY 5 - PADI FIELDS BEFORE LONGSHENG

12.45PM -

 

 

LONGSHENG - DAY 5 - LUNCH AT HILL SHOP

1.30PM -

LONGSHENG - DAY 5 - LOWER HILL ENTRANCE TO LONGJI MOUNTAIN PADI FIELDS

2.30PM -

 

LONGSHENG - DAY 5 - TOP ENTRANCE AND LONGJI VILLAGE AND MOUNTAIN PADI FIELDS A

3.30PM -

LONGJI MOUNTAIN PADI FIELDS - DAY 6 - PADI FIELDS B

6.30AM -

-END-

WHEN'S OUR NEXT TRIP?

CALL EDDIE AT 012-3076821 OR EMAIL TO: ecoeddie@playvillage.com.my

FOR BEST PHOTOS, SEE THEM ON: innerglow.blogspot.com