Guilin: Forest of Sweet Osmanthus

Pronounced Goi li-ing or Kweilin

I went to this city because the documentary series Wild China sweetly introduced me to the karst mountains of Guilin. That was four years ago– and it remained stuck in my brain like how kale gets wedged in between my teeth. No matter how many times I try to floss it out; it remains for later. When I'm hungry for more adventure.

Yes, my similes should be thrown out with the trash. (Writing is both an art and a science, much like cooking... some of us have Michelin stars, some of us still struggle to dice an onion.)

Anyways, since watching the documentary, I wanted to visit the rural side of China and see the culture that these countrymen envelope. What I realized from gazing out my small plane window– through a hazy, birdless sky– was what China considers a small town is still a booming city. A "small town" that has an air pollution problem that many consider great in Chinese standards.

I was nevertheless unimpressed. The karst mountains, however, made up for where my deep breathing lacked.

When I was flying over Guilin (this photo is from a hike) I had the thought: "Chinese really love their pools." It took a couple hundred feet of decent more for me to realize these "pools" were actually blue roofs. In fact, I only saw one swimming pool my entire trip. You can make out some of the roofs here, though from directly above they were much more convincing. 

Below the Reed Flute Cave is lit up with colorful spotlights. Unfortunately, this is not truly a unicorn cave– though dragons may have lived here at some point. I believe in dragons, anyway.

I took a six hour "deluxe boat tour" down the Li River. Because in China, spare no expense, right? Although I enjoyed the scenery... the combination of the huge crowd, tour guide blasting over her microphone and overpriced crawfish was not worth it.

It doesn't matter if you've just walked out of a cave or a subway. In China, you stop and take that selfie. *Also, notice all the kale has been removed from my teeth. (And I actually had kale before this picture.. even though I never saw it in China, I got some kale chips from the JFK airport– ha!)