I could see the dramatic scenery as soon as I entered Guilin, but on our first day, we went to another local site: the Longji Rice terraces. The mountains here are quite steep, but beginning nearly one thousand years ago, farmers built very narrow terraces - no more than six feet wide. Unlike rice paddies that require a lot of water, they grow dry rice on these terraces. The local village, called Ping'an has a population of 190 families of the Zhuang minority group. Various families own incredibly small pieces of the rice fields: the largest is only .62 square meters and the smallest one can only hold three grain seedlings.
While walking up the hill through the village of Ping'an to see the rice terraces from the top, I saw people putting cylindrical things into wood fires. It turns out that the cylinders are pieces of bamboo about a foot long. They put the dry rice along with some chopped meat and vegetables in these piece of green bamboo and cook them until the bamboo is burn and black. The rice picks up moisture and flavor from the green bamboo. Then you split open the bamboo and eat the rice. That was my lunch and it was really good.
The next day I took a cruise on the Li River through the karsts from Guilin to Hongshuo. It is stunning scenery. In the second picture I am holding a 20 yuan note. The picture on it is the karst scene behind me.
As usual, the boat was full of Chinese tourists and I was the only westerner. With my guide translating, some Chinese tourists asked where I was from. When I said America, one man said, oh, very good in soccer World Cup. I looked dubious since the men's team did not get into the World Cup, but he was talking about the women's team which defeated the Chinese. So I told them I was a soccer coach and showed them a picture of me with my team. They were so excited and impressed. They kept giving me the thumbs up sign and they all took pictures with me. I have gotten used to having a guide and driver and feel like Queen Elizabeth sitting in the back seat, but I am still not used to people wanting to take pictures with me. Later, I was standing with my guide when another man came on deck. I could see one of the original men pointing to me and telling the new man who I was. The latter immediately walked over to me to take his picture with me as well.
After the cruise, I took a Chinese cooking class at a local restaurant. One of the dishes we made was kung pao chicken which I make all the time. I didn't tell the teacher that I think my recipe is better. Here are my dumplings which was a new dish for me.
Finally, to top off a long day, I went to the Liu San Jie Light show. It is an incredible spectacle performed by a cast of 600 on a water stage on the river and they even light up the karsts in the background. The show was created by the director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
It was such a long day that I did not get to my hotel until after dark so I did not see the beautiful view from my window until the morning. The hotel is in a nature preserve with karsts, of course, and a river running through it. People ride down the river on long boats with two chairs on them and a man poling the boat. Sort of a Chinese gondola.
I got in a quick bicycle ride through the countryside to see the scenery one more time.
And then it was off to Hong Kong.
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