Greetings from Guilin. Located a mere 90 minute bus ride north of Yangshuo, also on the banks of the Li River, Guilin feels other worldly from the calm and character that was Yangshuo. Though tiny compared to the size of Guangzhou or Hong Kong, Guilin feels like a metropolis after Yangshuo. It’s also considerably chillier here, as I definitely needed a jacket when I got off the bus around 4:45pm (weather report says the low is a good 10 degrees Celsius less than it was in Guangzhou). Finally, things are considerably more expensive here, as my room is costing my twice as much as it did in Yangshuo (RMB 120, US$17.50, which is what it cost me in Guangzhou as well).
But enough comparisons. New place, new sites. Since I arrived so late, I mainly wandered around the central part of town for a bit (I’m staying just off the Central Square). It’s bustling with shops and what is probably the world’s smallest McDonald’s!
I visited the night market (which was underwhelming as the hundred or so vendors all sold one of 5 sets of items) and spent a while wandering around this pair of lakes which feature these two glistening pagodas representing the sun and moon.
While Guilin also boasts a karst landscape, the scenery here pales in comparison to Yangshuo’s. Many of the sites around here seem to be caves and some nice nearby villages so we’ll see what sort of exploring I get to tomorrow!
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