Our China Trip: Chapter 2 – Guilin

We took the bullet train from Beijing to Guilin, topping out at around 200 mph.  It took about 11 hours (including stops) to travel approximately 1300 miles.  Guilin is an incredibly picturesque city in the southern part of China, best known for its dramatic landscape of limestone hills.  We had been there before when we adopted the girls and wanted to return so they could see it.

After a good night’s sleep, we first visited the ancient town of Daxu, along the Li River. We then checked out the Reed Flute Cave.  Formed by water erosion, this 800-foot long cave contains rock formations and stone pillars illuminated by colored lighting, for a really spectacular visual landscape.  We spent the evening walking through Guilin, and traversing some of the 19 bridges that criss-cross the city.

The highlight of Day 2 in Guilin was traveling to the Longji Terrace Rice Fields.  We walked to the Ping’an Zhuang Village, and hiking though a trail in the midst of the rice paddies is something we won’t soon forget.

Day 3 included a bamboo rafting trip on the Li River.  The scenery was incredible, so much so that the landscape is found on the back of the 20 Yuan note in Chinese currency. We made our way to Yangshuo, where we went on an afternoon bike ride through the countryside. In the evening, we saw a riverfront show created by Academy Award nominated director Zhang Yimou (director of the Beijing Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies) that was epic in scale.

UPDATE: Our video footage is now available from both Guilin and Nanning here:

Please check out our pictures from our stay in Guilin here. Next up – Chapter 3 – Nanning

Previous chapters:
– Our China Trip: Prologue – SoCal layover
– Our China Trip: Chapter 1 – Beijing

Next chapters:
– Our China Trip: Chapter 3 – Nanning
– Our China Trip: Chapter 4 – Yangtze Cruise
– Our China Trip: Chapter 5 – Shanghai
– Our China Trip: Chapter 6 – Hong Kong
– Our China Trip: Wrap-Up