Day #1: Dragon Fly to Guilin a Magical Land

Day #1: Dragon Fly Airlines to Guilin a Magical Land

 October 23, 2016

John and Eric Yang 

Arriving via Dragon Fly airlines in Guilin we are met by a youngish Chinese man named Eric Yang who tells us he knows about Seattle because of Bruce Lee. John informs him that Amazon, Microsoft and Starbucks are in Seattle but Eric seems unimpressed. On the other hand, Bruce Lee clearly excites him especially when John confirms that he is buried there. 

Location of Guilin in China

Eric explains that Guilin in northern Guangxi Zhuang is one of five Autonomous provinces (e.g., Tibet, Magnolia). It houses the biggest minority group in China known as Zhuang. 89% of China are Han and 10% are Zhuang. Other minority groups include Yao, Hui, Miao, and Dong.The people here speak Mandarin although Zhuang is also spoken. 

Guilin is a beautiful city situated on the west bank of the Li River and surrounded by mountains. Its name means, “Forest of the Sweet Osmanthus”. Later Eric brings me a branch of the Osmanthus tree which has a beautiful delicate yellow flower on it.

He shares his pleasure with the aroma of this tree and I hate to tell him I can’t smell so I agree about its aromatic qualities.  He explains further that tea made from this flower will improve the appearance and skin of women. Is he giving me a message about my skin quality?  Wine is also made from this flower he says for men. As we drive from the airport we notice the beautiful gardens and I am surprised to see double-decker buses.  The government does not allow sky scraper buildings above 5-6 stories to be built here in sharp contrast to Hong Kong’s towering city.  It is important that people here can see the amazing limestone mountains surrounding Guilin for the karst mountain topography is what this area is known for and attracts tourists which is their main industry. At one point this entire area was undersea. Guilin has 4 man made lakes and 2 rivers and has an urban population of 975,638 and a rural population of just under 5 million.  Eric tells us he has two children a boy aged 10 years and a 5 year old daughter. I ask about the one child only government rule and he says this used to be true for government employees who would lose their job if they had a 2^nd child. However the rural agricultural people such as himself were allowed to have 2-3 children. In the past months the Chinese government rule has been abandoned and people are now encouraged to have more children. Like Hong Kong the reduced fertility plan has resulted in too few young people to help care for the increased numbers of elderly.

We arrive at the beautiful Shangri-La Hotel and get ready for an adventure to see the Reed Flute Cave, known as Palace of Natural Arts. The drive is interesting with hundreds of mostly electric scooters everywhere. 

Surprisingly we see far fewer bicycles and of course no helmets. One scooter can carry 3-5 people and all sorts of produce including bamboo baskets of ducks. Eric says that the day before his scooter batteries costing $1000 were stolen from his new scooter so he is now back to bus transportation.  Arriving at a gigantic cave we walk several miles through a fairyland of caves with stalactites and stalagmites that are completely lit with colored lights. 

Reed Flute Cave 

Eric pauses to turn on the lights in each cave and prompts us to see images depicting lions, elephants, owls, turtles, Buddha and city sky lines. One grotto, called the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King that can hold 1000 people served as an air-raid shelter during the war.  I imagine how fun it would be to take children  here and I feel some of the magic.

On the van back to the hotel I ask John what he is listening to on his IPad and find out he is scooting back and forth between the Seattle Huskies game, Dylan music and some downloaded video clips of Trump and Hillary.  He suggests we might watch this political I pod together but I am more fascinated by the amazing tombs and pagodas on the hillsides 
and the poopoo 3-wheeled taxis that Eric tells us are now illegal in the cities. Rather nice to be away from American politics for awhile.

Later that night in the hotel we find we are censored and unable to get the New York Times, or Facebook, and 5 years ago Google was also made unavailable.  I am disappointed not to be able to research what we are seeing and John is restricted to the Wall Street Journal which is available and some downloaded pods.  

Xi Jinping Chinese Chairman 

We read that night in the Wall Street newspaper that Xi Jinping the Chinese Chairman (President) has jailed reporters and killed a great number of those government employees involved in corruption scandals.  He is marketing himself as improving discipline. I think about Trump accusing Hillary of being corrupt and wanting her in jail. 

What a day transition from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong to the natural beauty of caves and mountains in Guilin. 

Artist capturing the beauty of the mountains