In Heaven 世外桃源

Chinese Painting

In the past, when i heard Chinese poems about the beautiful sceneries poets saw, I praised them for their magical words. When i saw chinese paintings like the one above, i praised the artists for their imagination.

In my mind, such heavenly scenery existed, well, only in heaven... I now finally believed that such heavenly place does exist on earth when i saw it with my own eyes. Am amazed! I don't have to die and go toheaven to see it! It's real! It's the creation of mother nature and it's toucheable! 珍珠都没那么真！

Floating tea houses on the river

Guilin is damn beautiful. U can easily take award winning pictures even if u are hopeless in photography. I took dozens of pictures without much effort and all are postcard, wallpaper, painting materials. Suddenly, i felt like such a professional photographer! haha...

Greeted by mountains in the morning
~ From our hotel room

We took a 4 hour boat ride from Guilin to Yangshuo. It may sound like a tiring way to travel but not at all. I had no time to feel bored as I was mesmorised by the beauty along the river. It's beyond words can describe... u just gotta be there physically to know what i mean...

Boat ride "in between mountains"

Yangshuo - see our resort on the right?
Like living in heaven!

The mountains in Guilin are unlike any i 'normally' see. They stand individually and are everywhere!! In the city, behind the shops, along the river, in the park, next to the washroom.... And sometimes, a family can have one whole mountain in their backyard like they own it! mannn, i would love to have a few as my backyard! Simply beautiful!

Lucky ppl! They have mountains as 'back up'!

Guilin to me is heaven on earth. I especially like a town called Li Pu. It's the place filled with my favourite food - taro! yummmm... now u know why i love that place so much. Not only is it peaceful and beautiful but also because i can get taro in every dishes! ooo, i think i can live here :P

taro with pork

minced pork and taro balls
They are big like tennis balls!

Candied taro 芋头拔丝
Similar to the candied sweet potato in Shanghai/ Chengde

There is even taro rice! YUM!

We went to see a performance directed by the famous chinese director, Zhang Yi Mou 张艺谋. Like most of his movies, I didn't fully understand the plot but the real Guilin mountains and river as its backdrop and stage and the big number of performers and colourful use of lightings really took my breath away! How did they do it??? I must say, they are good!

Just imagine this as the background. Very beautiful right?



Was being told that Guilin used to be under water. From then on, each time i looked at the breathtaking scenery, I imagined how they used to hide under the deep sea where only fishes could enjoy their beauty...

See the reflection on the water!

Guilin kinda reminds me of my trip to Halong Bay, which is known as Little Guilin. I can see the resemblance... Hmm, you know what? Probably after a few thousand or million years, Halong Bay might lose the water and become Halong Park instead... Don't sneer. That's what happened to Guilin. Applying the same theory, it might happen to Halong Bay one day too... or not since Guilin is inland while Halong Bay is not.. okie, a bit irrelevant. Am going too deep :P

Guilin is indeed a beautiful place. It's different from other Chinese cities i've been to... The only complaint i've for this holiday is that - it's too short!!! *greedy jenn demanding for more*

Even inside the cave is beautiful

Can't help feeling a bit sad at the same time though coz by going inside, we are actually 'killing' the cave :( Hope ppl would stop taking pictures with flash lights while in caves... Every little action counts mah......

Okie, before I end this super long post, here is one little game to bring u back to reality ~~ Can u spot the 'sleeping buddha' in this picture, which I took it at the mountain top?