Trip Report: Appreciating Guilin, China.

I had a free weekend while I was on a work trip in Shanghai so I took the opportunity to visit Guilin. Guilin is a picturesque city located in the Guangxi region of China. It is said that Guilin's scenery is best among all under heaven and I could not agree more. I took a cruise on the famous Li River and saw the beautiful mountains located on both sides of the river. The weather was a tad cold for my liking and the river dried up in some parts thanks to the drought (there hasn't been much rain since fall of last year), still the scenery was something of a Chinese mountain painting.

I also visited the Elephant Trunk Hill (yes the hill does resemble an elephant) and the Seven-Star Park. In my opinion, the former was nothing spectacular but the latter was definitely worth a visit. In the Seven-Star Park, you will find the famous Seven-Star cave where you can enjoy various limestone formations that are well lit. It's really up to your imagination to decide what the limestone formations look like. Some resemble dragons while others resemble humans or Chinese gods. The most amazing part of the cave is that it maintains a year round temperature of 70F even though it could be 40F out there.

In the Seven-Star Park, you will also find a zoo that houses a couple of cute panda bears. I had to pay these national treasures of China a visit because they are just so darn cute!

Guilin is not a city known for its cuisine but it does have a couple of dishes worth trying. One of them is the famous Guilin rice noodles. It can be served as soup- noodle style or lo-mein style. I like the latter better. It's usually served with spicy radishes, roast pork, garlic and peanuts. The locals usually eat it for breakfast. You can get this dish everywhere in the city, from street vendors to unsanitary looking shops. You can even get it at restaurants in five star hotels.

In short Guilin is a nice place to visit if you enjoy the scenery in movies like "The Painted Veil" or "Joy Luck Club". These movies were made there after all.