The Deep South of China

Quote of the Day:
Recent Harvard grad my sister and I met in Shanghai:  Xian... that place was a hellhole.

While Xian may not have been quite as bad as our acquaintance made it out to be, our trip certainly took a turn for the better once we made it out to Guilin, a city in Southwestern Guangxi Province.  For one, temperatures in Guilin hovered around a pleasant 70°.  Guilin also boasted a thriving downtown area with arcades, malls, and food vendors, teeming with college students.  For the first time, it seemed, our hotel was located not in a historic or working class neighborhood, but in the midst of a more vibrant, modern scene.

The name "Guilin" （桂林）translates to "Osmanthus forest," an acknowledgment of the many osmanthus flowers lining Guilin's streets.  Our main reason for visiting Guilin, however, was not for the flora, but rather to hike the Dragon's Terrace Rice Fields in Longsheng, roughly two hours away from the Osmanthus forest.

On our way to the rice fields, we explored the mountainside city full of cafes and hostels, many of which prominently advertised their free wireless Internet.  PVC pipes wrapped in hollowed out bamboo tubes criss-crossed along the path, and locals went about their business washing clothes in the river and playing first person shooters on their computers.  Several local men offered a sedan chair service to carry tourists up the mountain in style, and several other locals strapped tourists' suitcases on their backs, carrying them down the mountain to make a living wage.

Apparently the locals had an interesting courtship ritual- if a guy liked a girl, he would step on her foot and if a girl liked a guy, she would slap his behind.  Luckily, there was a severe lack of butt-slapping in our tour group.

  Chinese depictions of Chinese people were so... non-stereotypical and non-racist

Unfortunately there were no dragons in the rice fields- the name "Dragon's backbone" actually comes from the rice field terraces along the hill which resemble a dragon's spine... and from the fact that Chinese culture dictates that if anything can be associated with a dragon it shall.

To refuel after the rice field hike, we had a lunch of Chinese food and French fries at the hotel on the hill before our third home tour.

 

In contrast to the hutong dwelling in Beijing and the cave home in Xian, the local residence in Longsheng was elevated high above the ground, allowing farm animals to reside in the space beneath the house.  Aside from an attic, nearly all of the rooms of the home were simply subdivisions of one large main room.  In the hallway was a shrine to the owner's ancestors, and in the kitchen, a roasted pig's head and grilled rats hung from the ceiling.  I was quite thankful for the French fry lunch. 

After our descent from the dragon's backbone and Longsheng, we stopped at a restaurant in Guilin where Hilary Clinton had taken part in a tea ceremony many years ago.  This restaurant had become famous for cooking every dish in tea, as well as for presenting food in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

  

Green tea jook

The servers presented dish after dish of tea-infused dishes and we ate and ate into the night, amidst the playing of the zither behind us and the raucous laughter of the Cantonese speaking table beside us.