Guilin Essential Tour from Hong Kong

Welcome to Hong Kong! Your guide will pick you up from the airport or your hotel lobby. And then you will take an estimated train G408 12:05/15:25 to Guilin. Your guide in Guilin will wait for you at the train station. And then you will be transferred to your hotel. You can have a rest or stroll on the nearby street.

Tips on the High-speed Train:

1. Smoking is not allowed on the high-speed rail.

2. No flammable and explosive items can be carried on the high-speed train. If you have a compressed gas spray such as hair spray, please do not take it on the high-speed train.

3. The train will stop at each station for about 3-5 minutes. If this is not your terminal, please do not get off.

4. There is a charging port on the seat of the high-speed train, which can charge your mobile phone or tablet.

5. There is free WIFI on the high-speed train. You can consult your tour guide and download the corresponding APP on your mobile phone so that you can use free WIFI on the high-speed rail.

6. The top speed of China's high-speed train can reach 350 kilometers per hour, but you won't feel any bumps on the train. So if you need to rest, you can have a nice sleep on the high-speed train.

In the morning, you will take the Li River Cruise to Yangshuo. The Li River is an important attraction in Guilin. There are many ways to visit the Li River, but taking a cruise is the best choice. The beauty of the Li River is very matchless. When you sit on a cruise ship and enjoy the scenery on both sides of the river, you will feel very relaxed and laid back. During the cruise, Nine-horse Mountain will present itself to you. It is said that, if you see it carefully, you can recognize nine horse patterns on the mountain. Maybe you will see buffalo plowing in the farmland. This is beautiful and idyllic scenery.

Your lunch will be on the cruise today.

When you arrive in Yangshuo, we will take you to visit Yangshuo West Street. West Street, which is more than 1,400 years, is the oldest bustling street in Yangshuo and one of the important tourist attractions there. The street is covered with stone slabs and has a curved S-shape. The shops on both sides are a combination of Chinese-style and Western-style. You can select a nice restaurant to taste local food, go shopping, go to a bar for a drink or choose some favorite gifts for your friends. Some of the shopkeepers here can serve tourists in simple English. After that, we will drive back to Guilin.

Option: Biking in Yangshuo. Skip out of the ordinary tour and experience a different Yangshuo through taking a biking tour. There is a ten-mile road in Yangshuo, with karst landforms on both sides of the road, and the scenery is very beautiful. Therefore, this road is also called Ten Miles Gallery. This is a good choice for biking. During the biking, you will pass many small scenic spots, such as the Butterfly Spring Scenic Area. This is currently the largest live butterfly viewing garden in China. There are thousands of butterflies in the garden. When you pass here, you might as well come in and have a look. There is also the Totem Trail Scenic Area. Stoneware, pottery, and ancient crossbows are exhibited in the scenic spot, which reproduces the historical features of the life, religion, and hunting culture of Guilin's ancestors from 12,000 to 7,000 years ago.

Li River Cruise

Yangshuo West Street

Rice terraces appeared in China as early as the Qin dynasty (221BC). Growing rice requires a large area of field, but there are many hills and few plains suitable for growing rice in Guilin. To solve the food shortage problem, ancient farmers built terraces to conserve water making it possible to grow rice in a large area in hilly areas and solving the local food problem. Thousands of years later, China has already solved the problem of food shortage. Terraced fields have also transformed from an agricultural method to the current combination of agriculture and tourism.

Today will take you to visit the famous Longsheng Rice Terrace. We will drive about 1.5 hours (70 KM) from Guilin to Longsheng. The Longsheng Rice terrace is a large-scale terraced field group including Jinkeng terraces, Ping'an terraces, and Longji ancient Zhuang Village rice terraces. Ping’an Rice Terrace is famous for the “Nine Dragons and Five Tigers”. Nine Dragons refer to the nine small mountains separated from the main mountain range. Five Tigers refers to five raised hills. They are all covered with terraces filed. Many tourists come here for photography or hiking. The terraces here are beautiful in all seasons. It is green when the crops are growing, and the terraces are like golden carpets when the crops mature. When there are no crops in the terraces, they will be filled with water. At this time, it will turn silver in the sun.

There is an ancient village named Ping’an Village. People of the Zhuang nationality live there. You can taste local farm dishes and experience ethnic customs there. Besides, you will find the clothes local people wear are very beautiful. That is the traditional Zhuang Nationality costume. Zhuang women are good at weaving and embroidering, and the fabrics woven are known for their exquisite patterns and bright colors. The unique batik skill here is also praised by people. In terms of clothing, the color of men's clothes is relatively flat, generally blue or black. Women's clothing is colorful. They especially like to embroider patterns like figures, birds, animals, flowers, etc. on their shoes, hats, and skirts with colorful silk threads. In addition to clothes, Zhuang women also like to wear all kinds of silver accessories. In some villages, Zhuang women wear 9 silver necklaces or collars at the same time. If you meet the people during local festivals, all of them are rigged out in their best finery. After that, we will drive back to Guilin. 

Note: Longji has four special products, namely Longji tea, Longji pepper, Longji glutinous rice, and Longji water wine. Longji tea is mainly produced on the hills of Longji terraces. The unique geographical location and abundant rainfall make Longji tea rich in a variety of trace elements and have a unique taste. In the Qing Dynasty, the tea here was a tribute to the emperor. Longji peppers grow on high mountains at an altitude of more than 800 meters. The chili pepper here has a strong spicy flavor and can increase your appetite. If you like challenging spicy food, you can try it. The glutinous rice of Longji is the best raw material for local people to make glutinous rice cakes, also named Ciba. There is a local saying that " once one family is cooking glutinous rice, it can be smelled in the whole village". From this you can see that the Longji glutinous rice has a special fragrance. The water liqueur of Dragon's Back is called Oriental Magic Water. This is a liqueur unique to the Zhuang nationality. Zhuang people use it to entertain distinguished guests. These four products are the specialty of Longji.If you like, you can buy some for your family.

Longsheng Rice Terrace

Ping'an Village

In the morning, we will take you to visit the Reed Flute Cave. Reed Flute Cave is 5 KM away from the Guilin City center. Legend has it that there was a kind of reed at the entrance of the cave, which can be used as a flute to make a pleasant sound. Therefore, it is named Reed Flute Cave. It is a unique karst cave which is 240 meters deep and has a travel distance of 500 meters. Inside the cave, there are the wonders of stalactites in various forms. The ones that hang down from the ceiling are called stalagmites, and the ones that grow up from the ground are called stalagnate. You also can see stone pillars, stone flowers, and stone waterfalls. Some stones make a crisp sound when they are struck, so they are also called stone drums, and stone Bell.

After that, we will visit the Two River and Four Lakes Scenic Area. It consists of 3 small scenic areas. You will mainly visit the Rong Lake and Shan Lake Scenic Area today. It is located in the center of Guilin City. Shan Lake is in the east and Rong Lake is in the west. Cedar and banyan trees grow by the lake. It used to be the center of cultural activities in Guilin. There is a bridge here called Beidou Bridge (Big Dipper Bridge). The shape of the bridge is similar to the Big Dipper. The bridge railings are all made of high-grade white marble and exquisitely carved. This bridge is currently the longest white marble bridge in Guangxi Province.

After that, we will drive for about 1 hour to visit Elephant Trunk Hill. It is like an elephant drinking water by the river with its nose out. A circle is formed between the elephant's nose and the water, which looks like a moon in the water from a distance. In addition to this natural scenery, there is also a cultural attraction. Guilin Sanhua Liquor Cellar is located in a cave in Elephant Trunk Hill Park. The cave is kept at 20℃ all year round and the humidity is suitable. The Guilin Sanhua Liquor is stored here. Guilin Sanhua Liquor is the representative of Chinese rice-flavored liquor. It originated in the Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD) and has a brewing history of thousands of years. Every year before the Chinese New Year, the Liquor cellar is opened to supply Guilin people with Sanhua Liquors. "Drinking a pot of Sanhua Liquor, and having a happy and auspicious year" has also become the custom of Guilin people. Besides, the only inheritance place of Guilin Sanhua Liquor’s traditional brewing skills is the Sanhua Liquor Cellar, Sanhua Liquor Workshop, and Sanhua Liquor Cultural Museum. It is Guangxi's intangible cultural heritage.

After that, we will drive back to the hotel.

Option: Hammering sticky rice with the wooden tool (Making Ciba, a kind of rice cake)

Ciba is a traditional Chinese food. It is usually made and eaten during the Chinese New Year in many minority villages. And it has been handed down in ethnic minority villages for thousands of years. The main ingredient of Ciba is glutinous rice. First, steam the glutinous rice. Then put the hot glutinous rice into a stone mortar. After that, it will be the most important procedure of making Ciba.Someone took a special wooden stick and repeatedly hammer the glutinous rice inside the stone mortar. Until the glutinous rice becomes mushy. Then you can make the glutinous rice into small balls, wrap them with soybean flour or sugar, and then you can eat them. Because the glutinous rice is very sticky, every time you hammer the cooked glutinous rice, the wooden stick will be stuck with the glutinous rice. Therefore, it takes a lot of physical strength to make Ciba. However, the Ciba made by this method has very good taste. This is why people still like to do it themselves even though it can be produced by machine. If you want to get this special experience, we can also arrange the activity for you. You will have a chance to hammer the sticky rice and make Ciba by yourself.

Elephant Trunk Hill

Reed Flute Cave

After breakfast, you will take an estimated train G319 12:38/15:57 to Hong Kong. Your guide will meet you at the train station. And then you will be transferred to your hotel or the airport.

Author: Betsy He

Proofreader: Tina Jia