Labor Day Weekend: Guilin

We left on Thursday evening and arrived two and a half hours later in another well-known city, Guilin. Guilin is a tourist spot known for its beautiful scenery along the Li River. We spent three days and four nights there and stayed at the Ming Palace International Youth Hostel. If you ever get the chance to go down to Guilin and a small budget, I’d definitely recommend this hostel. They have a number of discounted packages to get to various sites like Elephant Trunk Hill, Reed Flute Cave, Seven Star Park, Longji Rice Terrace, and Yangshuo.

Our Itinerary:

Friday: Elephant Trunk Hill – Boat river cruise up the Peach Blossom River – Reed Flute Cave – 1 yuan public bus transportation back to Guilin

One of the most well-known sites is the Elephant Trunk Hill. It was such a cool place surrounding the lake.

On our first day, we rode a boat cruise that sent us to these beautiful caves! They were well lit from the inside with colorful lights.

Saturday: Bus to Yangdi Pier – Motorized bamboo raft on the Li River – Second (but more authentic) bamboo raft down another smaller river

On our second day, we arrived at the Yangdi Pier and took a bamboo raft down the Li River.

Here are the small bamboo rafts! Guilin is known for its beautiful mountains as you can see in the back.

Sunday: Three hour mini van ride to the Longji Rice Terrace – Cable car up the rice terraces – Hike down the rice terraces – Red eye flight back to Shanghai

On our third and final day, we visited the rice terraces. It was definitely worth the small mini van ride on a one way road up the mountain.

We took a cable car up the rice terraces and hiked down! Although it was a little muddy, it wasn’t anything that we couldn’t handle. And if I do say myself, ponchos were a smart investment.

On our way down the rice paddies, we bumped into a number of chickens. They were so friendly, they would get so close to you.