Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Day 3 in China : Cave, lakes, Shang Ri La, Theater

  • 24 November 2010 (Wednesday)

Today is our third day in China. Today is also our busiest day in China too. We are going to visit many places today. 


We check out and left the hotel and He Zhou right after breakfast. There are many dishes for breakfast. It is an "eat all you can" breakfast. Our first place to visit today is a beautiful lake which is made into a tourist spot. The park guide there dresses in pink traditional clothes talk to us about this place and the hills around us. 

We are divided and are seated on two boats.

The panoramic scenery here is magnificent.
The clear water reflected everything, that is what makes the view so beautiful.  

Can you see Sleeping Beauty Giantess ?

Fisherman taking out the fish caught by one of his fishing birds.
The birds are trained well since young to be loyal to their owner.

Our boat oarman or rowers can row the bamboo boat through this gap.

Our boats or rafts stopped in the middle of the lake to meet these guys.
These men are acting as the singers who compete singing with 刘三姐 Sister San Jie in her movie.
So these men also compete singing with us and our park guide.

This silk ball is awarded to one of our tour group member for singing well.

Caterpillar and spider I found there.

We continued our journey to another tourist spot. This time, a cave. On the way there, hills are a common sight.
We reached the cave park after about 10 minutes. We climbed up the stair to the cave up there.

The wine chamber inside the cave.
Barrels of wines are stored inside here to be kept cool.

The mini Great Wall of China.

Pine tree cone ?

 This device only enables the park guides to switch on the cave lights.
I saw our park guide just scratch something to it and the device is activated.

 We went to this restaurant for lunch after the cave.
My favourite dish here is the sweet yam. It is yam covered in sugary coverings.

After lunch, we are headed to another place to visit. It is called 世外桃源(shi wai tao yuan) or China's Shang Ri La. But on the way there, we stopped by at a Health Centre.

The Health Center is called 永康生活 YongKang Health Care. The health guide brought us into a room and talk to us about 负离子 Anion. She measured the anion in the room with a machine and it turns out to be 50 unit. She said we humans need at least 300 anion unit every time to stay healthy. There are incredibly old people over 100 years old  in China, and they are still living healthily. She said they can live that long because of the high amount of anion they have at their environment. Waterfalls are one of the places that have high dose of anion. The health guide then introduced to us the health products they made from the extracts from this type of rocks.
She said that if we buy their health product - Anion jeweleries , anion statues, anion bed sheets and other things, we can feel more healthier after using it or exposed to is. 


Cute little birds made from the extracts from the rock just now.
Sold for RMB 980, or 980 Yuen.


I did not buy any of their products because it feels like my health depended on it. The thing that I really want from this shop is their anion measuring device, so that I can measure which area have the most anion amount and then I will hang out there regularly.

After viewing at their products, we continued our journey to Shang Ri La. It is located in 阳朔 Yang Shuo. 世外桃源 originally is a Chinese idiom describing about a beautiful place almost like paradise. This Chinese Shang Ri La is a park that has a lake.


It was drizzling when we reached there. The rain and the wind made the weather very cold. That was the coldest place I had ever visited in this trip. We were brought around the lake on a boat by the park guide.  The lake water there is blue and clear. From the boat ride, we get to see traditional Chinese style wooden houses.

We passed by people wearing fake animal clothings, holding sticks and doing their dance. I guess they are the Red Indians of China.




After our boat ride, a lady on the second floor of a building threw a few silk balls to us. She said whoever caught it can have it. In the souvenir shop, some locals are sitting down and working on their Chinese equipments and musical instruments.


After a several more snapshots, we left and headed to our next destination.

More on 世外桃源.

Our next destination is a tea shop. The tea shop is decorated with antiques, tea cups, jars and pots.
This tea shop is called 桂林市帝珍荼叶市场(Gui Lin Shi Di Zhen Cha Ye Shi Chang) Gui Lin Di Zhen Tea marketplace. The tea shop guide brought us inside a room where she talked about the 5 health teas they are selling. Different types of tea help our body in different ways. The five teas she introduced to us are 1.Tian Qi Flower tea, 2. Osmanthus tea, 3. Green Peony tea, 4.Wild Puer tea (Slimming tea), and 5. Old Puer tea. The guide's 3 lady assistants showed us how to make these teas. Unfortunately I did not take any photographs on how they make the tea because photography is not allowed in that room. They also showed us a special tea cup that after pouring the tea inside it, the dragon picture on the tea will change color from black to bright red. This is an old trick I had read from a comic book several years ago. From the book, I know that they use another type of element to make the dragon on the cup. The element they use have lower melting point and hence glows red when heated with hot water, just like black steel ore can turn into molten red lava. After my dad bought some tea and got the color changing dragon tea cup for free gift, we went out for dinner.


And after dinner, we are going to visit a magnificent stage performance in a theater. This theater is built specially for this show, 梦幻漓江 Dreamlike Lijiang. The name of this show is named after one of the river that we are visiting, 漓江 Li Jang river. This show have dancing, acrobatics, balancing, comedy and suspense. This show is really very fantastic, we do not have such performances in Malaysia. The show is about Li Jiang river and the life there.
After the show, we went out and meet with the performers.
Each one of them has a CD about their show just now.
We bought from one of them because videoing inside the theater is prohibited.

After the show, we headed to a hotel here in Gui Lin called 桂林帝苑酒店 Guilin Royal Garden Hotel.
We are staying here for two nights. The day after tomorrow we will leave Gui Lin.


Dreamlike Lijiang Theater Show 梦幻漓江

We We went to see the show Dreamlike Li Jiang 梦幻漓江 in Gui Lin on 24 November 2010 (Wednesday), our third day in China. This theater is built specially for this show only. The name of this show is named after one of the river that we are visiting, 漓江 Li Jang river. This spectacular show is about the life in Li Jiang river. This stage performances consists of acrobats, dancing, arts and body twisting. And one more thing, NO CAMERAs in the theater. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed in there. Do not be afraid to miss the show when you really need to go to the washrooms. There are small televisions on the toilet walls showing the live telecast from there.

The lighting effect is excellent, things appeared out of nowhere, for example a cardboard ship suddenly appeared out of the darkness. It makes me wonder where it came from. They also use laser beams to shine around and flat laser beams shined at the smoke they produced created an illusion of the clouds.

The first act is a storm in Li Jiang river. The storm clears and the background song becomes smoother. Then there is ladies in pixie clothings dancing.


There is another act about inside the caves in Li Jiang river, performers act as bats and the stalactites and stalagmites they show looked like real. Another act is about the sailors and fishermen jumping on a cardboard ship. As they dance with their tridents, a man with Japanese hair style came out to the front and spin his beautiful trident around his body smoothly. Another man dressed exactly like him came out to join him and together they roll the trident around their body. Another act is about a group of boys and teens juggling their hats.

The then formed a human pyramid and all of them juggled their hats at the same time without dropping a single cap. There is one new act only created recently. It is a comedy act about a young boy and a girl fighting to sit on a chair and end up they become friends. Another act is performed by couples flying in the air by grabbing a long cloth tied from the stage ceiling and spinning themselves around.

The performers showed themselves at the end of the show.

After the show, they gathered in the theater's entrance. 
Each of them holding a CD/DVD video of this show for selling.

Some pictures during the show:

Using laser light beams to create the words 梦幻漓江 meaning Dreamlike Li Jiang.

The main character of the show.


For more information on this Dreamlike LiJiang Show and our China trip, please visit

China's Shang Ri La, 世外桃源

On 24 November, our tour group visited China's Shang Ri La in 阳朔 Yang Shuo, or also known as 世外桃源(shi wai tao yuan). 世外桃源 originally is a Chinese idiom describing about a beautiful place almost like paradise. This Chinese Shang Ri La is a park that has a lake.

It was drizzling when we reached there. The rain and the wind made the weather very cold. That was the coldest place I had ever visited in this trip. We were brought around the lake on a boat by the park guide.  The lake water there is blue and clear. From the boat ride, we get to see traditional Chinese style wooden houses.

We passed by people wearing fake animal clothings, holding sticks and doing their dance. I guess they are the Red Indians of China.






After our boat ride, a lady on the second floor of a building threw a few silk balls to us. She said whoever caught it can have it. In the souvenir shop, some locals are sitting down and working on their Chinese equipments and musical instruments.


After a several more snapshots, we left and headed to our next destination.


More on 世外桃源.



Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Travel to 贺州 He Zhou


  • 23rd November 2010 (Tuesday)

Today, we will be going to 贺州 He Zhou. But before that long journey, we will get a taste of Chinese breakfast first. This is our first breakfast in China for this trip.






He Zhou is a land of farming. Chinese government let them use the land if only they will use it for farming.





Our reason for coming here is to visit a cave there. The cave is called 七星岩 Seven Star Cave. This cave is famous around China for it's beautiful, bizarre and artistic stalagmites and stalactites.

This hill on the right is the hill that we are heading. The cave there is our destination in He Zhou. It is very colorful inside the cave. It is not the rocks that are colorful, it's the different colored lights that shines on it to make it beautiful.


There are myth, stories and names for almost every strange looking rocks in the cave. Here are some pictures I took inside the cave :





Stalagmites and stalactites reflecting the colorful lights.









This is the Dragon's Bed. This hole is very long, that is why the myth is that the dragon sleeps here.





Tiny stalagmites formed around the cave water underneath.







Hen turned into stone by Medusa.








After the cave, we stayed in 贺州国际酒店 He Zhou International Hotel.


 We took a walk around He Zhou street after checking in the hotel. He bought some fruits.


The banana there is very delicious. As sweet as the good quality Malaysian banana and cheaper.







That night, we were brought to a park called 灵峰广场. Many people are exercising, dancing and playing. There is a lion dance nearby too. The park is illuminated by trees with bright bulbs on it's branches.
The hill nearby is lighted up brightly by spotlights.

That is all for today, tomorrow we will be heading for Gui Lin.