We made it to Guilen very late the other night and elected to sleep a little bit later. The girls ( & by that I mean parents) were a bit worn out. I think we underestimated how busy the trip would be. Part of the challenge is the distance between airport and city. The second challenge is dealing with the traffic once you reach the city. The traffic really is hard to describe and something you really need to witness to completely grasp.

In Guilen, we started by venturing towards the Reed Flute Caves. The cave was first explored by a monk about 900 years ago. The locals were afraid to enter the cave because they believed monsters or demons lived inside. Due the monk’s faith, he wasn’t worried about what he would find. Luckily for us, he discovered a beautiful cave for us the explore. Scientist believe it takes 800 years for a rock to grow one inch. In the cave, you will see stalactites reaching 30+ft ceiling to floor. It is hard to fathom how old this cave and it’s rock formations must be. Inside, you could pay an extra $5 yuan to see a turtle over 1000yrs old. Lacking a turtle expert in the group, we took a leap of faith and paid up. My gut tells me they pulled the turtle out of the Li River last week. However, I figured it was worth the risk as $5 yuan converts in to roughly US$0.85.

We stopped for a bite to eat prior to visiting a tea farm. Guilen is known for making noodles from rice floor not wheat. History suggests that Marco Polo introduced Italy to noodles after visiting this area some 700yrs ago. The noodles were fantastic and a must try if you are in the area.

At the tea farm, we had most of our assumptions about tea blown out of the tea cup. I assumed that white, green, black, etc.. tea all came from different species of plants. Actually, there are over 250 different tea shrubs in which each of these teas can come from. The distinguishing trait is when the leaves are picked. For example, white tea is the most delicate and is strictly made from the leaf sprout. Green and yellow tea (just processed differently than green) are made with part sprout and young leaf. Oolong tea is derived from a middle sized/aged leaf and black tea with the largest/mature leaf. When understanding this, you can make sense of the flavor and boldness each tea brings. The flavored teas are made the same way and just mixed with a flower or fruit at some point during the process. The girls loved picking the leaves off the trees in our traditional hats. At the end of the tour, we participated in a formal tea ceremony and were able to try several varieties of tea. It was a really fun and educational experience

The landscape in Guilen is breathtaking. The landscape is littered with small mountains rising up from the ground much like skyscrapers in Manhatten. We enjoyed the view as we drove to our last stop (Yangshoo) before returning to Beijing. The area is predominately farm land and rice fields. I saw a guy plowing with a water buffalo which was cool. We are in a much more rural setting and the buildings, streets, and traffic certainly reflect it. The government purposefully keeps Guilen (650k) and Yangshoo (300k) small so it doesn’t lose it’s appeal to tourist. They could re-pave a few of these roads though! Last year, roughly 25mm tourist visited the area (5-6mm outside of China). The car to bike/scooter ratio is skewed heavily backed towards bikes. This is more akin to our experience when we were here in 2005. A lot has changed since we were here not even a decade ago.

I wish I had been able to get a picture of all the bizarre transportation methods we have experienced. I did get the one below though of the scooter with two people and two dogs cruising around.