Is Guilin a must see in China? If so what are your suggestions to do? <BR>

We visited in November. <BR>Guilin itself is another Chinese city. The river, the hills, and the countryside are the beauties. We took the Li River trip. It was a long trip with several boats traveling at the same pace with the interesting scenery in the first few hours. Most people went below for the rest of the trip and played cards or napped. We spent most of the time sitting up top on boat watching the hills, other boats, begging children, etc. Lunch is freshly butchered and cooked on board, but worst food we had in China. The ride back through the countryside showed us fields, farms, and another great view of the hills. We didn't get the famous fog-shrouded view--all sunshine. <BR>We also took the tourist boat to watch the comorant fisherman. Interesting. <BR>The Reed Flute Cave is much like any other tourist cave with many aggressive vendors outside. Our guide also had to take us to a university to see faculty artwork for sale and hear the history of PRC. Another tour guide had to take his guests to a Chinese medicine lecture. Not the tourist or the guide's choice. <BR>Stayed at Sheraton--good rooms, food, and view.

Guilin is not much to write home about--the Li River <BR>is. A van takes you to the river--which is several <BR>hours away, I might add. The countryside is lovely <BR>and very traditional Chinese (water buffalo) and <BR>rice fields. The Li River trip is not done on a <BR>little boat--silly me too think that! It is a very <BR>commerical trip. When you arrive, there are at <BR>least 4-5 large boats ready to do the trip--most <BR>of the passgengers are tours or Chinese on a vacation. Therefore, most of the passengers are <BR>smashed and resting after lunch! The scenery, I <BR>thought was beautiful and well worth the trip. <BR>We did not take the trip to see the fishermen and <BR>the birds--we did see them on the route. We stayed <BR>on the top deck for most of the trip and picked <BR>peoples' brains that had been there before. Cameras <BR>everywhere!! I took brochures because my fifth <BR>grade class produced chalk rubbings similar to the <BR>mountains and added pen features, such as the trees--look at their shapes, bamboo, and pagodas. <BR>We saw the haze which is typical of the area. There are hundreds of different villages in the mountains all of which speak a different dialect. Both my husband and I would recommend the trip. Bear in <BR>mind the commerical end of it--as with any ventures, keep an open mind and your eyes and ears open!!

We visited Guilin in February. We rented bikes at the Sheraton and rode thru the University nearby.-climbed the hill in the center of the campus, went to the zoo-felt sorry for the animals,but watched monkeys in trees across the street. Took a boat ride down to Yangsho with a Chinese family who lived on their boat (dock right across from the Sheraton). It was quite an experience. We huddled around a ceramic bowl with charcoal in it to keep warm-had lunch at a little village-no other boats on the river! It was great, the hills were shrouded with mist. We also hired a driver the next day and went back to yangsho where we ate at the paris cafe-homemade tomato soup!!

We visited Guilin in February. We rented bikes at the Sheraton and rode thru the University nearby.-climbed the hill in the center of the campus, went to the zoo-felt sorry for the animals,but watched monkeys in trees across the street. Took a boat ride down to Yangsho with a Chinese family who lived on their boat (dock right across from the Sheraton). It was quite an experience. We huddled around a ceramic bowl with charcoal in it to keep warm-had lunch at a little village-no other boats on the river! It was great, the hills were shrouded with mist. We also hired a driver the next day and went back to yangsho where we ate at the paris cafe-homemade tomato soup!!

We visited Guilin in February. We rented bikes at the Sheraton and rode thru the University nearby.-climbed the hill in the center of the campus, went to the zoo-felt sorry for the animals,but watched monkeys in trees across the street. Took a boat ride down to Yangsho with a Chinese family who lived on their boat (dock right across from the Sheraton). It was quite an experience. We huddled around a ceramic bowl with charcoal in it to keep warm-had lunch at a little village-no other boats on the river! It was great, the hills were shrouded with mist. We also hired a driver the next day and went back to yangsho where we ate at the paris cafe-homemade tomato soup!!

I would bypass Guilin (except to fly into there) hire a car and drive straight to Yanshuo. Much more of a backpacker's town. Stay at the Yangshuo resort hotel (not resort as we know it) and rent mountain bikes (easy to use a map) and cycle one way and jump on a boat for the way back- its a great day, avoiding tours and large groups, and really getting to see the countryside. (its a long ride however). Also ask for Ms. Li outside of the hotel and for a few dollars per person she will bring you on a bike tour through her village- not touristy at all and well worth the $5.00 <BR>Its an amazing place with some of the most spectacular scenery in China.