Guilin, Longji Rice Terraces and Yangshuo in Guangxi, China

We flew to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, and took the high speed train from Guangzhou South railway station to Guilin West railway station. We stayed at the Lijiang Waterfall Hotel in Guilin. We explored the parks, lakes, hills and the Lijiang River near our hotel. We went to Shanhu Lake, Elephant Hill, Zhengyang Street, Prince City Scenic Area and Guilin Central Square. Zhengyang Street has many restaurants, clothing stores, gift and souvenir shops, and snack stalls along the streets. It is more crowded in the evening. Guilin Central Square has many stores selling shoes, clothing, luggage etc.
We spent a day trip to Longji and Ping An Zhuang to see rice terraced fields. The harvest was just over so the fields were bare. There was nothing much to see on the fields at this season but the sceneries at the tops are dramatic, fantastic and beautiful. We took pictures with the hill tribes, and had our lunch at their restaurant.
On the following day, we went to Daxu, an ancient town, to take bamboo raft on Lijiang River. We also visited Xing Ping, another ancient town, to take ferry along Lijiang River.
We spent two days at Yangshuo. Yangshuo is a county and resort town lies southeast of Guilin city. It is known for its dramatic karst mountain landscape and outdoor recreation. There are tour boats offer cruises in the Lijiang River past picturesque town and countryside. West Street is the oldest street at the centre of Yangshuo. It has a history of 1,400 years. It has become a window for eastern and western culture. It is also called “foreigners’ street”. There are more than 20 stores opened by foreigners who have settled here. We went to see a thousand years old Banyan tree. The tree is located on the west bank of Jinbao River about 7.5 km south of Yangshuo. This tree is said to have a history of nearly 1,400 years. It is 17 m high, 7.1 m around the main trunk, and spans an area of 1,000 square meters. Next stop is the beautiful and scenic Fu Li Bridge. It is an ancient bridge located at Yulong Bridge Pier, in Yangshuo’s Baisha town. The bridge was built over 500 years ago in the Ming dynasty. It was made of stones and measures 30 m in length, 10 m in height and 5 m in width.