Last month while our son and his wife were here visiting, and so there was someone to take car of the Thor (Beast), we booked a quick tripe to a little town in south eastern China – Guilin.

NOTE: There are 4 slideshows in this Post, so it could take a while to load. Please be patient.

To me, Guilin is know for three things: mountains that jut straight up out of nowhere, stepped rice farming in said mountains, and the remote village women who never cut their hair (Guinness World Record holders for the longest hair, I believe). And we were excited to see it all.

The trip didn’t start out all that great: screaming babies on the airplane, airplane food to die from, rude stewards, and late flights. China is notorious for late flights, so good luck making a connection if you have one. But I digress…

After changing seats and forgoing the nasty food, we arrived one hour late and were taken to our hotel in a smoke drenched minivan.

The hotel was very nice, and the worst part of the trip was behind us. I will spare everyone the day to day, blow by blow of our trip. So here are the highlights.

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We took two raft trips down the rivers on two separate days. The first was on a gas powered, PVC piped, 4 person river raft. We were not dressed accordingly for the cold breezes off the water, and shivered a bit. But the views were breathtaking and our guide was very talkative and informative on all the formations and sights along the way.

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The second rafting trip was an even smaller raft for just two people, commandeered by a guide with very long pole (gondola like). The raft itself was made of bamboo beams and water was constantly lapping up over onto our feet. We were provided with little bright red plastic bags to encase our shoes in to keep them dry. Dressed much more fitting for the weather and wind, we enjoyed this ride even more. And our guide was just as informative as the first, though he did admit he’d seen enough of the scenery that he was way past tired of it. He did let me attempt to drive the raft with the pole, which I failed at miserably.

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We also visited two caves while in Guilin. The first, Butterfly cave, was short and sweet. An overuse of brightly colored lights kinda over did the effect, but otherwise it would have been just a bunch of grey rock. The second cave was about 2 times too long and very hot. Having dressed for the second rafting trip after this cave, I was sweating bullets and ready to pass out – shedding clothes as quickly and discreetly as possible. I downed a cool bottle of Sprite like a fiend once we reached the end and felt much better.

The final part of the tour/trip was a journey, by bus, into the mountains to Huangluo Village. This in itself was rather hair raising. I’m acrophobic, so seeing sheer drops just inches away from the bus was bad enough. But these drivers are in some sort of Fast ‘n Furious race up and down the mountains through switchbacks and hairpin turns. I’m just very thankful it was not dark and/or raining. I kept telling myself “He doesn’t want to die either” (an assumption that does not always hold true, as recently witnessed with the tragic Germanwings flight 9525).

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Upon reaching the end of the road for the bus, we then hiked another kilometer or so to the village. There the 440 or so villagers tend to the stepped mountain rice patties in homes clinging to the cliffs. They have a small auditorium where they shared some local dances and customs, including drinks and food. Then displayed some of the women’s exceedingly long hair. As the tradition goes, the first and only time they cut their hair is when then turn 16, and that cutting is saved. From that point on, it is never cut again. Whatever hairs fall out are also saved. So they have this personal locket of time they keep wrapped around their head until they day. I can imagine a geneticist and nutritionist would have a field day studying those hairs.

Now, I love long black stick straight hair. But even for me, this was a little too much. I found it kinda gross, actually.

Anyway, walking up the steep steps with rock on one side and cliff on the other (and no handrails), I concentrated hard on the beautiful scenery around us.  There was a heavy fog (not smog) rolling in, and while it damped the colors somewhat, it also gave the whole place an ethereal feeling – half expecting Elves from Lord of the Rings to appear at any moment.

The flight back home, while the same airline (China Southern) was much better: no screaming kids, edible food, nice stewards and relatively on time.

Just two weeks after we had visited this area, this happened: Falling boulder kills 7 in S China, 8 Taiwanese injured

There are more, high-res photos of Guilin in the Galleries page of this web side.