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Reed Flute Caves

1/25/2019

Reed Flute Cave is in Guilin, China. It is an enormous cavern with stalactites and stalagmites that have been formed over hundreds of thousands of years. There are inscriptions throughout the cave, some of which date back to the Tang Dynasty. Although it has been around for almost all of history, they were uninhabited until the 1940's when a group of Chinese, fleeing the Japanese, hid there. The cave is named for the reeds that grow outside. The reeds are used to make flutes.

As evidenced by the pictures above, the rock formations are illuminated with multi-colored lights, giving it a Disney feel. Despite this, the cave and the formations inside are striking, as is the enormity of the cave, which takes about 30 minutes to walk through.

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Liu Sanjie

1/18/2019

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One of the most beautiful shows I have seen in China is the Liu Sanjie water, light and music show in Yangshuo. Yangshuo is a quaint little town about 1-1/2 hours from Guilin, in Guangxi Province. The town is the endpoint of the Li River cruise. I like to take cruise in the morning, arrive in Yangshuo in the afternoon, stay through dinner and catch the show in the evening.

The Liu Sanjie show is a spectacle of light and music. It takes place on the water and there are no bad seats. The only suggestion I have is to bring a zoom lens for a camera in order to get close-up views of the singers and dancers.

Liu Sanjie is the name of a young woman in folklore. Liu is the woman's last name; last names are listed first in Chinese, out of respect for the family name. "San" means "three" in Chinese and "jie" means "sister." Therefore Sanjie refers to the young woman's place in her family: the third born daughter of Mr. Liu. In Chinese families, children are often referred to by their place in the family, not their given name. The younger sister in the family will be called "meimei" which means "little sister." Meimei is not her name, but that is the name to which she is referred.

The "Liu Sanjie" story goes like this: Liu Sanjie is a legendary woman from the Zhuang ethnic minority. Her voice is fabled to be so spectacularly beautiful that she is also called the Song Fairy. As is customary in Zhuang traditions, Liu Sanjie gives an embroidered ball to the boy she likes, named A Niu. He then throws the ball across the river and onto a rock, high on a mountain, as a symbol of their everlasting love. That is basically the gist of this story, two farm villagers falling in love.

Despite the relatively boring nature of the story, it is a fantastic performance that is highly new and unusual to the western eye.

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Bamboo Raft Ride

1/11/2019

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The Li River is one of the most famous rivers in China due to its spectacular beauty. The river is lined on both sides with limestone karst peaks. The peaks look as if they are the setting of a science fiction movie, shaped like gumdrops. They are more like mountains from a Dr. Seuss book than true landscape.

In the past, I have brought travelers on a boat ride down the Li River, from Guilin to Yangshuo. However, on my most recent trip to that area, we went on one of the smaller tributaries, the Yulong River.

Because the Yulong is not as wide and deep as the Li, larger boats cannot navigate its waters. But bamboo rafts can be poled down the Yulong and that's just what we did. Locals, who also make their living by fishing, pole the bamboo rafts down river. Our ride was about 1-1/2 hours.

The rafts are decked out with two chairs for travelers to sit and enjoy the scenery. We were a caravan of rafts. At times it was quiet and peaceful. The only sound was the water. At times, the "gondoliers" would converse with one another, usually about their guests. I heard them comment, in the local dialect, that I speak Mandarin, but couldn't understand them when they spoke in their dialect. While that is generally true, I was able to decipher some of their conversations about the Americans for whom they rowed that day. As I always do, I smiled to myself and acted ignorant.

The most exciting part of the ride was when we were poled down the elevation changes where the locals built little dams, over which we needed to float. The first one was very scary. It appeared as if we would fall forward into the water. Each time we descended was a little scary, but it really was not a big deal.

The beauty of this part of China is breath-taking. Every single person with whom I have traveled to this area has had the same impression, beyond spectacular. Join me on a bamboo raft ride down the Yulong!

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Yangshuo Cooking School

1/4/2019

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A couple of years ago, one of our local Guangxi Province guides introduced me to Yangshuo Cooking School. Now it is a staple of any trip to that area of the country. After a visit to the local vegetable market (last blog), we travel into the countryside by van to the school. The school is located is in a tiny village and is housed in an old farm house. Each chef has their own station, in the open air, with a giant wok, wooden chopping block, giant cleaver and beautiful ingredients. Our host, Sophie, demonstrates the steps for each dish and then she comes around to help us.

The first time I went, amongst other dishes, we made egg dumplings, a treat for my gluten free friends. This time we prepared an appetizer of steamed vegetables stuffed with meat. We created chicken with cashews, beer fish, stir-fried eggplant (my favorite) and stir fried cabbage, which is surprising delicious and so easy. Once the meal is complete, we sat down at long farm tables in the open air and enjoyed the fruits of our labor.

Come see the surprises we have in store for you on our next journey!

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Reed Flute Caves

Liu Sanjie

Bamboo Raft Ride

Yangshuo Cooking School

Lauren Drazen

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