Xi’an: Another Must See on the List of Must Sees (ii)

Entire cities are like this, too. When I think of the must-see tourist cities in China, Guilin and Xi’an come to mind first. Guilin was a a disappointment for me tourism-wise (I thought the city itself was great). It reminded me of Yellow Mountain, where all the pine trees have names based on the shape of the tree; for example, the famous Welcoming Tourists Pine is an attraction at Yellow Mountain because it is shaped like a tree waving to tourists. Crowds literally line up to take their picture in front of this tree, then get back on the cable car shortly after, sometimes even skipping the amazing views of the mountain that have not been deemed as must-sees by the mystery travel authority. At Guilin, every karst peak has a special name based on its shape—Elephant Trunk Hill would be the most famous one. The hill itself only looks like an elephant if you use your imagination, and at the top of Elephant Trunk Hill, as with the peak of all of Guilin’s famous hills, all you have is a bathroom and a souvenir shop. I found wandering around downtown Guilin in the morning, and visiting the enormous night market, much more fascinating; unfortunately, not many tourists seemed to enjoy wandering when I was there.

Posted at 10:34AM Dec 29, 2008 by admin in China Travel  |  Comments[2]