Guilin Hills and Mountains (11/11/2012)

Sunday, November 11, 2012
(Continued from Longji Rice Terraces.)
We had a two-hour drive back to the city of Guilin. Stopped for lunch at Yufulou Restaurant. Avan read the list of dishes available, and we decided to forego the Chicken with Horse Hoof Soup. Probably not much different than Oxtail soup, but we didn't want to bother with chicken bones...
The appetizer was a creamy salty cube of tofu in chili sauce. We had a tomato egg-drop soup, Guilin rice noodles with egg and vegetables, green beans with pork, sweet and sour fried fish, cauliflower (which was very green!), fried rice with egg, followed by slices of watermelon.
Our one scheduled stop in Guilin was Fuboshan/Wave-subduing Hill. Fubo is both the name of a general who is honored here:

And of the hill that juts out into the Li River so that it subdues the currents of water. "Fu" also means happiness and because the sound rhymes with "Hu" for teapot, they have a tradition where you walk through a teapot when you enter and leave a place, to receive much happiness.

The character "Fu"/happy in shrubs:

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A peacock topiary:

An ancient bell from the Dingyue Temple nearby, that was destroyed, but this bell was saved and brought here:

A good warning:

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We climbed to the top of Fuboshan, for a view south along the Li River:

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A view towards Solitary Beauty Peak:

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A view west:

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See the profile of the Old Man Mountain?

View of the Folded Brocade Hill, with rock layers that look like piles of silk:

Panorama north along the Li River:

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View of the shadow of Fuboshan:

View of Kent and Tamiko:

Avan

Yes, we had more stairs to climb!

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We entered the caves under Fuboshan, with Buddha carvings from the Tang Dynasty:

The non-Buddha carvings:

Sword-testing Rock:

Tamiko could slide her hand in the space under the rock:

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The legend is that invading troops met General Fubo here to negotiate. To show his strength the General swiped at a stone column with his sword and cut right through. The invaders were intimidated and agreed to retreat a distance the General could shoot an arrow. The General went to the top of Fuboshan and shot his arrow the distance of three hills away, sending the invaders back to where they had started in the first place.
Multi-lingual signpost:

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In the Cave of 1,000 Buddhas, a Guanyin, Goddess of Mercy:

More Buddha carvings, there are over 200:

A mouth of the cave:

Another relic from the Dingyue Temple, the Thousand Man Pot:

The iron pot could cook 134 pounds of rice to feed 1,000 people:

A man started swimming up river:

By the time he neared an island, he could wade:

What a nice way to say "Stay off the Grass!"

Kent finally got a photo of an old man on a scooter with his grandchildren:

We still had plenty of time before our flight back to Shanghai. Avan suggested a trip up Yaoshan, the highest mountain in Guilin. We went up by chair lift:

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Someone was carrying his bike up the mountain, a rise of 750m/2,461':

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You can use the Weigand Tobaggan Slide to descend:

Some folks are hiking up:

View of a golf resort:

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Almost at the top:

View of Guilin karsts:

A consistent typo up here:

Emperor Yao Di for whom the mountain is named:

His legendary feats include inventing the Chinese calendar and inventing the game of "Go."
Chinese zodiac animals:

Tamiko is a horse:

Brynne is a snake:

Kent is an ox:

Some zodiac rat figures:

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Ethnic minority embroidery:

Going back down on the chair lift:

Looking into the sun:

The southern side of Yaoshan has good feng shui and thus is a good place for a cemetery:

The cute seat covers in the van:

At the Guilin Airport, colorful flags and palm trees:

Back in Shanghai by 9:30 pm. Another great little weekend trip!