Guilin: Day 4 Li River

Happy New Year to all reader-friends! 2009 was a wonderful year for our family. I wanted to start the new year with a new web look but since I'm still in search of someone who can help me with that, you'll just have to bear with it. I still have some posts on my Guilin trip so I'll dispense that before moving on to recipes posts.

Day 4 of our Guilin trip was spent doing what every tourist does in Guilin: take a slow ride down the Li River. On my previous trip, I took the large boat from Guilin to Yangshuo, a boring 4 1/2 ride in which I had to put up with cigarette smoke and a very bad lunch. This time, instead of enjoying the river on a large boat filled with about 100 people, mostly locals, we took a raft (not made of bamboo but of PVC pipes...) from a town called Yangdi, about one hour by bus from Yangshuo. The raft ride cost about 100 Yuan/RM50/US$14 pax but the big commercial boat ride will set you back 400 Yuan pax. I definitely recommend the raft ride because you'll be closer to the water (in the large boat, you sit inside a cabin, coming out only at certain scenic points) and it is more serene and enjoyable than riding with nearly a hundred Chinese. The raft ride is only about 2 1/2 hours from Yangdi to Xingping, and from Xingping you take a 45-minute bus ride back to Yangshuo for a couple of Yuan. I didn't like that they made many stops along the river for us to buy snacks, eat lunch, take photos with comorants and all those touristy stuff. You can insist on not stopping, especially if all 4 of you on one raft are known to each other.



On arrival at the Li River in Yangdi for the raft ride, old ladies aggressively pushed mandarins, tangerines, peanuts and fresh flower tiaras for 2 Yuan/RM1/US$0.30. They followed us everywhere, telling us to pity grandmothers. It worked.



They still wash their clothes in the river. You'd think that the authorities would stop that.





The raft can carry four people excluding the raft man but the big cruise boat carries about a hundred people. Three years ago I saw kitchen staff (lunch is served on the boat) throw cooking liquids into the river (liquid being harder to detect than solid rubbish) and on this trip, I was disappointed that it was still being done. The Li River and the hills along it are Guilin's biggest toursit draw, yet the authorities do nothing to protect the river. I would love to see the large boats banned.



Taking a photo with these comorants will cost you 20 Yuan/RM10/US$3.



For 2 Yuan/RM1/US$0.30 , you can buy a stick of Li River crabs, shrimps and fish that taste like what they are--crustacean shells fried in oil.



At 5 Yuan/RM2.50/US$0.70, the price of the Guilin mifen is twice that in the city. My kids found the river ride boring and preferred to get off the boat at every chance.



Makeshift tents that serve simple snacks and sell handicrafts such as carved river stones are everywhere, to my disappointment. Three years ago, there were hardly any. Again I felt that the ride on the Li River is over-rated especially now that it's so commercialized.



This is the end of the ride, near Xingping. The scenery of the hills at this point is captured on the 20 Yuan bill and you should get your 20 Yuan bill ready before arrival at Xingping, so that you can take the customary photo holding the bill against the scenery.

December to March is probably the worst time to see the Li River because the water level is so low it becomes a trickle of water barely enough for the boats to pass through at certain points. Although the hills of Guilin are still ethereal-looking and beautiful, the lack of water in the river muted the beauty, like a girl behind a veil. I can imagine how beautiful the above scenery would be if the river filled its banks.

Xingping is a small town with nothing much to see, but there is a quaint old street.



This is where we had one of the best Guilin mifen. We had Guilin mifen every day while we were in Guilin, sometimes more than once a day! One reason was because they don't serve noodles any other way.



Looks simple but it's super yummy! The pork bones soup is rich and tasty, the pickled long beans sour and crunchy, the fried soya beans fun to eat and the Guilin chili just makes the whole bowl of noodles delicious and thrilling to eat. But most of all, the noodles were smooth and full of rice flavor.



The large claypot held the lu sui, a gravy for Guilin mifen made of cinnamon, soy sauces and many other secret ingredients. The cupboard at the back reminds me of childhood days before fridges were available and leftover food was stored to keep them from flies.



The back of the restaurant. It amazes me that these places still exist. It's like a hundred years ago. I hope it doesn't change.



Ladies making sausages. The sausages in China are different in taste and shape from those we get here and in Hong Kong. They are thicker, fresher, more subtle in flavor and not as hard.





Looks like hard work!

Christmas 2009

Christmas is only celebrated for one day here. I can't imagine how people can go back to work on Boxing Day, but luckily this year, B. Day fell on a Saturday. Well, maybe two days of celebration if you include the eve because most of us have Christmas dinner on the eve. Which means you can suddenly find yourself with nothing to do and no where to go on Christmas night. But lucky for us, we've been busy eating at home and at friends'. Wonderful isn't it, to just eat and talk and laugh with friends and family.

We had about 18 people over on Christmas Eve, a perfect number I think because it is more cosy and manageable than my previous Christmas dinners of 30 to 40 guests. I am beginning to change how I entertain at home. A smaller number is much more intimate and meaningful. This year, instead of a casual buffet, I did a sit down dinner and we all agreed later that it was much nicer than buffet-style. Just a little bit more effort was needed to put the tables together and arrange the sitting. It worked because my kids and Yi's friend G from Melbourne served the guests, and everything went very well because of the extra help. I found out later that Ming had thought that the leaf salad was dressed (it wasn't) and everybody was eating plain rabbit food. Otherwise, we had a great time but we forgot to make New Year's resolutions so we'll have to have another party for that. We did celebrate the best Christmas present for our family: Wey did unexpectedly well in his PMR exams. The results were released Christmas Eve morning. Now I just have to find a way to get out of the promise I made him--a trip to Japan.



We ate out in the back patio, so eat your hearts out, those having a white Christmas.



The kids made a sangria with a whole bottle of champagne...





Appetizer served by the kids became a full plate of baked crab & lobster gratin, grilled prawns & mushrooms, serrano ham and rock melon roll and the un-dressed salad.



Turkey with chestnut stuffing, a yummy Italian pumpkin dish made by G, a beet and apple salad that received high marks and scalloped potatoes with anchovies.



This was my favorite item: panettone. Panettone is the best substitute for the traditional fruit cake because it is much more healthier. This panettone turned out unbelievably good, especially with coffee. I have decided to make it my traditional Christmas food.



Of course, for our climate, I always make traditional English trifle. Everybody loved this, and I made it the next day to bring to a friend's party, and again the next day for another party. The only problem was, the whole town ran out of fresh cream on Christmas Eve! Luckily I bought 2 bottles of Australian Bulla heavy cream two days before so the first trifle was the best because the next too were made with Nestle reduced cream, which is not as good and much more expensive too. Btw, get your Bulla cream and other western foodstuff at the wholesaler, Lim Lee Seng, near Supertanker. SO much cheaper and fresher.





Thank God for G who made these choc chips and pecan shortbread cookies in lighting time. I've always disliked making cookies because I haven't got the patience but G proved to me that it's no hassle. And the cookies were delicious!

Guilin: Yangshuo at Night

The first night in Yangshuo, we watched the musical performance of Liu sanjie (3rd sister of the Liu family; in China, you are numbered by your birth order). I missed the performance 3 years ago because my day tour did not permit a stopover in Yangshuo. Liu sanjie was a legendary heroine of the Zhuang people, the tribe who lived in the hills of Guilin. Uneducated but witty and courageous, she became the spokeswoman for the poor hill tribe people against the rich landowners. My hub thinks that the whole story is communist propaganda: poor against rich, uneducated against educated, serfs against masters. You must understand that the movie, which promoted this legend, was made in the 60s, at the time of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The whole movie was performed in songs, just like The Sound of Music and movies of that era.





I'd say the most awesome thing about the Liusanjie performance was the setting. There must've been at least two thousand of us seated on the stadium seats facing the pitch blackness of the stage. Then, at 7:30 sharp, the lights lit up and you realize that you are seated in front of the Li River, which acted as the stage! That was pretty awesome. I was overcome by the spectacular sight of the lighted mountains, ethereally beautiful and grand. The crowd broke into a spontaneous applause. Suddenly long strips of red rose horizontally along the 'stage', like waves in the river. It was totally characteristic of China's most famous movie director, Zhang Yimoe. You may remember him as the director of Red Lantern and many other award-winning movies.

Overcome by the spectacular, majestic sight of the lighted mountains, the actors in their lighted tribal costumes, the echos of the music bounding off the hills and the cold night air (about 10 C, no wind, nice night), I called my mom from my seat and told her about the show, wishing that she could be there to see it too. I was a little sad to realize that mom with her weakened legs and back may never experience the show. I also realized that one day my own kid may call me from somewhere about a wonderful place or show, but I'd be too old to experience it. Each generation experiences something different that's unavailable to the previous generation.

The show, which premiered in 2004, costs 135 Yuan/RM83/US$23 per person, including transportation and I think it is not to be missed, if you are in Yangshuo. It plays every night but tickets are always sold out even though the seating capacity is about 2500, so do get the tickets from your hotel.

The show ended an hour later and we were sent back to the town. We headed straight for the famous West Street, a street of hip cool shops and bars popular with western tourists, especially in the summer. There was so much to see--magicians, artists who can write your name on a grain of sand, pubs with Russian pole dancers dressed moderately, Chinese and western restaurants, people selling things from chi pao (cheong sams) to candied apples. We finally sat down for dinner at the entrance of the street. We wanted to try Yangshuo's famous dish, beer fish, and settled on a 60 Yuan/RM30/US$8 order. However, I was told to follow the waitress to see the fish and when I they showed me my fish, I was told that the dish would cost me 300 Yuan/RM150/US$42! This was because the 60 Yuan was for 1/2 jing, about 500 gm. I rejected the fish, to the waitress' surprise. I recalled reading about this trick: when ordering fish, remember that the price listed on the menu is for a certain weight, usually 1/2 jing although it is not printed on the menu. After the home-cooked lunch by the Li River and the pricey fish we paid for, we decided we'd try beer fish some other time.



Brinjals (long eggplant) with salted fish was great.



The best greens are found in China because, trust me, they are into organic farming. Let me tell you some other time why I wasn't eating much veg in China even though I love Chinese veg.



Yam and belly pork is another famous Guilin dish but I was disappointed that it wasn't even half as good as Hakka yam and pork.



As I have 20 guests for Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow night, I have to end here and tell you about West Street in another post. What's your Christmas dinner menu? In most parts of Asia, Christmas dinner is usually on the eve. This year I'm serving:

Apppetiser: gratin crabs & lobster in their shells with a leaf salad

Main: roasted turkey with chestnut stuffing

Sides: 1) beets, pumpkin and apples with a creamy chive dressing 2) potatoes dauphinois

Dessert: trifle, panettone (a healthy replacement for fruit cake) and 2 types of cookies (double choc chips and pecan shortbread)

I should do a soup but I'm stressed. I will have dinner parties at home on 26, 27, possibly 28th and 30th, 31st too! I hope my maid doesn't quit!

Have a very happy Christmas everyone!

Guilin: Day 3 Yangshuo

We packed all our luggage for our trip to Yangshuo because the Education Hotel wouldn't let us keep our luggage there for 2 days.

The bus fare from Guilin to Yangshuo was 18 Yuan/RM9/US$2.50 per person and the journey was about 2 hours, maybe less. On arrival at the Yangshuo bus station, we were mobbed by a bunch of women who jostled to get us to their hotels. They wouldn't leave us alone and walked down the street with us, sometimes even grabbing my arm to make me look at the photos of the hotel rooms. Finally, two blocks down, I turned to the most persistent woman and told her she was annoying. She countered by telling me not to come to Yangshuo with my attitude. But they still followed us, and we went into a hotel for refuge. The women hung around outside the hotel, waiting for us. Then Hub had a good idea: we leave the kids with the luggage in the hotel lobby, get a taxi and come back for them.

And that was how we met Xiao Jiang ("Little Say") who lived up to his name. He seldom talked unless you talked to him and even then he may not answer you.

Xiao Jiang took us to Lan Ren Tang (Lazy Men Inn), a cosy little place where we took a 3-beds room for 120 Yuan/RM60/US$17 and a 2-beds room for 80 Yuan/RM40/US$11. I had read some where that when in Yangshuo, you must stay in home-run inns and not big hotels. The hotel that we had taken refuge in had typical hotel rooms of stained carpets and furniture.

Our first stop was to experience a 'rural home-cooked lunch' in a home-run restaurant by the Li River in the countryside. Xiao Jiang had grown up around that area and knew the lady who ran the place. She was the owner, waitress and cook. Her mother (or MIL?) was her assistant, and together they also cultivated a plot of land with veggies and reared hundreds of chickens and ducks. Fish was caught from the river. We were amazed by the country setting, with the jagged hills of the river as back drop, the river running by, chickens and ducks scuttling around, home-made sausages and bacon drying in the sheds and the little dining huts by the river. However, as in most rural places in China, rubbish was everywhere and I couldn't help feeling frustrated when I compare China with Japan. Most people think Japan is more beautiful than China when in fact China is just as (or more) beautiful than Japan but the place is just not well-managed. People spit everywhere and rubbish is strewn away like confetti. China is like a beautiful girl doesn't wash her hair or brush her teeth. Beautiful from far.


A common scene this time of the year in China: home-made sausages and bacon drying in the winter wind.


Setting for our lunch was a hut over the Li River, with the sharp Guilin hills in the back.



We watched the lady pull in her nets containing 4 small gui fish from the Li River. She cleaned them live and marinaded them with salted soya beans, ginger strips, spring onions and soy sauce and placed them to steam, their tails and fins flipping.





We heard chickens clucking like mad and saw the older lady came forward with a village chicken and she proceeded to cut its throat. My kids ran away while I hung around to watch them cook.


Steamed gui fish, very tasty.


Village chicken eggs.


Chinese celery stir fried with Chinese bacon (la rou), very delicious!


Village chicken stir-fried in soy sauce, another yummy dish.


We didn't like this dish of purplish greens, which had a flavor and taste we weren't used to.


Village chicken mushroom soup, a little too oily for us.

Hub declared this meal the best so far and it was superb even though it was common home-cooked dishes. But I would've enjoyed it more if the place was cleaner and the huts less rickety. But still, it was quite something to eat fish from the Li River in a hut built over it. And then the bill came: 282 Yuan/RM140/US$39, which was twice as much as our dinner the first night in a good restaurant in Guilin called Northern Nation Village (no photos to show as Yi lost the memory card). That was also the most expensive meal we had for the whole trip. The little gui fishes cost 104 Yuan/RM52/US$14. We had committed one big mistake: always ask the price first. Looked like Xiao Jiang pulled a fast one on us.

About 10 to 15 minutes away from Yangshuo is The Giggling Tree, possibly the best inn to stay if you go to Yangshuo. Unfortunately we were already checked into The Lazy Men Inn but here are some shots taken at The Giggling Tree, a village house renovated and run by two Dutchmen. At 210 Yuan/RM105/US$29, The Giggling Tree is considered pricey for Yangshuo standards but it definitely looked like a good bargain to me. The inn reportedly serves the best western food in Yangshuo.







Another great place to stay is Outside Inn (get it?) which you may see is advertised on my Goggle Banner. Only 120 Yuan/RM60/US$17 per room for this authentic farm house turned inn. It looked like Tuscany in China to me! I wanted to spend our last night here, away from the town, but was voted 4 : 1 because the others couldn't appreciate living out in the countryside. I could just imagine it: walking around the village and checking out the people cooking their dinners, waking up to sounds of farm animals and cycling around the village. But no, my kids and Hub preferred not to live in the country. Yet if they go to Tuscany, they'll willingly pay more to live in a Tuscan farm house.





The Dutch seem to like Yangshuo because, like The Giggling Tree, a handful of Dutch were lazing around the patio of Outside Inn. Under the hands of the yang ren (westerners) or gwei lo (devil people), these two inns are rustic, charming, cosy and clean. Now maybe that's just what China needs--yang ren to spruce up the places since they are doing a bad job themselves.

Guilin: Day 2 Haiyang Xiang

We took a 30-minute 4.50 Yuan/RM2.25/US$0.60 per pax bus ride from Daxu to Haiyang Xiang ("ocean village" although there's no ocean around). Haiyang is a one-street town that lines the road, with mud-brick houses behind the road. This town is famous for its gingko nuts and trees, many of which are hundreds of years old. Movies are filmed here and artists, photographers and local and foreign tourists come here in the fall to appreciate the beauty of the golden yellow leaves.



Unfortunately for us, the weekend before we arrived the fall leaves were in their utmost glory but the wind and rain came 3 days before we arrived and brought most of the leaves down. It was a bummer for me because this is the second time I missed the gingko leaves in their yellow splendor. The right time to be there is in the last week of November, I'm told.



Hub literally flagged down a local called Xiao Duan ("Little Broken"?) and he agreed to drive us around for 100 Yuan/RM50/US$14 in his borrowed 'bread car', a van. He also sent us back to Guilin, an hour's drive, for 110 Yuan/RM55/US$15.



In the gingko park a short distance away from the town.



The villagers who live in the park sold produce such as ginger, sweet potatoes, taro, peanuts, kumquats, oranges, mandarins and gingko nuts which we bought, at 5 Yuan/RM2.50/US$0.70 for 1 jing, about 500 gm. The nuts were white, unblemished, big and round while the pearly yellow flesh inside was fresh and plump, unlike the moldy shriveled ones we get in Malaysia. Instead of 5 kgs, I should've bought twice as much but the thought of carrying 10 kgs of nuts around for the duration of the holiday stopped us from doing so.



Sugarcane is a snack available everywhere in China. For 5 Yuan a long stalk, we each got a 1 foot piece to chew on. It was very sweet, full of juice and refreshing.



China's sweet potatoes are very different from the ones we get in Malaysia. They are sweet, fine-fleshed, moist and fragrant. The amethyst-purple and the orange ones are the best. When baked over a wood fire, the potatoes caramelise outside while the inside is soft. We all love them.



I read somewhere that oranges originated from China but they are wrongly regarded as a western fruit. These navel oranges were sweet, juicy and very big but maybe because they were for the Chinese market, they were hard to peel. Oranges are served in wedges in China and South East Asia, which I think is the best way to eat them. Less work and no sticky fingers.



Remember the sign in this photo because if you go to Haiyang, you must eat at this restaurant. It is on the right side of the road as you enter the town (btw, the Chinese drive on the right side of the road, like the Americans). I ate their village chicken gingko nuts soup 3 years ago, and this time I wanted to try the same soup but with duck instead of chicken because that's one of Guilin's famous dishes. The soup would take at least 20 minutes so I took off to the back lane and took some photos.







The soup was set over a gas stove to keep it (and the diners) warm. In the soup was chopped village duck, white tofu cubes, ginger, chinese nappa cabbage, something white called wei san (which had no particular flavor and had the texture of potatoes) and lots of gingko nuts. Surprisingly, the soup and the duck didn't have any ducky smell at all. The soup was light & refreshing/ching, very savory sweet and I could tell the sweetness was from the duck and not msg.

The pot of soup and bowls of rice, with leftover (Wey's portion because he just wouldn't try it), cost only 60 Yuan/RM30/US$8. Even though simple, it was one of the best meals I had on the trip.





Look who's watching us eat.