China Family Tour with Beautiful Scenery

Upon arrival, you will see our guide waiting for you at the airport. Then a 2.4-hour drive (about 90 kilometers) will take you toward the north to get to the Pingan Village in Longsheng where you will stay tonight. After checking in, you are free for the rest of the day.

Besides having a good rest, you can also stroll around the village where the unique costume and quaint lifestyle of the Zhuang minority are preserved. In Guilin, there are more than a dozen minorities including the Hui minority and the Miao minority. Guilin is particularly known for its natural scenery characterized by towering mountains, magnificent caves, and clear rivers.

Today, you will begin to explore the Longji Rice Terrace, with a history of more than 2,300 years and an elevation range from 300 to 2,400 meters. The Longji Rice Terrace is surrounded by high mountains with clouds above. Nearby, there are deep valleys with rivers traveling through them rapidly. To survive, the local people had to cultivate most of the land that they could cultivate on the mountains, then the rice terraces appeared. Nowadays, the Longji Rice Terrace has become a popular attraction showing the gorgeous scenery to visitors. At present, there are over 10,000 terraces in different sizes. About the terraces’ sizes, there is a story. It is said that there used to be a mean landowner. He asked a farmer to cultivate 206 terraces in one day, otherwise, this farmer could not go back home. After working for a whole day, the farmer finished the task. However, when he did the counting, he found that there were only 205 pieces of finished land. In desperation, he had no choice but to pick up the straw cape (raincoat made out of straw, which the ancient farmers here usually take when they go to the farmland to do farmwork in a rainy day) and was ready to accept the punishment. At this very moment, he was pleasantly surprised to find that a small piece of land was just hidden under the straw cape! For this story, there is a common saying among the locals that even a frog can jump three terraces. Why? That is because there are so many small terraces here. For the smallest one, only three seedlings can be planted. After a nice family tour of the spectacular Longji Rice Terrace, we will drive southward for about 2.5 hours (about 100 kilometers) to the hotel in Guilin.

Longji Rice Terrace

Longji Rice Terrace

After breakfast, we will drive about 35 kilometers (about 50 minutes) towards the southeast to the Mopanshan Wharf. Then, you will start the Li River Cruise, which you cannot miss when you come to Guilin. Extending from Guilin to Yangshuo, the Li River is about 83 kilometers long, like a green silk belt along the continuous mountains. And you will spend 4 hours on the cruise ship (lunch included). You can choose a good place to get a view of the Li River as soon as you get on board. During the cruise, you will see many mountains in different shapes, such as an old man, a giant elephant, a camel, etc. on both sides of the river. The prototype of the famous reflection of Yellow Cloth Shoal is located here. If you have a 20 Yuan banknote, you will see the picture of that scene printed on one side of it.

The Li River Cruise will end in Yangshuo. After getting off the cruise ship, we will visit Yangshuo West Street, which is the oldest street in Yangshuo county with a history of over 1,400 years. Walking on the street, you will find many antique buildings which are of brick structure with green tiles overlapping one another on the roof. And these buildings were left over from the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912). Besides, there are various kinds of shops, selling such things as antiques, crafts, books, clothing, and jewelry. If you are just hungry, you are recommended to taste the local specialty - Beer Fish. It tastes spicy and crispy. More importantly, the fish does not have any distasteful flavor. The special recipe of this dish lies in choosing the fresh carp living in the Li River and the beer must be the superior produced in Guilin. After having a wonderful time in Yangshuo West Street, we will drive northward (about 1.5 hours) to Guilin, about 70 kilometers away from the Yangshuo.

Li river

Yangshuo west street

This morning, following our experienced guide, you will first visit Elephant Trunk Hill. As the landmark of Guilin, this hill has been a famous attraction since the Tang Dynasty(618-907). Elephant Trunk Hill, originally named Li Hill, is located at the junction of two rivers. The hill looks like an elephant standing by the river and stretching its long trunk to drink water from a distance. The water is clear and you can see the water plants in the river, while the surface is still and you almost can not see ripples. The river looks like a beautiful green crystal under the feet of this elephant. Between the trunk and legs of this elephant, there is a cave, 17 meters in length and 9.5 in width. And the river flows through it. Although it is not a quite big cave, there are over 50 existing inscriptions on the wall, and one of them is 2.57 meters high and 7.52 meters wide. On the top of the Elephant Trunk Hill, there is a Puxian Pagoda built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) enshrining the statue of Samantabhadra, one of the four prestigious Bodhisattvas. Many small square holes were interspersed in the body of the brick pagoda. According to the Buddhist scriptures, Samantabhadra always appears riding an elephant, and the Puxian Pagoda standing on the summit of the Elephant Trunk Hill does coincide with such a story.

Reed Flute Cave, an amazing karst cave, is 240 meters deep. And the total length we will visit is about 500 meters long. It is said that there used to be overgrown reeds at the entrance of the cave. Later, people found that they can play a melody using the flutes made from those reeds. That is why now we call it the Reed Flute Cave. More than 1,000 years ago, many people came here and left many inscriptions, such as ancient poems and travel notes. Besides those inscriptions, you will also be drawn to the extraordinary natural scenery. Inside the cave, various stalactites hang from the ceiling and huge stalagmites grow from the floor. When stalactites meet stalagmites, stone pillars are born. Now, these natural wonders are illuminated by the modern colorful lights, which creates a mysterious atmosphere in the cave. Besides, there are many interesting natural scenes in this cave and Chinese people usually like to name those scenes with poetic words, such as Crystal Palace, one of the famous scenes in this cave. It is also the widest site in the cave without serried stalactites. Besides, it is the shooting place of East Sea Palace in Chinese TV series Journey to the West. In this TV series, the Dragon King of East Sea had a unique and powerful weapon, which can change sizes. After hearing of this magical weapon, the Monkey King, one of the main characters in Journey to the West, wanted to get this weapon. So he came to the East Sea. In order to get this weapon, he had fought with the Dragon King’s soldiers for many days. As the Monkey King was too powerful that all the soldiers, even the Dragon King and his son were defeated by him. So the Dragon King had to give this weapon to the Monkey King finally. It is said that in the Crystal Palace, there is one stone pillar similar to this powerful weapon!

After the visit, the 4-day family tour in Guilin is drawn to a close. We will drive you to the airport according to your flight schedule. We hope you have a great journey and can join us again soon!

Reed Flute Cave

Elephant Trunk Hill

Editor:Yalin Zhao

Proofreader:Yan Liu