September 10, 2026
Guilin, China is just a 3 hour,18 minute high speed train ride from Hong Kong. It is a charming city known for its dramatic landscape of limestone karst hills. In the center of town are 2 lakes, Shanhu ( cedar) and Ronghu ( banyan) that remain from a medieval era moat, that once surrounded the city. The twin pagodas, the Sun and the Moon, sit on the the shore of the Shanhu and light up the sky at night.
Late afternoon, we checked into the
Wing Hotel,
which was on a charming pedestrian street, in the heart of town. My room on the 5th floor, had a nice window box seating area, that was set up for tea service, overlooking the scenery below We were all hungry, so we quickly went for a late lunch / early dinner, at the
Rosemary Cafe
across from hotel, that had advertisements in English!
After dinner we strolled the town, we started down near the river, where there are beautiful tree lined streets. Guilin means "forest of sweet osmanthus" or the cassia tree, which they harvest the leaves, to make tea.
Next, we walked through a park to see a stone arch in a hillside called Elephant Trunk Hill. The Chinese look at a lot of nature for symbolism, we find on this trip. The entire area is elephant themed. There were tons of people strolling around and many dressed in period costumes, that are rented from stalls, throughout the park. We also see this wherever we go. It's mostly young girls, taking endless amounts of poses.
