Guilin Part 3: Must See

李白：
两岸猿声啼不住
轻舟已过万重山

With monkeys' sad adieus the riverbanks are loud;
My skiff has left ten thousand mountains far away
(Google translation)

Guilin Part 2 - Feng Shui and Landscape

Guilin is said to have a very strategic location based on feng shui perspective. Over the centuries, Guilin has been the "feng shui location" for debut of king or great leader. It was said to be the cohesion of all goodness. The king Lu was once meditate and found peace here..then he subsequently overlord the dynasty...while in most recent history, it was said that not even the Japanse missile in WW2 could hit the place...  I don't know how true the stories told by the tour guide but the greeny and freshy landscape did make me feel good here..

The running water was symbolizing prosperous...

The path that King Lu was once walking...I guess so...

The five happiness pagoda which built strictly according to the dimension of Feng Shui...

This echo wall was specially built in a curve...you can hear the "reply" from the wall and so your wishes would come true...

There was a wall molding the standard appearance of people during Dynasty Tang...the perception and evolution of human body shape has been seriously deviated...

"Opps...my butt is not big enough!"

Guilin Part 1 - The local life and food

Used to hear that "桂林山水甲天下" which means the best scenery under the roof of sky is located at Guilin...and this time, I have finally able to witness her beauty myself... However, don't hope too much on their food...

Guilin is considered a very recent developed city with well planned... as I saw, the residents here mostly riding motorbike, electrical bike, public transport or walking... environmental friendly...

The streets were broad and well decorated with plantation...people were walking quickly but drive slowly...young girls make up very nicely but talk loudly...

Still people washing clothes at river side? or just demonstrating to us on how people wash clothes in old days?

Then we have this fresh water fish from the river that aunty washed clothes...

Fried lotus roots and mushroom were very special as I never ate before...delicious but very oily...as can see the shinny reflection on the pictures...

Chicken was very skinny and rough...I guess it was the villages' poultry...

Bird soup with herbs...Chinese love herbs soup...can enhance body strength and health?

Despite, Guilin is famous of this fermented bean curd...and really must try...very good taste especially eat with plain porridge...

Chinese here also love to drink...and their beer is almost three times cheaper than in Malaysia...

But come to breakfast, I kinda miss "nasi lemak"...the pictures would tell why....

Four star hotel...

And the service crew like to play "hide and seek"...
They enjoyed the food served on table too...just take and put into mouth...

Well...the most familiar things here was...
McDonald's...

 Why no Ladies' Day half price promotion??

We walked around the lake and also night market...even 2 am still crowded with people...

Musical fountain...

 Bridge made of glass...

 I guess this is the only historical building here...

 Busy junction...

 7-11's pinky sister??

 The night market...

 All sort of braised...

 Durian...

 Watsons's surname is "wat"...

Shoes brushing service...

Pretty Chinese girl....

Thailand -- James Bond Island Phuket

My previous trip to Trang Thailand was almost 3 years back...indeed this Phuket visit was not a holiday trip but rather a "two days" outrun...

Since that time was constrained, we must plan for things to do and must do first...in which were tomyam food...massage....and also the sea and beach (not bitch)...

First day upon arrival, half day was spent for city tour and also "waiting"...waiting for the "late van" for airport transfer...waiting for the "late tour guide" probably overslept...waiting for other tour mates...the arrangement between AirasiaGo and the local travel agency was rather poor...

Well, basically the city tour was just sitting in the van and looked outside the window... plenty of hotels, restaurants, massage centers...."yes, we saw".... the tour guide briefly introduced the places we passed by...but none I could remembered...then we stop at a few places which typically selling goods like souvenir, pearl, jade... luckily it was just the first half day....

Right after the so-called city tour, we walked around the shop lots nearby at Patong...and finally we entered a biker's bar for dinner...the environment here was good...and the decoration was very interesting with all the biker's accessories and collections...

However, the food was not so satisfying...we were expecting some real "hot and spicy" in Thailand, but what we got here was the taste for white only...anyhow, it was still a pleasant dinner...

Day 2, we went for James Bond Island with canoeing package.
The weather was just nice after rain and we were very much enjoyed canoeing, swimming, singing, beers, laughter and not to mention the lady boys performance was so entertaining....

Dinner, for this time, we go for road side stall...and yes, we got our very best Thai food here...seafood tomyam, dried fried pork curry, squid salad and some grilled meat balls...

Yumyum...out of imagined, the squid salad was the hottest among all other dishes we ordered...my friend love it the most...while I drank two cans of ice coke for it...

After all, we went for two hours full body Thai massage plus facial treatment...so comfortable and slowly I closed my eyes...hmmm....zzzz....

Next thing I know, I found myself in the lecture hall again...arrgh...