Saturday, November 14, 2009

Visiting sites where movie films were shot

On the fifth day of my Guilin trip we were brought to a cave, some scenic spots and the sites where movie films were shot.

Early in the morning, we set off for Lipu Silvery Cave. It is another cave where stalactites and stalagmites are in abundance. The works of nature are not as beautiful as the ones in Reed Flute Cave. At the entrance of the cave, I could read two lines in Chinese, which means 'if you ever visit this cave, you will always have money at your disposal.' It is a way to allure visitors to enter the cave for a fee. We were going along the cave when the chanting of Buddha's name was audible. The tourist guide then told us that a stalagmite that looks like the buddha preaching was there. A few tourists quickly paid homage to the 'buddha' there and then.

The next place we went to was Gu Po Mountain. It was named after a maiden who was unmarried because she brought up five dragons who were hatched from five stones she found in the river while washing her clothes there. Gu Po in Chinese means a spinster. She and her 'sons' often helped the residents there and so when she passed away, they named the mountain after her. We took photos at the waterfall found there.

Then it was the turn for us to visit the sites where two famous movies entitled 'Plain Love' and 'Country of Spirits' were filmed. First we went to the wine factory where the film 'Qiu Shi Gu Xiang Nong' or 'Country of Spirits' was shot and tasted the sweet glutinous wine. Then we adjourned to the tea plantation where 'Cha Shi Gu Xiang Nong' or 'Plain Love' was filmed. There we were able to savour the olong tea as the tea trees of this type were grown there. We even tried our hands at picking tea leaves.


Do I look like a pink curtain?


Do we look like peacock?


Magnificient stalagmites





Bless me, my dear buddha.


Pillar-like stalagmite


One gigantic stalagmite


The row of stalagmites look like the Great Wall of China


Exotic, narrow-necked stalagmite


Posing inside Silvery Cave,Lipo


Posing outside Yingzi Yan or Silvery Cave


Posing in front of waterfall at Gu Po Mountains


Posing outside the wine distillery at Lipo


See, we could pick tea leaves too.


The electric jeep that ferried us around Gu Po Mountains

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