Yangshuo: paying homage to Liu San Jie

I took a trip to Guilin (Guangxi Province, China) with my mom in April, and here's my trip experience.

An early 745 am Tiger Air direct flight from Singapore to Guilin.  The weekly flight took about 4 hours to arrive at the Guilin Liangjiang International Airport.  At the airport arrival hall, look out for the Bus Ticket Office counter where you could purchase tickets to Guilin and other destinations.  The ticket to Yangshuo 阳朔 cost Y50 one way.

The bus to Yangshuo ran approximately every two hours.  We had lunch at KFC, about 30 metres from the bus waiting area.

The journey to Yangshuo was pretty scenic and took about 1.5 hours.   The guide on the bus would recommend tour packages to the passengers which I found the prices reasonable.

There was a delay by our hotel trasnport to meet us at the bus station and so we decided to have our first bowl of Guilin noodle by the bus station. More about the noodle later.





Durian Space 榴莲间 was located around one and a half kilometres from Yangshuo West Street (Xi Jie 西街) the main shopping and dining area.  I chose to stay in this area as I was told it would be noisy in the West Street right till the midnight hours.  Cost was around Y270 per night.

We spent 2 comfortable nights at Durian Space where the room was well decorated.  The inn was ran by Mr Liu and Ah Lian (that explained the "pun" on the inn's name Liu Lian).  They were helpful in organising tours and providing advice on Yangshuo.


The couple also ran a cafe along the Li River (漓江).  They took over a delipidated building at a low rent and turned into a cafe cum performing space. As guests of the inn, we took the complementary ride to the cafe and had our first cup of coffee free!

Nice views from the cafe.  Quiet and tranquil.....

Had a short rest at the inn before heading to the West Street for a quick walk and had dinner at Chun Ji Roast Goose 椿记烧鹅, a franchise from Guilin city.  As the name suggested, the specialty would be roast meat.

Goose liver - big portion for two persons

Most items were priced around Y45 to 50.  For 2 persons, 2 to 3 dishes should suffice.  The restaurant is easy and you are expected to share table with other diners.



We got the inn to help book the Y190 ticket to Impressions of Liu San Jie performance, which included hotel transfers.  We had a slight discount buying through Durian Space.

The ticketing procedure was rather complicated.  Firstly, we had to look for a "Number 100" guide outside the entrance.   Next, we would follow him into the compound where he would give us the actual ticket for the performance, and we would be on our own.

For that evening, we caught the second performance for the evening and there was a long wait to get in.  The Y190 seats were located in the midsection of the audience area and were ideal. The more expensive ones were further from the stage and I would not find them worthwhile.

Impressions of Liu San Jie was conceived by well known movie director Zhang Yi Mou, who was also the creative brain behind the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony.  Based loosely on the story of Liu San Jie, the village girl who fought with the evil landlords, the show main draw was using the Lijang mountain and river as backdrop and props.  The plot was thin and it was not necessary to know the storyline to appreciate this performance.

There were moments of brilliance in this 70 minutes production, for example the first instance where the mountains were lit up, the fishermen’s sequence in the river etc.  The singing by the tribal groups could be amplified and showed more commitment.  After many years, this production is in need of some quality control measures.

The audience were rather rowdy - a common situation faced during this trip.

I would rate this performance 3.5 out of 5 stars.  I have to give credit to Zhang Yimou for staging such an ambitious large scale outdoor show, and to utilize the community as performers. A good example of marrying tourism with sustainability of livelihood of the locals.  What was needed would be some tweaking and enhancements to this production.

Go to Main Page: Guilin Trip 2015