Here are some facts about Guilin (桂林) that may be you have never heard before. I could not think of another topic except this to catch your attention. Some of these facts you have to hear from local folks or see with your naked eyes when you are in Guilin. Some of them though you might be able to read on the web.
1. Guilin in Mandarin literally means “Forest of Sweet Osmanthus”. The city grows a large number of Sweet Osmanthus trees (桂花树). The trees blossom in the late summer and autumn (October) to give a strong fragrance. We were there in August thus unable to witness its blossom. Sweet Osmanthus Flower (桂花) is also the city flower of Guilin.
2. Guilin’s geographical feature is of a typical karsts formation. I had not only once mentioned in my previous posts that Guilin is famous for its “3 hills, 2 caves” scenery. The entire Guilin city is surrounded by Folded Brocade Hill (叠彩山), Elephant Trunk Hill (象鼻山), Seven Star Cave (七星岩), Wave Subduing Hill (伏波山), Lipu Mountains (荔浦山), the Cat Mountains (猫儿山), Yaoshan Mountains (尧山) and many others.
Guilin - a city surrounded by karsts peaks
3. The Guilin City’s Three Treasures (桂林三宝) are Guilin rice white wine known as “Three Flower Liquor” (桂林三花酒), Guilin chili sauce (桂林辣椒酱) and Guilin pickled tofu (桂林豆腐乳). I had brought back the latter 2 from Guilin but not the rice wine.
Come in 1 package
Guilin chili sauce
Guilin pickled tofu
4. The local staple food in Guilin is the Guilin rice noodles (桂林米粉). This delicacy can be found virtually everywhere in Guilin and comes with various pickles and condiments that you can add to your noodles.
Guilin rice noodles
5. I only saw electric motorbikes in Guilin. And I did not see any motorcyclist with helmet on.
No helmet!
6. The most popular way to get into Guilin is by boat, bus, car and train. Plane is by far the least popular. During our touchdown and departure in Guilin, very few passengers can be seen in the Guilin Liangjiang International Airport (桂林两江国际机场) especially at the domestic gates. The airport itself does not look very big even if compared to a lot of regional airports in Malaysia. It has only 2 floors.
Empty seats inside the airport
7. One of the delicacies of Guilin folks is the following. We like KFC and McDonalds, but they like to eat duck necks!
One of the outlets in Guilin selling duck necks
8. Guilin folks like to address their friends as “gou rou” (狗肉), literally means “dog meat” in Mandarin. It is an honor to be addressed as “gou rou” in Guilin, so do not have hard feeling if you come across someone addressing you in such a way.
So, how are ya, Gou Rou? Can you now boast that you know Guilin better than a lot of your other Gou Rou?
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The Facts about Guilin I know But You Do Not Know by Life Is Like That, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Malaysia License.
jam | 
December 1st, 2009 | 
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Gou Rou how are you? Weird man. To address you would be Panda Rou. Great history thanks
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Ya, I am a panda
Yeah heard of the horse meat noodles you once wrote about it too. Surprised to see the empty streets without much bicycles or motorbikes. Why ah..any idea? Got the impression there will be tons of them maybe in Beijing or in Saigon, Vietnam I presume.
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This is because in Guilin, there is a designated bicycle and motorcycle lane. Those pictured are traffic offenders
wow..dunno if I visit during late summer and autumm,i will be able to experience the fragrance or not..interesting facts you’ve got there..
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Should be! We were there in August thus unable to witness to experience the fragrance of Sweet Osmanthus.
Haha gosh Dog’s meat! That’s definitely a first! Quite weird to be called Gou Rou huh? :P
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It is indeed weird to be called “dog’s meat”, but hey, Guilin folks are used to it already!
Who let the dogs out? woof! woof! woof! What a name calling friends dog’s meat. Have to accept its their culture just not used to it. What about enemies what do they call “cat’s or mao meat?”. Enriching post to learn many things about Guilin am also learning some Chinese as well if got pinyin lagi best hehe. Xiexie ക
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I am also not sure on how they address their enemies…
How’s the chili sauce and the pickled tofu?
Oh, I didn’t know about the gou rou thing! So weird to call others gou rou! LOL!
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I don’t like the chili sauce but I like the pickled tofu very much. That was the last cube left!
So what do they call the enemy?
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I am also not sure on how they address their enemies…
if i were to dub my buddies gou rou, i think i will get punches on my face wei :S
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That certainly does not apply in here, gou rou!
Thanks for sharing a little of Guilin with us.
How’s the chili sauce and pickled tofu? Have you taste them?
Funny to call their friends gou rou. Do they eat dog meat in Guilin?
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I don’t really like the chili sauce but I like the pickled tofu to the most! I am sure they do eat dog meat in Guilin but I failed to spot any.
lol gou rou :) yeah i know guilin better now… thanks =p
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You are welcome, gou rou!
Now I know abit about Guilin thanks to you :) Thanks for sharing the info.
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You are welcome! Glad to know it helps!
Huh duck necks? Wonder how they cooked them? ക
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I don’t know! I did not want to go inside the shop and take pictures
Pictures of food will make me drool over it.
Well, I am finally back and posting from Papua New Guinea.
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Welcome back, my friend. I knew exactly that you were heading to Papua New Guinea!