CLUB 12/68 REUNION GUILIN – YANGSHUO, CHINA – 28 MAY – 02 JUNE 2012

Day 4 – 31 May 2012
Today we checked out from the hotel. It must be owned by a Muslim, as there were arrows in the rooms pointing the Qiblat.

Or it was just good PR for Muslim tourists.
We were supposed to travel back to Guilin. This time by road. And along the way we were supposed to stop at the local places of interests. The first stop was at the Shangrila-La Village.

 And I thought Shangrila could only be found in Tibet.

 It was interesting enough as we need not walk far. We took the boats to look around. The performances came along on the banks of the lakes as we travelled past.


Scenes like the villages, fishing along the waterways were shown. They even had their aborigines.


 It looks like the Maoris of NZ with their totem poles. Whatever. As long as it creates interest. No point asking question as our guide was a Mandarin speaking lass.






It took us about an hour to get around.


On exiting, we were led through a grocer-like outlet as an impulse-buying strategy on the management side. We found out that these type of approach was very common amongst the Chinese tourist-oriented businesses.
Lunch was taken in Guilin. Yes the same one we have been going to. A visit to the mosque, initially planned had to be aborted as early as in KL due to the bureaucracy involved. Many forms to fill.  We then went to
 the Tea Promotion Centre.


 

They demonstrated tea making covering about 10 types of tea. It tasted good. There were bitter ones too. And they got a lot of buyers from us. Apparently tea leaves are like wine. The longer they are kept the higher the value would be. Apai Marzuki and Dato Salleh apparently have their own collections. Tea-drinking buffs should make a point to call on both of them. You may get to drink the ‘Pue’. Who knows.
We then went to the Herbal Medicine Centre.




It’s a place with lots of masseuse offering foot massage service. They even had ‘doctors’ with frocks on and diagnosing some of us of their ailment. Macam jual ubat, but more professionally conducted. Again, lots of us bought their medicine. I really hope it works.
Soon we were back to the hotel for our tahlil. This was an annual ritual for us.


We were led by the pious Hj Hamdan who we called Imam. We first read the Surah Yassin, followed by a Tahlil. A tazkirah followed. We had Maghrib prayers followed by Ishak Jamak prayers.


 I was affected when names of our squads who have passed away were mentioned in the doa. Yahya Kosai, Razali Othman, Mohammed Saad, Abdullah Mohammed, Manap Saad and Raja Berema.  It was an emotional gathering. Tears were shed amongst us. Yeah. How many more names would be mentioned next year and the year after. We hugged each other. After 44 years, we were just like brothers. Our night of prayers only strengthened our relationship and a reminder that our stay in God’s World is but a temporary one.
Our group proceeded for dinner. I on my part, stayed back in the room. The mee Maggie came in handy. Later on, Helmy sent me a polystyrene pack with rice and sambal ikan bilis. Compliments from Mie. Thanks Mie. That was kind of you. 

CLUB 12/68 REUNION GUILIN – YANGSHUO, CHINA – 28 MAY – 02 JUNE 2012

 Day 3 – 30 May 2012
This was to be a day of sightseeing and a big cultural show. But, we had to check out of our hotel.

 We had to  move to a new location, Yangshuo, south of where we were. Since the stay in Yangshuo was only for a night, we were advised to bring only what we need. The rest were stored in the coaches compartment. Including our golf bags.

 

 

 

 

 







After breakfast, we checked out


and moved to Zhujiang Wharf  for our 4 hour boat ride to Yangshuo.

 



Once onboard we were ushered to the upper deck. We occupied the whole space.

 

It was a beautiful cruise through scenic parts of China.









There were hills on both sides of the Li River. It rained. And there were waterfalls cascading down from the hills.


There were other cruise boats along the way.

Some as big as ours and some small.
They really were utilising their rivers and sceneries for tourism and recreational activities.
We had lunch on board. The food were catered from the same Muslim restaurant we have been frequenting.






It was an appetising feast. There were extra messings offered at 50 Remninbi. Equivalent to RM 25 per plate. Sardon Kaprawi graciously contributed a plate of fried prawns for each table. There were 10 tables. There was no compulsion. Being Sardon, he took it in his stride to contribute. Thanks Bro. At the same time there were attempts to snap photographs of the trip.



The rain was kind enough to ease up a bit to enable us to do that. There were group photographs, for ladies,
for men,
 
 families



and friends.


We reached the Yangshuo jetty at about 1.00 pm. After 4 hours we were back on dry land.


We had to walk through a street to our coaches. The same coaches in Guilin. We were reminded not to stop to shop as there would be time later on. And we walked. What was supposed to be a one kilometre walk turned out to be double that. We could have taken the public buggies available. Obviously the instructions and details of this walk was unclear. And of course there were a lot of grumblings and tempers flayed. That walk caused a lot of dissent from most of us. And most of us have passed 60. Whew.
We checked in, with a reminder that dinner would be early and for us to leave early enough to catch the cultural show at 8.00 pm.

 






 If we miss that, the next show would be at 9.00 pm. We arrived in time, ushered through the entrance and given seat numbers. Well enough as we were informed that the place seats 3,000. We were given packets as we enter. It turned out to be raincoats. And sure enough – it rained. More like a drizzle. And it did not stop the show. At 8.00 sharp the show started. It was an effective show utilising the background of hills and the lakes. Lots of lights. From what we gathered there were 600 performers. And I believe it. The audio sytem was good except we can’t understand a thing. Apai, Hanim and Hans may. It was in Mandarin.
After the show, we went back to the hotel. Some decided to go shopping at the same street we passed after disembarking from the boats earlier.
Salam.


 

ps: I hope to get pics of the trip to the Cultural Show in Yangshuo and to Yinzi Cave. Thanks.