China Attractions Guangxi Caves ~ Yiling Park Tour

Karst Mountains north of Nanning China

Leaving Nanning and heading to the Yiling Caves, the highway passes farm fields backdropped by the karst mountains.

Our guide had arranged for our cab, and got the driver's cell phone number, and dialled it right away to make sure it worked. He also gave the cab driver detailed directions about where to take us to see the caves, and asked him to wait for our tour, then return us safely to the hotel (the cab driver spoke only Chinese).

Karst mountain forms are a unique China Attraction

Athough the driver didn't speak English, we could understand one another well enough to ask him to stop by the side of the highway so we could get out and take pictures.

We were here in mid February, and rain threatened most days, which doesn't help those wanting to take photos.

The weather was comfortably warm, but raindrops were falling from time to time, and it was quite smoggy.

These fields dropped off steeply down from the road, where this woman was leading a cow along a narrow path.

The Great King Mo Yi ~ Signpost at Yiling Caves Park

The words on the sign chronicle the feats of Mo Yi, a Zhuang leader. The Zhuang are a major minority here in Guangxi. See some Guangxi Ethnic park pictures on the Nanning Green Park page.

Near the pavillions visitors could try their hand at the feats performed by Mo Yi, like shooting an arrow at the sun.

Area map of Yiling Caves Scenic Area

This 'you are here' map of the park layout shows the distance onward to Wuming is 15 km (about 9 miles). From this map, we learned that there are three hotels at the scenic area -- the Zhuang Ethnic Hotel, the Liang Man Shan Hotel, and the Dishui Dong Hotel.

I daresay that should you stay at one of them, you'd be the first person in the world to be able to write about them in a Trip Advisor review! (See a list of Nanning Hotels) There is also a staff residence building, shops and restaurant, gym and park.

Parking Lot at YiLing Scenic area entrance

For me, some attractions in China are scenic in a non traditional way, like this vehicle in the picture above. At one time, you could see a lot of these even in big-city Beijing.

No More! These two-cycle engines are huge polluters, and contributed greatly to the city smog. While there were still many of these vehicles on Nanning streets, Beijing had already begun to phase them out. The front end engine looks much like a rototiller, as do it's 'handles'. This building houses one of two public restroom areas in the park. Washroom fees are about 30 cents per person. There were a lot of monkeys running loose about the paths.

Pavillions Along the path to YiLing Caves

Our park guide spoke passable English (certainly much superior to my command of Chinese!) and asked us to wait about 10 minutes for the next tour to depart.

One guide takes you through part of this attraction, and another through the caves themselves. As we left the parking area and entrance, we walked through four separate pavillions; in each pavillion, a group of performers entertained us with various ethnic cultural dances or concerts.

There's one dance where pairs of long bamboo poles are held at each end, and parallel to and a few inches above the floor. Each pair of poles (there might be 4 pairs) is moved rhythmically while dancers leap to avoid getting their feet trapped. In this pavillion, these young people played horns and drums. In another, a group dressed as cavemen danced and sang.

Yiling Caves entrance to Cavern

Tours through the caves are one-way only. This photo shows the entrance where you hand in your Caves Tour ticket to the attendant, then go down a flight of stairs through a grotto to begin the cave path.

Not all visitors come here for the caves walk, which is why there are separate payments for separate attractions. (There is also a buidling with meeting rooms for corporate functions).

The last pavilion before the caves tour is a teahouse, where we were served a local rice dish specialty -- glutinous rice and ground pork cooked in a banana leaf. You could also buy small thimble sized cups of wine, but cups of sweet tea (tasting of ginger) were included with admission.

Interior of Yiling Caves

The interior is deep, dark and damp, and travellers with infants were advised not to bring the babies in without warm clothing and covers.

This is good advice for everyone, though -- the caverns are really damp and chilly. As with many caves (see my Borneo Sarawak caves page and the Kelly Hill Caves on Kangaroo Island in Australia), I never seem to get a good photo.

I know part of the reason is that I take pictures as an average tourist, not as a professional photographer. To take proper pictures of all scenic attractions, like those in the fancy brochures, you need all the special lighting and lenses and filters and tripods that amateur photogs can't be bothered to take along. [Or it's possible that I just suck as a photographer :-)]

Reflecting Pool Yiling Caves

This reflecting pool was really lovely, and again, I could not do it justice! At the time, I wrote in my notebook that "the reflecting pool was about two thirds of the way through the cave, and the most amazing thing I had ever seen!

I could swear that the pool was at least 200 feet deep, and perfectly clear. Actually the pool was only about 2 feet deep, but the overall effect was amazing!"

Much of the walk through the caves was up a series of stairs, then down a series of stairs, often curving between chambers that soared several stories overhead, or plunged abyss-like to unseen depths. The guide stopped from time to time to point out certain unusual or perceived animal shapes in the formation. These features usually had coloured lights shining on them -- mauve, green, red.

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• Nanning China Green Park and Guangxi Zhuang Ethnic Park

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