Having visited the Silver Cave, you will never be lack of money.

So does the saying goes. The Silver Cave is not a silver mine, it is a stalactite cave. Located within a inner range of 12 mountains in Yangshuo, the Silver Cave offers some pretty good views of a geological wonder. The tour will take about an hour or an hour and a half along a path inside the mountainous cave for 2 kilometers. The walk is pretty easy for a healthy adult, but it might be somewhat rigorous for the elderly, as there is some climbing involved.

The Silver Cave is the largest stalactite cave in all of Guilin. There remain parts of the cave that are not yet explored. The ones that are open to tourism are of significant scale already, and actually, toward the end, I found the experience to be a little overwhelming, and I will explain why below.

The Geology of the Silver Cave

In Chinese, a poetic word for beautiful natural scenery is made up of the characters for mountain and water, literally “mountain water.” The karst mountains and waterfront views are the very hallmarks of scenery that environ both the urban and rural areas of Guilin.

The exceptional landscape of Guilin is an example of karst landform. Its formation depends on two primary elements in nature, namely water and rock-formed mountains. Guilin’s famous peaks come from a long process of water seeping through and eroding rocks that contain soluble compounds. Examples of such compounds include carbonate rocks, sulphate karst and salt rock. Over time, this process results in the unique shapes of the karst peaks that we see in Guilin today.

In South China, the karst landform is also seen in Yunnan, Guizhou and Chongqing. Guilin’s karst peaks are, by far, the most well-known.

The water erosion process does not stop at the surface of the mountains. In mountainous caves, such as the Silver Cave that we visited, this process takes place under cover. The water source is the groundwater or underground river in this scenario. The caves that are formed are known as soluble caves or limestone caves, featuring grand appearances of stalactite mantles that can go on for miles.

A Tour of the Silver Cave

The Silver Cave is said to attract wealth and fortune for the visitors. At the long pathway that leads one to the entrance, stalls selling all kinds of Guilin specialties lined the sides.

There was a row of God of Wealth Statues. They were all painted bright red. The people there told us the story about these red Gods of Wealth. In the beginning days of the cave, visitor counts remained low. The local government hired a Hong Kong fortune teller for advice. The fortune teller said that, out of the five elements, the only element that is lacking in the cave is fire. Therefore he suggested that red Gods of Wealth be placed near the entrance to introduce the element of fire. Since then, tourism boomed at the Silver Cave.

My elderly uncle and aunt have said that they were not able to walk 2km inside the cave. Xiaohuang told me that this is a problem easily solved, for there are carriers that can take them on sedan chairs. By hiring these carriers, my elderly uncle and aunt could also enjoy the scenery inside the cave.

The cave is generally divided into three sections called “lower cave,” “the great living room” and the “upper cave.” The stalactites are amazing, as they come in a large scale and the views are grand. The rock formations reveal themselves in myriad folds like the ruffles of a cloak, in the forms of pillars, towers, mantles and stone waterfalls.

I had two issues when I toured the cave. The temperature was not right inside the cave for me. These caves are known for the special quality of “being cool in the summer and warm in the winter,” and surely it was quite warm inside during this cold day. After walking half of the way, I was sweating terribly and it felt stuffy.

On top of that, I found that the typical Chinese way of presentation was overdone. Large colored floodlights illuminated every scenic spot inside the cave. I became a little dizzy from the stuffiness and the lighting at the same time. Toward the end of the path, I felt like I had to fight through the crowd just to get out.

In terms of cave tours, I have previously visited the Jenolan Caves in Sydney. There was no effort to project any colored lighting onto the stalactites. With that experience in mind, I found the colored lighting at the Silver Cave to have done a disservice to the natural scenery.

The Ruyi Peak Cable Car

Meaning “may your wishes come true,” the Ruyi peak acquired its name due to its shape resembling the Chinese symbol of fortune, ruyi. There is a cable car ride that takes about 45 minutes up the mountains. Once you are there, you will be surrounded by a grand gallery of karst peak views. You may also spend some time walking the bridgeways there.

By the time we were done at the Ruyi Peak, we were exhausted. We would be saying goodbye to Yangshuo the next day.

Sources

The Wikipedia on Solutional Cave.

www.newton.com on the Silver Cave (Chin).

The Wikipedia on Karst Landform.

When I was planning this family trip, I looked most forward to the hostel that we would be staying at in Yangshuo, for all the bedrooms in the hostel come with fantastic, wide open views of the Lijiang River.

The beauty of Moyesanqiu Homestay is that it is located across the shore from Yangshuo’s town proper. It provides the quiet we needed when we rested for the night, but showing fully the glimpse afar of the glorious and boisterous Yangshuo town as it is set against the classic views of Guilin’s karst peaks.

The Moyesanqiu Homestay

Moyesanqiu is perhaps not high on the list of popularity for the hotels that feature fantastic views of the Lijiang River in Yangshuo. The very popular one that receives all kinds of kudos from the KOLs is the Xitang River View Holiday Hotel. It was fully booked when I made my reservation, so I had to look for alternatives.

As it turned out, Moyesanqiu Homestay is quite a notch cheaper. It was newish when we visited in late 2024. One critical tip for booking hotels in China is that, given all else being equal, it is better to choose a hotel that is newer. Although this seems common sense, it is especially important in China. Generally, a new hotel in China is a certain guarantee of its comfort level. Photographs online always show the most flattering aspects and they are not a good indicator of the quality. Hotels get old and tired in China easily due to both climate and cultural reasons.

We checked in and found ourselves in a beautiful full window view of Lijiang River in all our rooms. All of the rooms in Moyesanqiu will give you this view. I specifically ordered a room on the top floor, and the curtains can be drawn for one to watch the stars as well. I really could not have asked for more.

Furthermore, the rooms are incredibly spacious. One standard room is big enough for a family of four with young children.

The only issue with Moyesanqiu is that it is located in a less busy part of Yangshuo, as such more effort is necessary to get to the good restaurants. It was perfectly fine, as we had a driver with us.

The Ten Mile Gallery of Yangshuo

In my last visit to Yangshuo, I heard about the famous Ten Mile Gallery and the sites along this route that are worth visiting. I did not hire a car, and so I did not have a chance to see it.

Xiaohuang, our driver, explained to me that the Ten Mile Gallery is simply a scenic route going for a distance of 5km and marked by a façade. That’s all there is to it. We drove by it about two times in this trip. The views along the way are great. In an upcoming entry, I will discuss some of the sites along the Ten Mile Gallery, including the Moon Mountain, Ruyi Mountain Cable Car, the Dong Ethnic Minority Village and the Silver Cave.

I have seen online that people suggest cycling through the Ten Mile Gallery. Having ridden in a car on this stretch of scenic route, I question the wisdom of tourists riding on a bike there. It is, properly considered, a motorway. Yangshuo’s beginning as a hot spot for tourism dated to the 1980s. Back then, it was particularly popular with foreign backpackers. This would explain why the option of cycling in the county is touted. I am sure, however, the conditions that made cycling a favorable means of transportation then no longer hold true now.

That is not to say that the usual preferences of activities by foreign tourists do not exist now in Yangshuo. For example, the Moon Mountain is a proper climb. There are also hot air balloons for midair ascent. Please inquire locally about these options.

Lijiang River (not to be confused with the Lijiang of Yunnan) is the subsidiary of the Pearl River system in the west. It is the upper reaches to the Guijiang River. From its origin in Xingan County’s high mountain of Mao’er Shan in the northeast, Lijiang meanders a long 164 kilometers throughout the Guangxi Province through its deep valleys.

The Lijiang River is the lifeline of Guilin, and that is no understatement. Going as far back as the Qin dynasty, the water transportation enabled by Lijiang River was considered one factor that favored the unification of China by the ancient emperors. It was always an important waterway that supported transportation between southern China and the central plains. Lijiang’s role as a key transport waterway has receded in the 1920s to 1930s, when the nation began its modernization efforts by building nationwide railway networks.

As a scenic river, Lijiang will forever be the main driver of tourism in Guilin. The Lijiang River scenic area runs between Guilin City and Yangshuo, with many options for boat tours in this most beautiful section of the river.

The Yulong River

The Yulong River is a subsidiary river flowing out of the Lijiang River. The 46 km-long river originates at the Lingui District of the Guilin Municipality. With its beautiful scenery, Yulong River has earned the moniker of “little Lijiang,” and that is no small compliment.

The bamboo rafts of Yulong River are a famous sightseeing activity in Yangshuo. A number of famous bridges, such as Fuli Qiao Bridge and Gongnong Qiao Bridge, epitomizes the beauty of Guilin’s scenery — where human footprints are fused in one with the natural landscape.

The downstream areas of the Yulong River are known to be exceptionally beautiful. Another option for river cruise is to do the boat tour in Yangshuo proper. I have seen photographs of Yulong River before. That was the reason why I had not signed up for a Lijiang River cruise in Yangshuo for my family trip this time. I thought a boat ride on Yulong River would serve the purpose of seeing the best of Yangshuo.

Yet Xiaohuang took us to a part of Yulong River that was disappointing in terms of views, but surprisingly good in terms of activities. The main reason being that, the standard Yulong bamboo rafts for two persons in one raft would not take seniors above the age 60. With safety in mind, we chose a part of Yulong River that was elderly-friendly.

A Fun Bamboo Rafting Experience

I understood the concerns with safety when I saw the bamboo raft that would take us. It came as a covered cubicle with a large seating area for a dozen people. One raftsman used a long bamboo stilt to navigate.

Approaching the boat was a woman of the Zhuang minority, who are traditionally the residents of this area in Yangshuo. She sang beautiful songs in a full voice. This created an ambience that I had not expected. Mountain singing is very common in all indigenous regions in China and Taiwan. Amidst the river scenery, in a slightly overcast day, the mountain songs lifted the mood and reverberated afar. No photograph would do justice to this aspect of the tour.

She sang some classic love songs, and she was expecting us to be able to play the part of the male singer in duet songs. We had no idea what the lyrics were. She learned that we were from Hong Kong, and then she started singing cantopop in Cantonese. We fully appreciated her ability to entertain.

Perhaps the part that was most fun was the raftsman letting us navigate the raft with his bamboo pole.

I was surprised to feel the riverbed with the stilt. That made sense to me. When the raft approached and seeing that a mere stilt was used to navigate, I wondered how he would be able to motion the boat with a dozen of people on board. The stilt was not a paddle. When I did the navigation, I understood that the boat was moved by the stilt being extended to the riverbed. The power to go forward did not depend on paddling the water to create motion by the river flow per se.

The Cormorant Show

I have discussed cormorant fishing as a thousand-year-old fishing technique for certain parts of China and Asia in my entry on Xingping. In the standard boat ride in Xingping, you will not be shown how a cormorant catches a fish. In this bamboo raft of the Yulong River, we witnessed how a cormorant caught a fish from the river. I thought that was quite an experience, because the scene was one that was distinctly different from my imagination.

When I think of birds catching fish, the thought evokes the sight of a bird gliding in midair, spotting the fish in the river and dashing into the water to catch it. That was apparently not how the cormorant catches fish.

When the show began, the two cormorants were actually swimming in the water. From afar, they could have been mistaken as ducks. They simply dipped into the river and caught the fish. It was interesting to see that it was not the dramatic hunting game that I had expected. Then quickly the fisherman takes the cormorant out of the water and take the fish out of its beak.

We were at this tour in the very late afternoon. Our raftsman told us that this would be the very last show of the day because the cormorants were tired. Perhaps this is an obvious point, but it is worth mentioning here. Cormorant fishing is a way to leverage the instincts of animals to benefit human needs. The cormorant catches fish when they are hungry, but the fisherman ties a loose snare at the base their throats to prevent them from swallowing large fish. They can swallow small fish. Once they have been fed for the day, they would lose the instinct to catch more.

As far as I could observe, however, as long as the show cormorant catches a fish, the fisherman reaches into its throat to grab it for the purpose of demonstration to the tourists. It is likely that the cormorant actually doesn’t get to swallow any fish, large or small.

This observation might suggest a deviation from the otherwise more “humane” way in which the fishermen made use of the cormorant throughout history. Sure enough, however, that the fisherman will take care of the cormorant’s needs to keep it alive for more shows.

As I said above, the scenery in this part of the Yulong River was vastly disappointing. In terms of views of karst peak, there was maybe just one karst peak in sight. As compared to what I had seen in other boat tours, this surely fell below the mark.

We opted for this option because we had the elderly with us. Safety was assured in the raft that we took, and that was the most important. Sure enough, all the other people on this tour were the older crowd. Even at this low season for traveling in Guilin, there was a queue before we managed to get on the raft. Big tour groups do select this option.

Sources

ChinaWiki on Lijiang River.

The Wikipedia on Yulong River (Chin).