Reed Flute Cave in Guilin

I had a busy day on Saturday.  We were planning to drive to Yangshuo in the afternoon (after Sandy was done his Saturday classes) so I decided to visit the Reed Flute Cave in the morning.  To get there is a walk and a bus ride (and of course I got lost trying to find the right bus stop) but eventually I made it.  I just had time to do the cave tour and get the bus home before it was time to leave for Yangshuo.

Of course we had to follow a guided tour, and of course they turned the lights off when the group had passed through an area, so you had to follow the tour.  Which was too bad because the Reed Flute Cave was one of the most impressive I've ever seen.  The limestone formations were just breathtaking.  And the tour of course was fixated on the formations that happened to look like stuff ("Lion looking back at a camel", "Some kind of Buddha pose" and so forth) so we just raced past everything else.

Here are some highlights:

This formation looked like "roses", so they helpfully lit it up to look like roses.

Did I mention that the touts have taken over all the best photo ops?  Every once in awhile the tour gets interrupted while they shout their pitch, and wander around in front of everyone who is trying to take a picture on their own.  Many of the young couples (like above, notice how they're wearing coordinated outfits  that's very common here) get their picture taken at every single opportunity.  And of course the rest of the group has to wait.

I ran into a couple the other day from Singapore, and the wife said she was sick of caves, and all the caves around Guilin look the same.  I have now visited three (Seven Star Cave, Reed Flute Cave, and the Assembly Dragon Cave in Yangshuo (I am catching up on my blog!) and yes all the caves here look "the same", but they're all very spectacular.  Caving here in China is a whole other adventure!