Moon Hill, Guangxi

Moon Hill, Guangxi  广西，月亮山

( 1st & 2nd June 2008  )

We were in Guangxi and on the way to Guilin. The coach carrying us had to make an unscheduled stop in the middle of nowhere as petrol was difficult to come by as a result of an impending price hike. We had to stop by the roadside to tank the coach up using the spare petrol that the coach carried  with it for emergencies. So while the driver and tourist guide were busy tanking the coach up we got down to stretch ourselves after a long and arduous journey. From the roadside we looked up the slope and realised that up there was a farm with fruit trees and being curious we decided to check out the type of fruits growing there. At first, we thought we saw apples but on closer inspection we realised that these are persimmons instead. Well, too bad the fruits were just beginning to form instead of ripening. All of us were fascinated as we have never seen persimmons growing on trees before, and about the only persimmons that we have seen are those on display in the supermarket shelves in Kuala Lumpur.

Persimmons (柿子)  beginning to form on the branches

A close-up shot of an unripe persimmon

 After tanking the coach up, we headed to Moon Hill, the next stop, to have lunch. I remember the lunch that we had was nothing to shout about. Even our guide commented that the food in Guangxi can't hold a candle to those in Guangdong. For whatever reason, the same food prepared the same way just tasted different. After our lunch we decided to check out the famous Moon Hill nearby. Below are a few shots of the Moon Hill and an enterprising lady with  monkeys dressed up as Sun Wu Kong (孙悟空) offering tourists the opportunity to pose with her monkeys for a small fee.