First, it is situated outside the downtown area and so it not as visited. So climbing the hills in West Park, you often feel like you are the only person there. Another hat makes this park unusual is the hills themselves. They are covered with rough and strangely shaped rocks. The hills in most of the parks in Guilin are fairly smooth, there aren’t many rough points sticking out of them, but West Hill is very special. Another thing I like about the park is that it doesn’t seem designed for the tourists. It is just tripsite.co.uk here.
We took the bus to the park, got our tickets and went in. Luckily, since I work as a travel guide, my ticket was free. There is a small lake near the entrance of the park. There is also a traditional Chinese bridge crossing it, and after crossing the bridge we came to a small hill. The hill is packed with caves and two of them have been changed into Buddhist temples. They are very peaceful and the interiors have many antique dedications. There was incense flaming, but I don’t know who lit it because the park seemed remote. After visiting the hill we went back over the lake and went to the park’s other parts. The park has a number of peaks and each has wandering stairways on them.
First we climbed to the highest peak. On the way we found an very old stone holy place carved into a large rough stone. There are Buddhist carvings all over the peaks and we stopped to take photos of them which were quite glorious. It takes a while to get to the top of the tallest mountain, but the views are so impressive that we didn’t mind the exhaustion. Each curve in the path presents new views to us and each is more fabulous then the next. When we reached the top, we sat down for a rest. Then we moved down this mountain and began another. Again, the views were quite magnificent. I have climbed these hills several times and they still made me out of breath. The second hill we climbed faced towards the downtown area and so we could see more buildings.
If you are in Guilin, West Hill Park is the spot you shouldn’t miss, which is really worthy visiting. It is a bit of a workout to climb all the hills, but the feeling of achievement that you feel and the spectacular views that you enjoy is beyond description.
