We headed for the Yinzi or Silver Cave in the afternoon, passing through the amazing scenery of Yangshuo. The satellite picture shows 20,000 limestone peaks in the Guilin/Yangshuo area. With so many limestone peaks, it's not hard to imagine the number of limestone caves exist. The Silver Cave is one of the popular one.

If there's an example of "It's not the destination, it's the journey that matters", this little trip to get to Silver Cave is such example.

The first cave I visited was a cave in Sydney (near Wollongong city) back when I was in the later stage of growing taller, and more pimply. The visit didn't leave me with a good impression. First (bad) impression lasts and it lasted for a few decades. Nothing wrong with that cave, I guess caving is just not my cup of tea. Needless to say, my reaction of going to visit another cave is somewhere between lukewarm and tepid (I don't care for lukewarm tea or beer for that matter).

Don't know if it was the low expectation, the Silver Cave wowed me all the way with its myriad of limestone formations, one feature outdid another, and its size is far exceeded that of my first cave (as far as I can remember. And we tend to remember things much larger and fancier than they actually are when we are small). 

Just when I thought nothing could top what I had seen so far as we came to near the end of the cave, something quite unexpected appeared. A group of soaring limestone columns and formations around a bend were as good as anything I have seen so far, but what makes this spot so unexpected and unique was a pool of water in front of this formation. The pool of water isn't very large (small than an Olympic swimming pool), and is only few inches deep. It's the perfect mirror reflection of limestone formations above it that is really bumped it up a notch to a new league of uniqueness.

As I looked down into the pool of water, the plunging depth of limestone structures is reflected as deep as its soaring height, its ceiling becomes its floor. The illusion is so complete that I felt woozy from vertigo - the same deal I get when looking down onto a street from, say, a 15 storey window. I instinctually stepped back from the water edge, fearing that I may plummet into a pool of a few inches of water. The whole effect is eerily magical. Surreal. Actually quite frightening. Judging from other awe-struck looking, jaw-dropped tourists passing through here, I knew I didn't mistaken vertigo for awe-inspiring. Maybe we all do.

Awesome

This photo could hardly justify with what I depicted above. It does a good job in serving as an example to budding photographers of how one can fail miserably to capture the grandeur of the scenery. The cave limits how far I can stand away to take in the whole thing. A fish lens would do a better job (with a nice distortion). Also in order to capture both the limestone formations and the water reflection, a portrait (or vertical) orientation is called for, but it also ensures that it will lose out on the width/breadth of this thing. Even with the vertical format, I managed to only take in about 2/3 of the view above water, and less than 1/5 of the mirror reflection. In any event, no technology allows you to encapsulate the haunting quality of this place. In the words of the youth, real kewl...(don't forget to nod while swaying your bod when you say that, for max effect).

After dinner in our hotel in Yangshuo, we made our way to West Street. This street is also known as "Yangshuo's Lan Kwai Fong". LKF (Lan Kwai Fong) has became synonymous with in Central Hong Kong that has a concentration of trendy, westernised types of cafe, beer bars, and restaurants that draws Western customers, tourists and expats alike. 





One of the local speciality is the beer fish, and it isn't hard to find in Yangshuo and even easier in West Street. We didn't get to try as all our meals are provided. You can also hire a bike here to watch the drop dead gorgeous scenery, and judging from what drove past me, tandem bikes are quite popular.