My mom was the first person to visit me after I moved to China. It was her first time traveling so far from home, and she was both nervous and excited. I was still new myself, figuring out the language, the culture, and the chaos of everyday life. So when she came, I wanted to give her a taste of the beauty beyond the big cities.
After some quick research, one destination kept popping up: Guilin and Yangshuo. Everyone said the landscapes were stunning, the rivers peaceful, and the mountains like something out of a painting. It sounded perfect for a weekend getaway.
We took the bullet train from Guangzhou to Guilin, fast, smooth, and already an adventure in itself. Once there, we stopped for a bowl of Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles, warm and comforting after the journey. That night, we took a short stroll through the city. We found a large park where two pagodas stood lit up over the water, glowing in the dark like something from a fairytale. Our hotel, a Vienna Hotel, looked grand from the outside, and thankfully, delivered on comfort too.
The next day, we hopped on a bus and headed into the hills to see the Longji rice terraces. We spent the entire day hiking up and down the layered slopes, powered mostly by grilled corn and homemade snacks from local farmers. My mom, fit and full of energy, handled the steep steps and uneven trails like a pro. The views were worth every step: rolling green hills, carved into waves by generations of hands.
The next morning (judging by the photos on my phone), we made our way to Yangshuo. There, we took a bamboo raft ride along the famous river. The scenery was exactly what I had seen online, towering karst mountains rising straight from the water, mist curling around the peaks. It felt surreal, like floating through a postcard.
Later, we found a restaurant in the old town and ordered a bowl of rice noodles with snails, a local specialty that was as expected, weird but ok. As the day wound down, we caught the evening bullet train back to Guangzhou.
It was a short trip, but it meant a lot. It was my mom’s first glimpse of China outside Guangzhou, and my first time sharing this new chapter of my life with someone from home. We didn’t rush, we didn’t plan every detail, but somehow everything fell into place, just two people wandering through landscapes that neither of us will ever forget.
