Guilin

When you see beautiful scenery pictures of China, they almost always include Guilin.  It's karst landscape is unique.  Another place that I've seen similar landscape is Halong Bay in northern Vietnam.  This topography is formed by the dissolution of limestone.  Where there is limestone mountains, you almost certainly see caves as well.  There are many caves in the region and I visited a couple of them.
I flew from Chongqing to Guilin, on my way to Hong Kong to catch my returning flight.  Guilin is in Guangxi province, in the south-central part of China.  It has a population of about 5 million.  Most tourists who come here to enjoy the scenery actually go to Yangshuo, about an hour's drive south of Guilin.  There are many hotels, tourist attractions and activities in Yangshuo.  You see many Westerners here, some staying for longer than 2-3 days.  I flew to Guilin, stayed 1 night, then stayed 1 night in Yangshuo and another night in Guilin.  I had to spend my last evening in Guilin because my flight  was leaving early in the morning for Hong Kong.
Most tourists, international and local, like to walk around West Street.  This is a street that has been converted into a pedestrian mall.  There are many shops and restaurants here.  I stayed at the Bamboo House Hostel, located in one of the small alleys off West Street.

West Street in Yangshuo

Several tourists and I were bussed from Guilin to Yangshou early in the morning.  Most of these tourists were from different parts of China.  We took a 2-hour boat ride up and down the Li River and the karst landscape was indeed beautiful.  The karst are everywhere, not just concentrated in one area.   Outside the city area, there are farmlands and although I did not see them, there are terraced rice fields as well.  This is a wonderful area to spend a few days, to leisurely enjoy the scenery and the countryside.

A similar type of boat that we cruised along the Li River

Karst Landscape

Narrow alley in one of the villages along the river

Riding on bamboo rafts is very popular here

A fisherman and his cormorants

In some of these karsts are caves because karsts are mostly consists of limestone.  The local tourism authorities have done a good job of beautifying these caves and made them accessible to tourists.  However, some of them are over-commercialized; having souvenir shops and photographers located within the caves themselves.

Underground tunnels

Brightly lit stalactites and stalacmites

Souvenir shop inside the cave