The Presidential Seal of Approval

I recently came across this quote from a U.S. President describing Guilin:

“No Place in China is More Evocative of the Beauty of Your Country than Guilin.”

Do you know which President visited and showered this city with such a complement?

All I need to say are two words, and I am sure you will know…

Monica.   Lewinsky.

Yep…it was good ole Bill Clinton who sang these words of praise to Guilin.  And when I can wake up to a view like this every morning from my apartment, I can definitely start to see why…

It’s not really the buildings that are impressive but the mountainous terrain that lies just before the horizon.  On a clear sunny day, I’d be blown away.

One day, I went up to Chuan Shan mountain and pounded some sort of peanut-based honey candy with the locals…

I think they were a little surprised that I requested to do some hammering myself, but these guys definitely put in the elbow grease for some delicious treats.

On another day, we set out to the Xiongsen Bear and Tiger Mountain Village.  I Twitter-ed previously that this 300,000 square meter area contained over 1,500 tigers after one of the workers there spouted out this number.  Sure, this picture does have quite a few tigers…

…but I think the number is more around 80 tigers or so.  Regardless, it was quite an “interesting” attraction where the Chinese even got various animals to perform circus tricks.  Have you ever seen a goat walk up a ladder?

How about walk on a tight rope?

And to top it off, marvel at this goat balance all four legs on a small wooden table while a monkey does a handstand on its horns!

Wow…Amazing.  All I can say is, “I definitely ain’t in Kansas no more!”

Hope you enjoyed that cuz I’ve got more crazy animal acts to share next time!