We would be going for a 5-hour river rafting along Yulong River in the morning and watch the "Impression Liu San Jie" show in the evening. I was extremely excited!
Before dinner, we decided to take a walk along the famous West Street (Xi Jie) which was just a stone's throw from our hostel. It was just as well as we planned to have dinner at one of the restaurants in West Street.
That's the stone carving with the words "Xi Jie" on it.
There were a lot of western style restaurants and eateries along Xi Jie street, mostly charging at "tourist" prices. I learnt that some of the shops here were actually opened and owned by foreigners who had settled down and married the local people here. No wonder West Street is sometimes known as "Foreigner's Street"!
In fact, it was a very touristy place with bars and all. Kind of reminds me of Bangkok with its go go girls although there were no go go girls here. There were however pretty girls dancing outside the bars! (pity I had to delete the photos as they were not very clear).
There were a lot of shops and stalls along the street selling anything from clothes, shoes and antiques to paintings, craft works and calligraphy. There were hotels too although I think staying here would be too noisy!
I could see that many foreigners of different nationality walking on this street and a large number of them were also seen enjoying their food at the cafes and restaurants here. I guess foreigners really love West Street!
There were also a lot of local Chinese people here. Maybe to them, walking and shopping in West Street made them feel they were in a foreign country. And perhaps that was the "in thing" to do!
Of all the places I visited during my China trip, I have to say I feel most comfortable at West Street. The reason is that a lot of the locals here speak English! Of course, they would still speak Mandarin when they talk to me, but if I responded in English, they could carry on the conversation in English!
I think they really take English seriously! While there, I even noticed there were a number of small schools teaching English! No wonder West Street is known as one of the biggest foreign language centres in China!
After walking for some time, we started to get hungry and decided to check out places to eat. We decided on Cloud 9 Restaurant because we wanted to be on cloud 9! Haha!
This is the entrance to the restaurant which was located on the first floor of the building.
There were not many people dining here probably because it was already close to 9pm. But the interior of the restaurant was nice and comfortable.
Since we did not have to pay the tour company, we decided to splurge a little bit for our dinner! Some sort of celebration, if you like.
We ordered their famous beer fish.
It was delicious! Wonder if there is any restaurant in Malaysia serving beer fish? Anyway, you can cook your own beer fish with the recipe here.
I guess with the Li River nearby, they would have no problem getting fresh fish!
Next, we ordered their pork and yam dish.
Another delicious dish! But the yam made it very filling for us. We could not finish it completely!
All meat and no vegetables would not be good, so we ordered broccoli.
After a whole day outside cruising on Li River in the morning and visiting the various tourist attractions in Yangshuo in the afternoon, we felt really thirsty. So we ordered Chinese tea, and coupled that with Coca Cola and a bottle of beer!
LiQ beer must be a very popular beer in Guilin and Yangshuo as I could see this brand in almost all restaurants! Since I do not drink beer very often, I really do not know if it was as good as famous brands like Carlsberg, Heineken and Tsingtao.
The bill came up to 139.80 yuan (RM71.30) or about 46.60 yuan (RM23.80) per person.
From Cloud 9 Restaurant, we could see an interesting restaurant opposite called Mei You Cafe. Mei You means "don't have" in English. So what is it that this particular cafe does not have?
I hope it is not mei you food and mei you service! Maybe it's mei you charge! Haha! I shall blog about that in my next post coming right up!
FIRST COMMENTER
Oh my fave dish yam & kow yoke
Yeah saw a foodie Taiwanese tv program introducing the famous beer fish. Must be whoa delicious..
I would love to sample the local beers there as they are not for export
wuarrrghh.. can't be FC again :/
Yummy food...
Beer Curry? You think it be would allowed that to happen? :P
The Pork Yam dish look good... yummy~ but since I am watching my cholesterol, I haven't had that for ages. The price is is good for a 3 person meal. About the same as Malaysia huh?
what a lovely street! would love to be there myself. :)
No go go girls? Then maybe massage girls lah...
If you had stayed in mid-range hotels, you would receive calls in the middle of night. When you picked up the phone, you would hear someone purring, "Sir, do you need a girl?"
mei you charge? you wait long long ar....hahhaah not in china, okey?! hahha...anyway the yam and pork dish looked amazing....very delicious? the beer fish looked like they just dump everything in and add some beer to make it sound special...for all you know har all the ingredients in there are the nicer part of some rotten tomatoes and et cetera hahaa...:p
Fish beer? wah interesting.
The dishes are quite large in portion. Not bad.
cheahs@n, you like the yam and kow yoke? Yes, the beer fish was delicious! : )
borneo falcon, go to China and sample it! : )
ladyviral, I guess next time you must get ready to open my blog and standby at 8am! Hahaha!
Yes, must watch cholesterol level except when you are on holiday! Haha!
levian, yes it's a lovely street alrite : )
khengsiong, yeah, they not only supply girls but guys too! : )
The "pork and yam dish".......Yummy~ extra delicious!!! My favourite!
I must learn how to cook one ONE DAY..ONE DAY..SOMEHOW...SOMEDAY...heheheh!
manglish, after my experience with a tour company that did not chase after us for money, I am inclined to believe that anything is possible, including a cafe that does not charge! LOL!
The yam and pork dish is yummylicious!
Well, the beer fish does indeed look like a big dumping in of everything, but it was good! : )
che-cheh, yeah, quite large portion, my kind of portion : )
elaine tam, yeah, you must learn to cook and then invite me over to eat ... after you perfected your cooking, of course! Haha!
You guys had a great dinner and the price is great too.
Hmm..I wonder why the cafe's named Mei You??
the fish is drunk? lol.. i like the way u blog bout ur journey. if me, once i'm out of a place, everything's seem soo da same dy! haha
Let me guess "meiyou shuìwù" [no service tax] OR "meiyou wèijīng" [no monosodium glutamate (MSG)] OR a meat free cafe?
Finally your new post about your China trip. :) So this is the famous West Street? War..the stone carving is really impressive. Has it been there for a long time?
Hahaha :D The restaurants are charging at tourist price? But you guys look local. So should be no problem what!
What? Ouh...so west street is also known as Foreigner street? I see.
The stalls looks like....er...Jonker Street in Malacca. A few of it. :p
Hahahaha :D How come suddenly there was this half naked uncle? :p The weather must be hot aye? If not why is he skinless?
Because you guys didn't pay...now you guys can afford to pamper yourselves more huh! The yam and pork dish must be delicious. The others look so-so to me. :p
Harlo! 1st time here! All bout foods wor. Nice blog u have :)
foong!! it's dinner time and i just came out from the meeting room.. and you make me see that braised pork with yam!! i hate you~~
haha, the Xi Jie is really westernised, ancient chinese architecture but all i can see is pubs and restaurants selling pizza.. and even fish is cooked with beer!!
hmmm, i think it's not cheap to pay RM23.80 per person for your dinner too..
you didn't take photo of that Mei You Cafe and show us?? so looking forward to see you next post about it..
love broccoli!!
haha..
foong looks local but he can't speak like a local so have to pay tourist price lah hor... :D
the street reminds me of jonker street! haha.. =D
kenwooi.com
wow..plenty of delicious food there..
Very touristy indeed and crowded too. Are the people mostly locals or Chinese people from elsewhere, do you know?
This looks like a pedestrians only walk and nicely paved.
Beer fish sounds interesting but the dish looks kinda mishmash. I like the way Manglish put it. LOL! Oops!
The kaw-yoke is quite a large portion for the three of you. Three of you only, right? Perhaps the chef knew you must be hungry as it was already getting late.
Are you sure Mei You is translated that way? Jam must be sniggering there..
Mei You kopi and also mei you gogo girls...ha ha ha!
did you hop to another resto right after?
the pork dish really looks so delish foong! i'm craving to taste it! the diet nutrition thing given to me by the nutritionist has so much restrictions!
looks like i will enjoy that stretch too, i love eating when i go to travel and shopping too! hehe
Beautiful, intriguing and yummy! Through your blog I have visited many places and eaten many delicious foods!
The moment I saw the photos of those chinese foods, I can't help but crave for them coz I really love Chinese foods. GreaT tour time in a wonderful place. I wish I can visit that place too one day.
http://benggee.blogspot.com
Ohh this just made me super hungry.I hope I can visit this place too once in my life
omg dear... i thought it was you shirtless in the picture!!!
They should serve you a piece of cloud 9 as dessert! and that place really looke dlike soi cowboy in bangkok to me!
hello foong, thanks for coming by my wallop blog.. it reminded me that i hv to add u back cos i lost my blogroll list recently when i changed my domain.. now added back.. phew..
coming back to yr post.. i love the yam and pork.. and tonite i just took brocolli.. hehe.. notice that u really enjoy the food there..
I still can recall the unique taste of beer fish. I like it! So bad that we only ate once during our time in Guilin. Only if I were not down with diarrhea...
mei teng, yeah enjoyed the dinner! You will know why it's called mei you cafe in my next post! : )
merryn, no the fish is not drunk! Haha! Glad you like my China trip stories! : )
cheahs@n, thanks for more hanyu pinyin yes? : )
hi foong! saw your comment on jif pj thought i'd drop by to say hi =)
5 hours of rafting?! How did you survive that?
Wow. Such a busy trip!
tekkaus, we don't look local! One look and they know we are tourists!
Looks like Jonker Street? Haha! I like Jonker Street!
Yeah, the weather was hot, so don't be surprised to see half naked men!
The yam and pork dish was delicious, but don't judge a book by its cover! The beer fish was good too! I don't mind going to this restaurant to eat again if I have the chance!
joshua, hi! Thanks for dropping by! : )
SK, no need to hate me lah! Didn't you say it's dinner time? Go eat your dinner! LOL!
Yeah, West Street is the most Westernised street in Yangshuo. The price we paid was OK, not too high cos the food was nice!
dolly, I love broccoli too! : )
lina, I don't look like the locals there, and some more carrying a camera. One look they can see I am a tourist! : )
kenwooi, really? That's what Tekkaus said too : )
wenn, yes indeed! : )
happysurfer, not sure if they were local Chinese or from other places! Yes, the pedestrian walk was nicely paved.
The beer fish was delicious despite its appearance! : )
Yes, the kow yoke was a little too much for us. Couldn't finish it!
Jam was the one who told me about this restaurant so no, he definitely was not sniggering. Haha! : )
pete, I am not sure about coffee, but definitely mei you go go girls! LOL!
ayie,no, we went to mei you cafe the next evening.
Oh, sorry to tempt you with the pork and yam dish! Hehe. But you must listen to your nutritionist! OK, maybe indulge once in a while should be fine : )
Who doesn't love eating when go traveling? : )
health nut wannabee mom, thanks! Glad you enjoyed reading my travel stories : )
the pink blog, you like Chinese food? Great! Then you will definitely enjoy West Street! I wonder how Filipino food tastes like as I have never been to Philippines?
filipina blogger, yes you should, and I think I should visit Philippines too! : )
faisal, shirtless? Haha! Shirtless or not, I don't look anything like that person in the photo! And I won't even dream of putting my photo on my blog! LOL!
eiling, cloud 9 as dessert? Haha! They should, shouldn't they? Like soi cowboy minus the go go girls : )
hmmm... wonder what i will eat when i am in beijing.
reanaclaire, thanks for adding me back into your blogroll! Yes, I enjoyed the food at this restaurant! : )
jam, yes I enjoyed eating the beer fish too! : )
ayie, thanks for dropping by! : )
DC, we survived it! Haha! Actually it's a relaxing rafting. I don't need to row the raft : )
willie, quite busy but we need to make use of the time available to do as much as possible! : )
just back from guilin !! read my SILK ROAD STORY!!! to much to write but i have publish a bit..one by one...ermm...thnks for ur advice !