Guilin - third day

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I had an extremely lazy day today, and just really walked around Guilin some more.

I decided to be daring at lunch and picked something at random from a Mandarin menu (no pictures). The old man in charge of the ordering smiled, took my money and gestured for me to sit down. I did so and was soon served with a bowl of clear soup with seaweed it. A few surreptitious glances told me that this was the complimentary appetiser, rather than a finger-dipping bowl. It was fairly good, if bland. The main course turned out to be liver, fried with cabbage and carrots on a bed of rice.

I'm not a huge offal fan, but this was nice enough. At least until I caught the old man's eye about halfway through my meal and he gave me a wolfish grin. Unsure whether this was genuine pleasure at my enjoyment of a traditional Guilin dish, or encouragement, or mischievous glee that I was actually eating what he'd given me, and realising that he could have given me anything, claiming it was what I ordered (however unlikely), I found my appetite dropped off. I had made a good effort, however, and it didn't make me ill.

After lunch I went to one of the parks on the outskirts of the town - I walked there which shows you how close the mountains are - and spent a happy afternoon meandering round enjoying the view and hating the humidity. At one stage, I found the entrance to a cave (since the mountains are all made from limestone there are plenty of caves underneath as the whole things slowly erodes away). It was beautifully cool and I - foolishly, in hindsight - lingered in the entrance to cool down. I realised my mistake the minute I tried to leave and met a wall of suffocating heat.

There was a kind of impromptu orchestra in the garden - mostly older people having a good afternoon out. Sadly, they were out of time with one another, and so I didn't linger to listen. There were also some garage-type structures in one area which, I can only assume, the people of Guilin can hire out. Certainly the ones that I saw open were crammed with someone's junk - much like a garage or garden shed. It seemed a strange arrangement to me.

Met up with my dormmate and a new friend in the evening and we went out and found a nice restaurant with absolutely enormous portions, but delicious food and then a pub and bed. Still no cider and I am dearly missing my social drink as I am not a great beer fan - although the lager here is a lot sweeter than in Europe and so more to my taste.

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Photos

Out for the evening
We bought these HUGE crushed ice concoctions. But all I can see is how sunburnt I am - the result of a day spent in the sun without suncream (because it was cloudy - foolish!)