Our first day in Guilin

---

Geo: 25.28, 110.28

Mel - I woke up at 7.40 with an incredibly sore back from the hard bed. Straight away I went to the window and looked outside I found it was raining, there we lots of motor bikers with rain coats on and lots of people getting their photo taken at a shrine then walking into the park.

About an hour later we went down to breakfast. I had a continental breakfast consisting of two eggs, bacon, salad, fruit, basket of bread, coffee or tea and orange juice (orange cordial) I didn't eat much.
We then went across the road to a weird market with people madly trying to sell us things. People dressed in traditional were walking around posing for people to get money.

We then caught bus 58 to Reid Flute caves but we were meant to go to other caves. Two Chinese people kept taking photos of me. We went to buy tickets then went to the line for the cave. The tour guide took us into these caves with stalagmites and stalactites. They were absolutely amazing. One of the two Chinese people that took our photos earlier grabbed us by the hand and dragged us around the caves - it was so annoying. They had lit up the caves with many coloured lights and had even named some of the stalagmites and stalactites as that is what they looked like - the Snowman, the lion, the city. The tour guide gave our group a very detailed description of the caves etc - unfortunately we couldn't understand her at all - she only spoke Chinese!!!!! We went to the toilet after we left the caves. Luckily we found a 'western toilet' - all the other toilets there were squat toilets. We also have to make sure we carry tissues with us at all times as they usually don't have toilet paper. We caught a taxi back to the hotel.

We stayed in our hotel rooms for about 5 minutes and then we went out on a walk to find some lunch. We ate at, what looks like, an unhealthy and un-hygienic restaurant. Unfortunately they didn't have knives and forks so I had to use chopsticks which was an absolute disaster. After lunch, Keith came back to the hotel as he was feeling un-good.

We went on a walk, to look at all the local shops and markets. On the way we stopped at a local school which is very different to my school. It was about 4 stories high and was very noisy. As we were walking passed it seemed to be play time for some children, A few children noticed us walking by and came to talk to us but we couldn't get in and they couldn't get out as there were scary security guards. They came and talked to us and asked where we were from. We asked them where they thought - the first guess was England, then America and finally Australia. One of them ran to get a piece of paper and then the others followed. They all shoved their paper or book through the security gates and asked us to all write our names down. We must have written our names down about 30 times.

We walked along further and finally reached the market place. I saw a sign saying McDonalds. After I found out that it was a tiny shop that only sold sundaes and hot pineapple pies.

A man started to talk to Nana and walked with us for ages talking about the area and the market. Finally the man took Pa of to a shop and they stayed there. Pretty soon afterwards we came back to the hotel for an hour or so. At 7:30 we caught a taxi to the market place again. We walked around looking for somewhere to eat. A man approached us and took us walking to his friend's restaurant but it was full downstairs. The only seats available were upstairs and Keith and Nana weren't able to walk up the stairs, so the man took us across the road and down a few shops to another restaurant but this one was smaller. It was still the same restaurant - same owner etc. After dinner Mum and I walked to the Waterfall Hotel. At 8.30, the back of the hotel turned into a waterfall and the water slid down the peoples windows and caught in a pool at the bottom. It was absolutely magnificent. It's in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest man-made waterfall in the world. (45 metres high, 72 metres wide at the top and 75 metres wide at the bottom. They also had loud music playing at the same time. After we saw the waterfall we walked back to our hotel via a bakery and two 2 yuan shops.

Kate - Our first day here. Very exciting. Went to 2nd floor for breaky. Continental. Basket of cold toast, rolls and slices of different varieties of bread (rolls hot) Each got a basket. Bacon greasy), eggs (sunny side down for Mel and I asked for fried and got scrambled), 1 cherry tomato and a few thin strips of purple cabbage for decoration and either cold coffee with hot milk (did get hot coffee after we asked and hot milk was hot powdered milk) and orange cordial (supposedly orange juice!!)

The sights you see just walking along the streets are amazing. We saw a man who was, very slowly, riding a bike towing an elderly man. The elderly man just sat there looking at the sidewalk whilst the rider read the newspaper! There are both motorbikes and electric scooters here. Very few people wear helmets, and of the few that do wear them, the majority are similar to a hardhat worn on a building site - nothing to keep it on if you are in an accident. I am amazed that we haven't seen any accidents here. They drive on the wrong side of the street - not only are the cars left-hand drives - meaning that the drive on the other side of the road from Australia, but they don't always drive on the side of the road that they are meant to. It is quite frightening driving in a taxi at night and seeing on-coming traffic coming on both sides of the vehicles. No-one panics. When it is time to get out of the taxi, the driver just stops - no indicators, not even pulling over to the side of the road. There is no way I would even drive 100m here - way to scary. And in amongst all this 'confusion', they drive along talking on phones!
When you cross the road, it is probably safer to take a deep breath, close your eyes and just walk! The cars don't stop - even at pedestrian crossings. People just walk out if front of cars and bikes and the vehicles seem to manage to swerve around them without anyone being hit. It sure is a different experience.

We caught a free bus to some caves. We were adopted by 2 Chinese ladies who made sure we went to right place. I bought tickets for everyone but Keith decided not to go so Mum got two tickets refunded and she and Keith just sat and watched the passing parade.
Val, Dad, Mel and one of our adopted ladies and I went into the caves. The tour guide gave everyone a very detailed account of the caves and used the spotlight to point out interesting facts. It was a real shame that we did not know what she said. The caves were beautifully lit up with multi-coloured lights and rope light. Someone had even gone through and labelled some of the areas - backstage curtains; the snowman; a centipede look in a mirror and getting a fright; the city; the city in the distance as well as a lion who was 'waving us off' at the end of the tour. Lots of stalagmites and stalactites. Was wonderful and most enjoyable. We then caught a taxi back to the hotel.

After freshening up, we then went for a walk to find lunch.

The area we walked down was definitely off the beaten track. All the eateries (can't call them restaurants) where were the locals ate.

Lunch was a very different experience. We walked into an eatery (for want of a better word) There was only seating for about 20 people. If you think of a garage with the door open - that was the size of this place - kitchen and all.

At the back of the eating section was a table filled with bowls of food. Mushrooms, bamboo shoots, garlic, beans, tomatoes, eggs, bacon, onion, meat, fish etc. All out in the open - not covered - not refrigerated. We had to look at the ingredients and decided what we wanted to eat.

She would put in as many ingredients in our dishes as we wanted. We managed to stumble our way through the ordering of the food (she didn't speak and English) We then went and sat down and speculated as to what we'd get. Fried rice? Noodles? Soup? How many plates of food? (Anywhere from 1 to 6 was the guess). It all came out and was lovely - we got 3 dishes and plain rice. It cost about $4.00 for the 6 of us!!

Keith went back to the hotel while the rest of us walked on. We get to a school which Mel found fascinating. Watching through windows as students worked. The noise from the children was extremely loud. Others were out in the playground and came running over when they saw us peering in. One girl had very good English and was very happy to speak to us. After a few minutes she madly looked around then said wait! She raced off very fast. She came back with paper and pen and asked us all to write down our names. Out of nowhere, more paper and pens arrived and we must have written down our names 20 times. We waved good bye and left feeling like movie stars.

Walking along the street, we are often 'picked up' by friendly Chinese people. You just don't know if you can trust them. Walking to the caves, the two women kept indicating that we follow them. We weren't sure that we were in the right place but they insisted that we follow. They would talk to us in Chinese even knowing that we could not speak their language. When we went into the caves, one of the ladies grabbed my hand and would not let go. Mel was trying to show me a photo she had taken and I had to say 'sorry but I can't look' as the lady would not let go, or slow down. The group we were in stopped whilst the guide talked to them. Better photos were to be had if we walked up 2 or 3 stairs. She grabbed me and dragged me backwards up these stairs. It did not matter that I couldn't see where I was going, that I would have felt 'safer' walking a little slower up the stairs (the floors in the cave were wet as well as being slippery in a few places) or that there were other people in the way. We just did not know if she was a tourist like us, or if she was going to ask for money at the end of the tour as she had assisted us.

Walking along the mall back in town, a man approached our group and started talking to mum. We just kept walking along the mall, and he kept up with us, not missing a beat. Again, we did not know if he was just someone who was also walking in that direction and wanted to practice his English (a good conversation starter that many use) or if he wanted to sell us something. He managed to convince Pa that what Pa wanted was to be found at his 'sisters' shop around the corner. Related? I doubt it, friend maybe! The same thing happened on our way to dinner. Another man walked along with us. He found out that we were looking for somewhere to eat. "I know a good restaurant - just around the corner". He indicated with his hands that it was just around the corner. We passed a nice looking eatery and Pa stopped and said why not try in here. "No English menu" When Pa was handed a menu with English on it he then said "this where tourists eat. Local food better. Eat where locals eat - much better" Another 5 minutes later, we made it to 'the restaurant just around the corner!!!' It was full down stairs, so they said we could go up stairs. Mum has a crook leg from a car accident years ago so said 'no stairs'. That was OK - the man took us to another restaurant just across the mall (and this time he was truthful!). He ushered us in then bade us farewell. Now, he must receive some sort of kick-back from the establishment for bringing us there!

---