Guilin - "Osmanthus Forest"

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Because of our time constraint, CL and I decided to participate in a private tour of Guilin. We arrived Guilin late evening and as we exited the baggage claim, there was a woman waiting for us with my name on her paper. That was a first for me!

Our tour guide's name was Cherry. Initially, I thought the tour company told me her name was Cheryl, then she introduced herself and I thought she said "Sherry", then the next day she wore a name tag, and it said "Cherry". Oops. We hopped into the car we would use for the next 4 days - a VW Santana. Cherry had a pretty thick accent, and I think she memorized what she has to say about each scenic/historical site. The driver didn't speak any English.

Cherry explained that "Guilin" translates into Osmanthus Forest in Chinese ("gui" means Osmanthus and "lin" means forest).

So Cherry took us to our hotel - Guilin Bravo Hotel. It's supposed to be one of the best hotels in Guilin. I realized that staying "at the best hotel" doesn't mean what you would expect. In general, I think "best hotel" translates to "clean and modern". Anyway, the rooms were nice and Cherry walked us to our room!

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