Friday July 3rd 2009 Guilin

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Friday July 3rd 2009 Guilin
We got up at about 9.30 and noticed the rain hadn’t stopped all night, it was still torrential but there was no obvious flooding outside. Even though the possibilities of doing anything in that weather were limited we decided to stay in Guilin for the day and checked in for another night. We headed downstairs and ordered a fantastic breakfast, one of the best yet and got around to writing a load of emails, handy coz I used the hostel pcs for free while Mary used the laptop. Internet was grand and quick too so we found our next place to stay in Yangshou before we decided to buy and umbrella and try and get out into town for a while. We weren’t too bothered not being able to do trips, the main ones were to see terraced rice fields which we had seen plenty of on the bus and cruise the river between the limestone hills which we had driven between also. Probably identical stuff in Yangshou anyhow. The hostel was so well located, within 20 meters we were on the main shopping street, which was clean, bright and pedestrianised; I even had one guy enthusiastically ask me where I was form and he told me how Enya is his favorite singer. It was nice to walk down a proper high street again and wander into shops even not to buy much. Every second store was a sports one though, a Nike, Adidas, Kappa or loads of these chains we had never heard of. Footwear is good bit cheaper but t-shirts were near enough the same as home.

We came across our first McDonalds in 2 months so excitedly ran in and ordered our lunch which was delicious, oh how I missed Big Macs. The rain was getting even heavier but we waded out in it anyhow because there was a department store nearby. We made it into the shelter there and looked around. I always find the food supermarkets some of the most interesting places, gives you an idea of how the people live and here again they had the vacuumed chicken along with 938 different types of soy sauce and every fruit ever grown dried and put into boxes. Still think I prefer Superquinn though. On the top floor after walking through 5 floors of clothes and electronics and Mary getting excited about how much she is going to buy before we leave in Beijing or Shanghai, we came into the amusement arcade. This was brilliant as soon as we figured out how to change our yen into tokens, which wasn’t that east. We played some very bizarre games but had great fun, what better way to spend a wet day than in an amusement arcade, it was like being in Bray.

The rain had been falling non stop now for about 24 hours as we headed back, thanks god for flip flops anyhow. We headed out for some crappy western food, not brave enough to hit the real stuff yet, maybe tomorrow and then went to see a hotel that has a weird spectacle at 8.30 every night. It’s straight out of Vegas when the large arc of a hotel opens up giant tanks on its roof and turns itself into a waterfall for about 10 minutes, not bad, but why??? Then it being Friday night we headed back and ordered some beers to see if there was anyone about we would go out and about town with. There weren’t too many candidates in the hostel besides a crowd that were being led by a really loud and annoying American so we quietly drank our own beers and left it at that.

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