Guilin / Yangshou

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We board our Air China flight to Guilin. Remember what Qantas was like 20 years ago when the flight attendants smiled and you got this awesome array of little boxes and a foil covered steaming hot package that you lifted the lid on with great anticipation? Well, this is Air China. We stuff ourselves silly on the copious amounts of food and before we know it, we're touching down over spectacular mountainous peaks and the Guangxi province. We're in for a delightful few days.

We cab to our hotel and have fallen from grace. The Guilin Sapphire Hotel was, I'm sure, a gem in its hay day but the overpowering smell of cigarette smoke sends me running back to reception to request a non-smoking room. That's better but still its original condition 1970s glamour. At 50 bucks a night, one can't complain and right outside the door are markets. Yay. The prices have been steadily decreasing as our travels have progressed, so this is more like it. Will be able to spend our last few Yuan here easily enough! We wander the lake town, which has a definite theme park feel, before taking 2 very tired girls home to bed.

Day 11
Our bus turns up as planned, wonders never cease, and takes us to the wharf where we board a flat bottom tourist boat (was this or a bamboo/PVC pipe raft) to cruise the 4 hours on the Li River to Yangshuo. The scenery is mind-blowing. The karst peaks protruding from the river's edge are countless and truly spectacular. Though not enough to draw the 10yo boy sitting beside us away from his mobile phone for the whole journey.

We arrive in Yangshuo and pile into a cab. We head of into the unknown, in search of the Secret Garden, and a well kept secret it is. We finally arrive in the little village and wander around. The little river is used to rinse veggies, clean clothes, wash feet and face, and de-feather and gut chickens, of course. How lovely.

We enjoy a dinner of yummy lemon chicken, hmmm, and head into town for the Impressions light show. Created by the director of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony, it involves 700 local performers and is set on a lake surrounded by the beautiful mountains. This wasn't enough to entice Scott so he and Sara head into town while Hannah and I go to the show. Most of the places we've been to in China have been organised chaos but this was just chaos, plain and simple. Too many people into a too small a space. We enjoy the show but then have to find our driver. I'm sure he said he'd be here at the end of the show...or did he say to meet him out on the road...or was it where we parked the car? Oh crap. Putting on a smiling face for Hannah who was dancing around my feet without a care in the world, we wait and wait and wait. At last, when there is only a few lonely souls remaining (a few hundred anyway), the odd little man turns up. Thank God! We navigate the peak hour traffic at 9.30pm and finally reunite with Scott and Sara and arrive safely back at our village. I breathe a sigh of relief and we all collapse into bed.

Day 12
A sleep in and we wake to the blissful sound of rain on the roof. A lazy morning before maybe tackling the bamboo rafts and seeking out a local bus to take us back to Guilin.

We arrive back at theme park land, I mean Guilin, and book our evening cruise. We find a bamboo steamer place for dinner...yay for steam and its germ killing powers! Oh and the food was yummy too. We depart for our 8.05pm tour, yes we're crazy committing a 3 and 5 yo to that, and head off in a mystery van to the unknown. Some other friendly faces board so we should be fine. The cruise is quite a surprise...lochs and all. Scott tried to explain how this works but I still don't get how the river can be 1m or so lower than a lake. One of life's great mysteries.

Day 13

A bit of R&R on the schedule today. Just a mountain climb and circumnavigating the endless Guilin waterways. Both are wonderfully enjoyable. And the mountain climb is just up as there is a slippery slide to take us to the bottom. What fun!
We board the overnight train...Hong Kong here we come!

Memories and highlights of China...
Sara - flying Bus Class, zoo and pandas, shopping for dresses and skirts, birthday party at Raffles, overnight trains, Great Wall visit, friendly butterflies and funny driver Joe, Xi'an drum tower, Suzhou pagoda climb, gardens and rock climbing, Li River and bamboo raft cruises.
Scott - Beijing Olympic stadium visit at night, Great Wall, wandering the hutons in Beijing, Tiger Hill Suzhou, Li River cruise, exploring Jiangxie village and Secret Garden hotel near Yangshuo.
Joy - fancy hotels, Great Wall (remember I told you it was great!), enormity of Forbidden City and general buildings in Beijing, Bei Hei park, terracotta warriors, Air China flight, Suzhou gardens and pagoda climb, Li River cruise, the hot weather (not looking forward to winter again) and of course the food!

Things we could have lived without...
Flying to Beijing 3 times, Maccas green tea ice creams and frappes, "helpful" shop assistants, no automatic doors anywhere...a nightmare with the pram, dodgy toilets, hot sweaty kids wanting cuddles in 35 degree heat, Guilin Sapphire Hotel, and general chaos and convoluted processes!

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Comments

[Sue Poole]

Great trip
Wow. You guys crammed in a lot and with two little ones you are amazing. Love the humour yo7 appeared to maintain with the heat, crowds etc. thanks for sharing