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Published: September 21st 2007
We spent the morning in Yangshuo bike riding around the countryside. Thankfully we got an early start because it was quite warm outside! Cherry rented our bikes and we rode around for about 2 hours. Physical work for the tour guide!
The bike ride was beautiful - more mountains. CL barely took any pictures that morning. I think she was definitely done with the mountains. The prettiest part was being so close to the mountains, and seeing them reflect on the Yulong River. It was so charming, peaceful and just picturesque. I liked Yangshuo more than Guilin.
So if I could re-plan our trip (as I do in my head anyway), I would have spent less time in Guilin. Half day is plenty to see the sights. I would have stayed another day in the Huangshan area to see Xidi or Hongcun and coupled the Guilin sights with the Longsheng rice terrace day.
After the bike ride we ate on West Street again and relaxed at The Best Coffee. We signed the guestbook there; look out for it if you ever visit. I had an adorable latte and a mediocre cheesecake. CL and I shopped around a little
and I somehow got subconsciously duped into buying two batiks (tie-dyed cloth with stitching).
We had such a great time in Guilin and Yangshuo. Every part of it was scenic and memorable. See our group photo. 😊
Tipping: I thought Cherry and the driver did a great job. They were professional, polite, and gave great service. The tour itself was pretty expensive, in my opinion. I thought it was well worth it and the private driver and guide was definitely a treat. Because of the high cost, I assumed that the tour agency's workers are probably not underpaid. Anyway, at the end of our tour we were trying to determine how much to tip and we decided on $5 USD per person for the guide and $2.50 USD per day for the driver. Total of 300 rmb for Cherry and 150 rmb for the driver. I told my mom this and she told me last week she tipped her Niagra Falls guide (tour of 40 people) $7 USD a day and driver $5 per day. My mom said that this was standard. I panicked thinking that I/we insulted our tour guide, but then I found this website http://www.beijingholidays.net/news/tipping.htm
and felt much better. Phew.
We headed back to Guilin in the afternoon and got to the airport 6 hours early. All the good flight times were sold out weeks ago. I think the tour groups snatch 'em up. Anyway, we sat at the airport cafe and I ordered the most hideous mint tea. It was like watery toothpaste in a tiny teacup for 48 rmb. Yes, that's $6 USD for 6 ounces of toothpaste water. We ordered some so-so noodles and dumplings to compensate and sat there for five hours. I guess we got our Yuans worth.
We finally got back to Shanghai past 1:00 am! Yikes.
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non-member comment
batiks = "tied-dyed close with stitching" ???? huh?