Li River cruise

We were up and in the lobby by 7:30.  Our tour guide came to fetch us and a couple of other women from the hotel and lead us to the bus.  We made a couple of other stops at other hotels and headed to the pier.  Bill and I were concerned as the weather was overcast and very gray.  We were thinking, "we paid x to see the beautiful karst formations along the river and we just got clouds...WTF"!  However, the mist lifted just as we were boarding the boat.  The boat had 3 decks.  The lower one was a dining area with tables and banquette seating, the next was a covered smaller area, and the third deck was the open top of the boat.  We stayed up there for most of the ride.

The views were amazing.  There was one other westerner on the trip, Matt Sanchez, from Pittsburgh. He is a mineralogist and a geologist who advises mining companies on the quality of the minerals that they are purchasing in China.

Matt Sanchez

 Elvis Glasses make their appearance!

It was all about the scenery.  When we docked in Yangshuo that's when things started to get iffy.  We were greeted by gangs of touts selling all sorts of things that clearly were made elsewhere in China, but were being pawned off as local objects.  It was also extremely hot, the pack was heavy and not well balanced, waaaaah

We arrive at our hotel and this is what I noticed.... Only the near door slides....It is impossible to reach the TP from the toilet. This was the start of the weird with the room.  The shower was to the right of the toilet and there was no additional enclosure.  TP couldn't stay in the bathroom during a shower!  The ventilation in the room was poor.  The room never really got less humid.  Towels never dried, clothes always felt damp not a healthy place for me to stay.

Yangshuo was not my favorite place in China.  It was a Disneyland for back packers.  Crowded with shady looking people.  More bars and clubs than restaurants.  The restos that were there were not very good.  Everything was shabby looking, run down, and every one was looking to make a buck off of the visitors.  It wasn't the touts per se, but the general atmosphere.  For me, very unpleasant, But Bill really liked it.  I enjoyed the next day's activity much better.

We found the DMZ bar which Young Pioneer Tours where Nic was on duty.

We had dinner in an Indian place, Ganga something, it was pretty good, best of our Yangshuo lot.

Guilin, day 2

We wandered around the city looking for a particular Youth Hostel to book a tour to Yangshuo.
Originally, we thought we would train from Guilin to Yangshuo, but there is no train station there.  So we thought that we would take the cruise down the Li river and stay in Yangshuo rather than come back the same day. They we thought that we would take a train from Guilin to Hong Kong or Guangzhou to Hong Kong.  We finally opted to fly from Guilin to Hong Kong as it was the only viable option that could be set up in toto without worrying about how to get from mainland China into Hong Kong.

 The above photos are of the Li River and the trees lining its banks.  Note that the trees are furry with ferns.

We came across these concrete pigs which blocked off the road to traffic

We found the hostel, but the woman at the desk gave us very poor directions to the International Train Ticket office.  We couldn't find it.  With each of us getting hangry, we entered into a Pizza Hut because Bill couldn't make it any further!  As American fast good goes, Pizza Hut is not that terrible.  It is a sit down place unlike Mickey D's and generally a little more upscale.

Feeling refreshed we wandered around the town and found their attempt at re-creating a "typical village" from the Qing or Ming dynasties.

After wandering around, we exited the area and came upon a middle school outdoor assembly/performance.  The groups of kids were organized by grade and/or class and each had to give a singing performance to the school.  This was adorable.  Some classes had props, flags and things to wave around in time to the music, other groups had choreography, albeit, in a standing position.

We ended up going to the strange restaurant for dinner.  It was billed as a hot pot place, but it was not.    We ordered a sort of cornucopia of items on an iron plate that went over a burner on your table.  It was a mix of seafood and innards.  Luckily, I have a good eye for innards, and Bill enjoys the organy things.

 Turns out there were noodles with the dish that you mix into the pile of stuff and if necessary the staff adds more broth.

This was a painting on the chair I was sitting on.  I named her Catty Perry.  Patty came up with Cleocatra.  There was a dog as Michael Jackson as well.  The whole experience was just plain weird.

We booked our one way Li River cruise to Yangshuo and had to be in the lobby by 7:30