Guilin gets top marks again ! 14 April 09

We left our hotel at 8.30am and boarded the cruise at 9.30am. The weather didn't look that great to start off with... you could see the sun was trying to pierce through the mist but the mist was so thick that you couldn't really really see the limestone peaks very clearly. Nathalie was starting to fret about a potential repeat of the Great Wall disaster...

However, thankfully, as the cruise progressed, the sun did a good job of burning most of the mist away and we were able to enjoy a truly spectacular day. She totally loved it and agreed it had been the best day so far. The cruise is 4 hour long on a good day but only took 3H30 today because the currents were quite strong.

We skipped lunch and just had a sandwich and apples on the top deck as it was just mesmerising... We kept thinking 'how can it get any better?', but it did. Every corner was different and seemed more striking than the previous one. The Li River is truly the jewel in the crown. It's got to be THE most beautiful scenic spot in the whole China...

We took lots and lots of photos (that's the beauty of digital, you can click away to your heart's content. Back in 2002, I only had a film camera and had limited myself to ONE roll as I needed to be selective). We were still shooting in the sun though, which isn't great, so sometimes I made a point to go to the back of the deck and shoot backwards to give myself the best chances of a nicely exposed shot that would reflect the Li River's true spendour because it is timeless beauty in its most spectacular form. Dramatic and poetic at the same time. No wonder it inspired countless artists.

Nathalie, being very French and not one to stick to rules decided to go over the railing and sit at the front of the boat. It's supposedly forbidden (though we swear we never saw the signs) but it was the best seat on the whole boat (as they do not provide chairs for you to sit on, on the top deck, so you'd have to stand for 4 hours basically). I later joined her and the railing gave us a back-rest and it seemed less noisy too. The boat was packed with French tourists (80% of the tourists we have seen all over here have been French!) and so it didn't exactly feel like we were miles away from home... but we soon switched off and just focused on the scenery unfolding in front of our eyes.

The one thing wrong with the boat were the toilets... only turkish style, no seat. So, try and squat and keep steady on a moving boat... yeah, exactly. No handrail to hold onto either. Believe you me, you really had to be quick !!! Plus there was some water/pee on the floor that made it extra slippery as well. I reported back to Nathalie who felt she'd rather cross her legs and pass. Toilets aren't brilliant in China. Though we usually have a better experience using the disabled toilets as much as possible.

Anyway, I disgressed... When we got to Yangshuo we wandered through the streets that seem to only be made of souvenir shops or restaurants but we really loved the atmosphere there. It was very quaint and you could still see the beautiful peaks at the end of every street.

We checked into our hotel by 1.30pm, the gorgeous Dragon River Retreat (we have views of the peaks from our bedroom windows, just fab !!!) and by 2.15pm we were ready to go out and explore the scenery.

I had hoped that we'd go for a ride in the countryside but we first cycled to the Banyan Tree (a huge tree that was planted 1,400 years ago) but it was most disappointing as it was packed with tourists. It sounded promising in the brochure but Nathalie felt it was more like Disneyland in reality and really wasn't happy there. Too gimmicky and people were using animals in all sorts of ways to make money - little monkeys dressed up in small costumes, peacocks on stands, camels dressed up, horses too and Nathalie & I found it most distressing. The peacocks seemed to be gasping for air as they had to stand on a perch in the hot sun, with no shade and I desperately wanted to give them some water but my guide assured me they were fine. Hum. I felt like saying 'how do you know? do you speak peacock?'. The body language said it all, if you'd asked me.

Our guide is nice but her English is most basic. She really struggles to understand our questions. She's very sweet and dedicated but we do have a bit of a language barrier problem.

The next stop was Moon Hill. It's basically a crescent shape hole that is totally natural and is in the middle of a limestone peak. Our guide asked if we wanted to climb to the top and we thought 'sure, we're fit enough, we can handle it'... but we didn't realise before we set off that it was well over 400 steps all the way up. PHEW.

So, you start off great and then by step number 200 you think 'oops, big mistake'... we were half tempted to turn round when a couple of Chinese ladies decided to follow us and use their fans to cool us down. It was a particularly hot day today (and was the nicest in a loooong time as it had been pouring down with the rain the whole of last week and is due to pour down again in 2 days' time) and so it was actually most welcome.

One lady was 40, the other was 71, but they could climb the steps like goats. You could tell they were doing it every day. They spoke little English but were actually quite delightful. Not pushy and quite funny. They were amazed at how tall Nathalie was. We also did some videos with them and showed them how they looked and they were giggling away. It was actually the nicest experience we'd had meeting locals - besides our guides. They kept us going and though it was tough going up and up and up and up for 30 minutes (minus 2-3 small stops) we were very pleased with ourselves when we eventually reached the top and could enjoy stunning views over Yangshuo city and all the neighbouring hills. It gave us a whole new perspective to the topography of the region. We took fantastic photos so it was definitely worth it.

By the time we had walked all the way down, our knees were shaking though - literally. All of us had the same experience.

As the day progressed, the light seemed to get better and better still and the hills looked clearer and clearer so we were SO happy. We really enjoyed cycling around too - great excercise. And we felt quite safe too as they have dedicated cycle lanes everywhere - quite wide ones too.

There's no way we could have done as much as we did today if the weather had been atrocious. I praised God every hour as it did feel like a miracle in a place where it rains 300 days a year, and March-June is the rainy season on top of it all ! Nathalie & I were just SO grateful. It was the ONE day when we really needed good weather and we had the best weather so far... though maybe a touch too hot for cycling !

We then had to get back to our hotel for a quick shower as we were drenched - I came back looking like a lobster as I'd forgotten to put my suntan lotion on... silly girl.

After that, we went out for dinner, back in the heart of Yanghuo and enjoyed a really nice meal. And immediately after that we went to see how fishermen use cormorans to fish for them. We boarded a boat at 7.30pm though so it was already dark by then but we soon caught up with a fisherman's boat that had spot lights at the front for us to see the cormorans' activities. They dive effortlessly, come back with a fish, then the guy hands them a pole and they climb on top of it, and he grabs them by the neck, makes them spit the fish and throws them back in the water. We felt they were being mishandled and we didn't enjoy that side of things at all but Nathalie hoped they were used to it by now. The boat evenly stopped and we all got on shore to take a closer look at the birds - very fluffy and beautiful. They were keen to dry their wings and both Nathalie & I got the chance to have one on our arm to help them dry up. They are quite heavy birds but I love birds so much, I felt quite comfortable and safe with them. It was too dark for our cameras to work though (sob!) but the videos worked fine, thankfully.

We then got back to the city and strolled the streets some more -it was even prettier with all the red lanterns lit up everywhere- and Nathalie purchased a beautiful big fan, painted with red cherry blossoom and also a silk ornament that had a painting of typical Guilin scenery. They were amazing bargains for the quality. She'd have paid at least 10 times more in England for what she got. She was so pleased as she really wanted to decorate her flat with an Asian style and has furniture to match. I didn't buy a thing because I don't have enough wall space and it wouldn't go with my tropical fish and rainforest pictures!

We got back to our hotel at 9.00pm and here I am, giving you one more update while I can (free internet here, so might as well !). Tomorrow we decided to cancel our tour in Guilin to spend more time around this beautiful area as it's just one of the most spectacular landscapeS on the planet (take my expert word for it!).

I really wanted to do the tuk-tuk ride again across the countryside again to show Nathalie how the locals work, see the water buffaloes up close, etc. etc. I remember I had enjoyed it just as much as the cruise so I was gutted not to do it. Climbing Decai Hill (the original plan, on the way to Guilin airport) would have meant more steps up one more hill to see something similar to what we saw today (but with fewer peaks) so I'm convinced I made the right decision. I just pray the weather holds but so far, it looks good as we can see many stars.. clear skies.

Then at 1pm we'll be flying out to Hang Zhou, a charming city by a lake, with many bridges. Marco Polo called Hang Zhou 'Heaven under Heaven' as he was so taken by it. So, I figured it'd be a good place to visit (a new one for me too). Besides, my good friend Tian will be in town so she'll be able to spend time with us. She's already arranged for us to have dinner with her friends as they're all keen to meet us. My next 3 nights will therefore be quite busy. Not sure I'll have much time to update my blog until I get home now, but who knows? Maybe at the airport at some point?

Love from beautiful China... you really don't know what you're missing! :) [and I'm not talking about the toilet experience !!!].