After spending 4 wonderful nights in Hong Kong, we flew to mainland China to Guilin for 3 nights. Mainland China is nothing like Hong Kong. It is what you think of when you think of China. We went to Guilin to see the Li River and the karst formations.
We stayed in a great, cheap hotel. I haven't mentioned how cheap China was. Most people know this already but we certainly loved how cheap most of China was. We stayed in great hotels, all under $100/night. We ate fantastic meals for SO cheap! Somehow, we still managed to spend a lot of money...
The people watching in China was UNBELIEVABLE! It is the best I've seen in the world so far! I loved seeing all of the precious babies and older folks as well.
We spent the first night in Guilin exploring by foot. The city center is lit up at night so we walked around the lake, grabbed dinner, watched some World Cup soccer, and wandered around looking at the junk at the night market.
The next day was spent on the Li River Cruise. The scene on the 10 yuan bill has a picture of the karsts from the Li River. We loved the scenery and the countryside on the tour! We opted for the two part tour consisting of the big river boat ride and then a smaller bamboo raft ride to see a tiny village and bridge that were in The Painted Veil. Great movie, by the way! The bamboo ride was so relaxing and lots of fun when we went over a small waterfall/dam.
Some things we saw on our rides down the river...beautiful karst formations, small boats that hooked onto the cruise boats to sell crap (There is no shortage of junk in China!), gorgeous countryside, dead pigs floating in the river (no joke!), people rowing bamboo rafts, ducks, children and adults in their tiny villages, people bathing and doing their laundry in the river, waterfalls, water buffalo, and cormorants. The countryside was so quiet and pretty!
Once back in Guilin, we walked to a nearby restaurant, sat outside, and met a few regulars at the restaurant. After dinner, we went on a night cruise on the lake. Though the pictures aren't great, it was pretty cool!
Next stop...Chongqing to Yichang on the Yangtze River!
More pictures of Guilin and the Li River...
