Day 19 – Guilin

Bloody early start, again, up before gnats fart at 4am.

Got to the airport, all a bit rushed to find a full flight of loud pushy natives, but thankfully only a couple of hours.  Surprisingly (from a US point of view), all the short haul flights give you a full meal and beverage service.  This morning it was a type of rice pudding porridge, fruit, tea boiled egg and some kind of steamed bun, not too bad.

Arrived in Guilin, a city of 700,000 with 70% of the population working in the tourist industry.  They have 20 million tourists annually to visit the various natural and ethnic attractions. Limestone mountains, lakes, rivers, caves and 4 different ethnic minority groups, in addition to the main group – the Han Chinese (that make up over 90% of the population).

Our tour guide Wendy met us with the driver Mr. Tang (means soup).  Went to the hotel but as there was a mix up with the reservation we were taken to a partner hotel, a new 5 star facility – rather Vegas like for China!  Chandeliers, columns, marble etc. Rather spiffy, but as we were to find out, they haven’t figured out airconditioning amongst other things, and no one really speaks English.

As we had a free afternoon, Wendy sold us on a tour of the local mountain – Yao Mountain.  After a lunch in an Irish pub – not an Irishman in sight, we went up the mountain.

Fabulous views, stunning scenery.  This was followed by a visit to the Guilin Tea Science Research Institute where we were given the tour followed by a tea tasting. Delicious.

Kick butt dinner buffet at hotel, the most opulent yet. Everything from sashimi to oysters, duck pancakes, dim sum, and a huge variety of meats and fish cooked to order.  They even have their own Indian chef making mutton curry, nan bread made fresh to order! Fabulous spread.