Fortune Condiminium Hotel Guilin

... female train attendant wearing an elegant hat, navy uniform with red piping not unlike an air hostess's, directing you in from the platform edge. With about 15 carriages in total and the female attendants standing in the same place down the length; it felt as if travelling in an earlier era where more effort was made, and things were just done properly. I felt slightly self conscious in an unironed t-shirt and lurching with my huge ...

... things e.g. 'beautiful lady washing her hair'?! We went in to the cave just behind a large Chinese tourist group and after a while the tour guide talking loudly down her microphone in Chinese and the slow pace of the crowd, began to annoy us a bit so we decided to overtake. It was only then that we realised that they were only turning the spectacular lighting on for the Chinese tourist group. We walked through the rest of the cave in ...

... Putonghua?, Putonghua?' - highlighting that my Chinese attempt was rubbish. The acrobat show was quite good. Some impressive hula hooping went on. The Beijingers however, absolutely loved it and were up on their sets clapping and gushing the entire time. Even the old people were fidgeting on their seats, getting involved.

Whilst in Guilin we also tried a local 'spicy skewer' cafe.. where you go ...

... alone I was immediately bombarded with all of the vendors and people wanting me to go on "bamboo". That is pretty much all they say.. "Bamboo...XingPing! Bamboo...Yangshuo!" They are of course referring to the "bamboo" rafts, most of which are not authentic bamboo and actually made out of large PVC-like pipe material. After a while it seemed I had nearly the entire fishing village surrounding me and shouting different things my ...

... markt: alle aandacht. Het bekeken worden. In het begin lach je erom. Zo langzamerhand wil je niet meer op de foto met al die kerels. Ook wil je niet meer elke 100 meter heel vriendelijk "hello" zeggen tegen kleine kindjes of tienermeisjes die "hello" als enige Engelse woord kennen en dit op jou willen oefenen. Je wilt gewoon lekker aan je kont krabben, in je neus peuteren en met een tandenstoker de etensresten tussen je tanden verwijderen (sorry lezers). Vanavond hebben we bij ...

... Reed Flute Cave has the best scenery in Guilin with stalactites and stalagmites casting distorted shadows that contort to the shifting multi-coloured lights. The Two Rivers and Four Lakes' water tour around the city at night is wonderful. It was autumn in the end of September with sunny and cool windy. The Guilin rice noodles for local breakfast is really good and tasty.

... things at the hotel, we walked back down the road to the entrance of the village where we were fortunate enough to find a driver that was willing to take us back to Guilin. While we were walking out, I couldn't quit thinking about what a wonderful and amazingly simple life the people enjoy. I was kind of sad that it was time to leave as I so enjoyed the peaceful and relaxing time but it was time for us to go back to the outside world and leave the people of Ping'an. A ...

... can be made into melodious flutes. The cave is filled with a large number of stalactites, stalagmites, rocks in all strange shapes. The cave is about 240 meters long and a ...

... Maybe in other circumstances it could have been my big break in terms of professional career, but there is also something called karma, I guess. The visit there ended with a performance in a theatre housed in that one large building. There were all sorts of everything in it - singing, dancing and acrobatics. The audience was delighted and when it is, what better reward does an artist on stage need? The taxi driver waited for us, just as he had promised. Our next stop was Lúdí Yán ...

... available were upstairs and Keith and Nana weren't able to walk up the stairs, so the man took us across the road and down a few shops to another restaurant but this one was smaller. It was still the same restaurant - same owner etc. After dinner Mum and I walked to the Waterfall Hotel. At 8.30, the back of the hotel turned into a waterfall and the water slid down the peoples windows and caught in a pool at the bottom. It was absolutely magnificent. It's in the Guinness ...