Guilin Riverside Hostel

... exercise classes in full swing. There are loads of children in China and it occurs to me you never see a Chinese child in a pram - they are always carried or walking. The small size of some of the walkers makes me wonder if this way makes them walk earlier than in the UK. We watched one doting father try to photograph his small child - every time he posed her perfectly and stepped back to take the picture she ran to sit on his knee! <br><br> <br><br>

... Canal which links these two spots. I'm going by boat to Yangshuo on Friday where there are more pinnacles to climb and the possibility of more boat trips to remote villages of colourful non-Han peoples, (the Dong, Zhuang, Yao and Miao). Also this province is a slightly easier and a more popular border crossing into Vietnam, where I am joining an organised tour in October I'm sure many of you will be pleased to hear.<br><br>I was ...

... water, water buffalo swimming and high peaks rising through mist in the distance.<br>-visited water caves (80 yuan instead of 320 if you ask in the right travel shops such as Uncle Sam's on west st.) where we saw vague limestone figures such as the mushroom, buddah and two people "making sexy time". We also dived into freezing cold underground water, had a mud fight in the mud pools and cleaned off in the final fabulous ...

We had been told the day before that the rainy, humid weather and recent flooding would make it impossible to do many of the activities that we had wanted to do, like hot-air ballooning, swimming, and kayaking. However, when we came down for a breakfast of jaffles (delicious ham and cheese paninis, courtesy of the Dutch) and yogurt, we found out that the kayaking guy had come by and said he would take us out. After a leisurely breakfast and reading, we got in a ...

... English name Tom), who was working in his sister's Osmanthus Tea Shop on the main drag. We got chatting to him as he was keen to practice his English and we were on the second day of our holiday and not yet so quick to 'Bu Yong, Xie Xie' anyone who looks like they may have some tat to sell us. He turned out to be a genuinely nice guy, who was from a small town outside Guilin and the first in his village ...

<br><br>06-07-09 DRIZZLES<br><br>Did not do much this weekend. Had out morning tutoring classes. My friend Ruari came by to talk about Dali. I think he has convinced me that I should go there for a few weeks in the fall. I like Dali is has lots of scenic spots and things to do and see. It has a big lake, which is used mostly just to get from one place to another. The Ancient city of Dali is a walled city with lots of ...

... women across the street. It went on for quite some time and was only broken up because the rain started. We wandered around town in the rain looking for an internet cafe. They simply do not exist. Some cafes have one internet that is free if you order, but we would both like to use the internet. Finally we found a hotel that had two computers and were able to pay 6 yuan per hour ($1). We spent 2 1/2 hours trying to catch up on the blog (me) and planning our trip and ...

Ik had in mijn blog van gisteren vermeld dat we al uitgechecked waren bij de hostel? Waren we mooi dakloos voor de rest van de dag. Om 19 uur werden we naar de luchthaven gebracht voor onze vlucht van 21.50 uur. Ruim op tijd dus... kwart voor 8 kwamen we aan. Leuke luchthaven, dat hadden we al gezien op de heenweg. Vroeg aankomen is dan ook geen probleem. Maar, winkelen langs fruit-en andere stalletjes is niet fijn met bagage. Eerst maar op zoek naar de incheckbalie dus... Heey ...

... believe it. It was amazing, like out of a fairytale. The city was surrounded by mountains, or kurts, I think they're called. Surrounded. It was sprinkling outside so we hurried to find out hostel,which ended up taking a while. We stayed at Happy Hotel. Ha ha! We only paid 90 kuai per night between all 3 of us. That's like $5 a night.. EACH. Can you believe it!! It was nice. We had 3 beds, kind of a joint room with a king bed and dresser and all in one room, with the bathroom attached ...