Hotel Grand 0773 Guilin

... visited a park. For dinner one night we ate snails, which were not bad! <br><br>The next day we hopped on a tour bus to see the rice paddies that China's southern areas are famous for, and also to watch the poverty forced exploitation of China's ethnic minority culture. Despite the fact that this is where i first witnessed how chinese people generally treat their ethnic minorities, as sideshows, the tour was pretty ...

... en el cafe. <br><br>Empezamos a caminar desde Dazhai, pasamos por un puente de madera, donde habia una mujer Yao vendiendo bufandas y demas, y llegamos a Tiantouzhai. Alli conversamos con mas vendedoras de souvenirs. Atravesamos el pueblo y llegamos a un mirador, donde estaba aposentadaa otra vendedora de souvenirs. Pasamos un rato con ella, riendonos de tonterias y haciendole monerias a ...

... clean and clear. There were many photo-tourists taking pictures. I guess it is a popular thing to do for some Chinese; they take a group tour just to photograph famous places. Yangshuo is one of the most popular. I could not believe some of the cameras these guys were carrying. Top of the line and the latest stuff. <br><br>You do have the lonely travel that must take pictures of themselves. Thank goodness for digital. Then as always you ...

... 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 ...

... unedible. We're assuming we've had a bit of bad luck choosing restaurants but really, it does nothing for the appetite when you see things like stir fried dog meat and pig intestines on the menu. Wei is very knowledgable of the area and the family is very kind and honest; attributes that we really appreciate amongst the many touts (people trying to sell various tours, etc.) on the streets and others that will try to scam you.

... characters carrying them through China, including the fantastic teachers who call Beijing home. They will be missed. But I cannot forget one of my main goals in coming to China, seeing the south, where the grass is greener, the sky is bluer (for serious) and I'm on my own, for better or for worse. Beijing, I will return! Step one: negotiating the new Beijing airport. Step two: doing the teacher training bit. Step three: freedom. So I made it to ...

... he understood, and walked me straight to a new ATM with a Visa logo on the outside. To my frustration, this ATM also wouldn't work for me. I ran back to the cab, with a very upset driver, and tried to show him what the problem was while Alban ran to see if his card would work. It wouldn't. We drove to a new ATM, each of us trying our cards several times before Alban's finally produced some money. Our driver was finally happy with us ...

... 6 months, I often find myself walking around with one eye closed as if taking a picture ;-). All this might sound trivial when you compare this to the normal stresses involved with the work and home environment or raising a family and by no means are we complaining. We never let ourselves forget how fortunate we are to be able to have an opportunity like this. Rather we are trying to share and document the stresses and pressures that come with a trip that ...