Jin Xiang Hotel Guilin

... and important people carved into it. Although, while we were climbing the mountain the heat let up the tiniest bit, only to unleash a downpour which made climbing dangerous since the steps are so small, so we had to wait it out under an umbrella that we found! Then we found a sign for PLURN tea, which if you can read chinese is actually just a bad translation of Plum Tea. The next day I think we climbed more stairs ...

Hoy nos fuimos de caminata por las terrazas de arroz.<br><br>Empezamos desayunando. Lo primero es lo primero. Le dimos otra oportunidad al chef, y otra vez nos defraudo. Esta vez le pedimos huevos revueltos y nos hizo una tortilla. Pero no tenia pan... y cuando le pedimos tomate, nos hizo huevos revueltos con tomates... un desastre. Yo acabe comprandome galletas en la tienda de al lado, para ...

... the open talk was packed standing room only. We had students and locals, over 20 people. I think that is a little too much. But we had some good discussions. They all agreed that this is a good forum to practice their English skills. I had to tell them that I would be leaving for a week and going to Shenzhen. Many used to work there and gave me ideas of what I should see.<br><br>Tuesday, September 15th: Took a walk along the river. The water is ...

... me through a mountain pass and down to a fishing village on the other side. The karst mountains through the pass were incredibly beautiful and it didn't hurt that they were set against a deep blue sky with billowing clouds. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this particular fishing village was visited by the former US President Clinton in 1998. It was a very small village with some very old buildings and interesting people. Since I was ...

... too much. Then a young gal ran up to me holding two ten-Yuan notes and just said "THIS MUCH". I said OK. I thought it was a clever idea. That was the only English she spoke. I could have bargained for a better price but just wanted to get to the hotel. Anyway 20 Yuan is still only about $3.00. All the streets around the hotel were under construction, they were a mess. Got to the hotel most the time driving against on coming traffic ...

... evening was our first really delicious Chinese meal (except for maybe the peking duck in Beijing). Actually, it was more of a feast, they just kept bringing out more and more plates of every Chinese dish you can imagine and everyone staying here sat around a couple big tables to eat. Needless to say, we ate our fair share as most of the Chinese food we've had while we've been in China has been pretty mediocre and once ...

A short passage for a passing glance of Guilin: It's a Saturday night, we're out on the town, my new friends and me all alone. We'll sing the old love songs, we'll make toasts all around to living - to loving - home. Though my hands hold me here, living day after day, My heart's far away tonight. A nice little New England folk ditty for leaving Beijing. It's sad to say goodbye to my new friends here. I've met some awesome people, with some ...

... Star Park. It is a public park with many different things to do and see: a zoo, some caves, water streams, sculptures... Nice place to spend any given sunday with the family. As every public place closes at 5 pm, we have to leave soon, and we go back to the hotel: Tony suggests us many activities, but we kindly refuse them because we feel so tired, just a short walk to see the sunset and to buy some supper to take to our room.

... it to a cab driver. He understood perfectly where he was supposed to go. First we stopped at an ATM. I ran to get money from it, but no matter what I tried it said that my PIN number was wrong. So I went and looked fopr another one on the same block, asking several people where one could be found; still, none could speak English well enough. I finally found a security guard, showed him my card and made motions of using an ATM ...

... give closure to the previous destination and experiences which allows us to focus all our attention on our new location. Another sign for me that I might have overload is when I don't even feel like going out with a camera some days. Usually I never leave home without it but there are days when I don't have the energy to carry the bag let alone think about taking photos which I usually thoroughly enjoy. This might be due to fact that I've taken about 16,000 in the ...