Jing Xiu Hotel - Guilin

... with more scary hairpin roads & steep mountain drops. We stopped off at a small village of Yao people. They lived in the long dark wooden homes I had seen from the train the other day & we went in one to have a look. Very spartan & basic & the women here are known for their incredibly long hair which they wind around their heads & have on the forehead as a topknot ...

... we hadn't planned for was the bus breaking down!

......After watching the bus driver suck up petrol from his canister, forty five minutes later we're off again and made it to Dahzai at midday. We climb off the mini bus (after watching the local tribal women physically fight over some rattan baskets brought on the bus from town) and start our hike. The landscape is breathtaking and for the first time in three weeks of being in China we see some ...

... then I remembered it. Check in straight to bed without dinner. The next day we were off to a village just outside Yangshou. Tim, Mika and Remi wandered down to the riverfront before our departure. Older Chinese ladies and their partners were dancing their hearts out. Mika was swept into the circle of ladies whirling and twirling to the tune of the modern dance track "Boom Boom Boom". Women three times my age jiving and pumping their legs was a fabulous spectacle.

... looking forward to heading back to Shanghai's cool weather and thick air. But, we did. We took a taxi to the train station and boarded our train at the last minute. It was a 23 hour train ride, and an experience that Caroline told me I should have, since that is how most Chinese travel, not always with the luxury of a flight. We had sleepers, which were beds. It was a very sleeping area. The train was set up so that there is a narrow passageway that you walk straight to your ...

... cooked ourselves at a friend's apartment. We had a group of 4-5 Americans, a couple Costa Ricans, 3 Germans, and one from the Netherlands. Come to think of it, I didn't realize how strange it was for that many countries to celebrate such a distinctly and solely American holiday... Anyways, we had some sweet potatoes with brown sugar, self-mashed potatoes, several boxes of macaroni and cheese, 3 buckets of chicken from KFC, and an apple pie ...

... and tube wiring, Julie and Mark! OH and the plumbing! well it goes into the sink, but there is no drain piping, it just runs out ofhte bootom of hte sink, onto the floor and into the floor drain. How about that!! Oh and while we were walking around the area (everything is up or down stone steps, there is almost no flat land!) I was stopped a couple of times by the people. They found my skin very different, whiter and with freckles, I ...

... trunk into the river. I didn't care much about the rock, but it was cool to be on the river in one of the bamboo raft boat things the locals used. We were supposed to catch the train to Hanoi from Guilin after spending a day on the river cruise. The train sold out - as had every single train since we reached the south of China. Another bus ride loomed ahead.

... on. As well as the small animal Olympics. Which from what I could understand just was a bunch of birds sitting on their perch. The park itself was quite beautiful and there was a nice view of the city from the top of the mountain. After that I was pretty tired still from the trip. So I headed back to the Hostel to play some pool and have a couple beer before turning in.

... There was a cast of over 600 people all together, raising and lowering fabric sheets across 300 meters of water creating a rippling effect, all choreographed effectively. The floating stages allowed 200 dancers with multicoloured lights on their costumes to seemingly walk across the water. I'm sorry but I can't describe the amazing effect. I tried to capture some of the effect on camera. Thursday was another down day as it started out with heavy rain ...

... so they said we could go up stairs. Mum has a crook leg from a car accident years ago so said 'no stairs'. That was OK - the man took us to another restaurant just across the mall (and this time he was truthful!). He ushered us in then bade us farewell. Now, he must receive some sort of kick-back from the establishment for bringing us there!) From Kate's diary Our first day here. Very exciting. Went to 2nd floor for breaky. Continental. Basket of cold toast, rolls and ...