Kaiyue Hotel Guigang

... enough after lunch the views became less and less impressive.. why it couldn't be the other way around (lunch later etc) I'm not sure, It is a very strange country, everything is about money and easy/lack of service, the customer experience rarely enters the equation. So their we were, now an armada of 11 boats charging down the Li River to invade Yangshuo on our mini-tours of duty, small villages of fishermen and alike pondered on the shore, looking on in amazement at the sights ...

... just rent a bike, set out in a random direction and get very, very lost. With the scenery here and the beautiful weather, I didn't care where I was, it was so good just to be outside. I even accidentally stumbled across Moon Hill, the most famous sight of the area, quite by accident. One place I didn't get out to last time, with clear skies it is worth a journey out from town. A low peak possible to climb ...

... pm, and we are hungry. Where the hell do u get food in this town other than tiger balls and other exotic foods! we didnt want anything to chinese because we were about to go on a 10 hour coach trip, and the last thing we needed was to be running to the toilet every 10 mins! So we started our hike down the main street looking for something we would like. Then, Henriette said "Look, There" im squinting my eyes, thinking what are u looking at ...

... of the town and forced it to spread along the valleys between peaks, and thankfully obscured most of the development, so that only a small fraction is obvious. It's a strange little place. The scenery is admittedly incredible (and probably would have been more so had I seen it in clear skies; it was overcast just about every day I was there), but that wouldn't have been enough to keep me there for quite as long as I stayed. For whatever ...

... me to "introduce" myself to the other. Cool. Also learned a new word. "Pi gu" - bum. We were to afraid to stop for a rest on the return and the girls kept telling me that their pi gu hurt. It' took a while, but I worked it out. After that, it was time to return the bikes and head into West st for a beer, and possibly find the girl from last night. No luck. Onto the Buffalo bar. Things get real cool from here. Thanks to Betts from Bucklands, I was introduced ...

... a man on a motor bike stopped. I gave him 30 Yuan to take me to Tianyang. I finally made it back well after 1:30am or so and sat and had a couple of beers and some food with my friends before heading home. The weekend was FAN BLODY TASTIC MATE! The trip over was good. Got a bus from Tianyang to Nanning and then another bus to ...

... as much fun as the usual three or four but when you're in a hurry it's pretty good! I was met my Leeanne and Wong and we headed to the highway to wave down a Nanning bus. Done well, got one straight away. Once in Nanning we spent the next hour or so going from train station to bus station trying to get the entire way to Guigang that night. No luck so it was to BBQ Street for a meat and beer fix. Whilst sitting and filling ...

... door and nailing his head to the floor (fans of Monty Python will recognize that reference), other times I just turn on some good, loud devil music (Black Sabbath or Judas Priest) while he's trying to take his afternoon siesta. On the bright side, we don't need an alarm clock. If the rooster crowing somewhere else in the apartment complex doesn't stir us, the guy upstairs surely will. I've never met him, but I hate him. We have named him "Reno' Joe" In addition ...

... first task is to locate the necessary personal appendage through the aforementioned multiple layers. Once you've found it, and assuming that it hasn't taken so long that your bladder has ruptured, you don't want to touch it because your hands are like blocks of ice and your pecker disappears like a turtle into its shell as soon as you go near it. No, it's not that kind of cold; it's more insidious. Relative to a Canadian winter it's not even really that cold. It's ...

... reducing people to fits of giggles doesn't help the situation either. Here is the basic issue. The #8 bus goes from our apartment, through downtown and then to the southern end of town on one leg. On the return leg it finishes up at our apartment and you can jump on it at any of the bus stops that display the number 8 on the sign. One side of the street gets you home the other side takes you away. Simple. The #4 bus gets us fairly close to home and also takes us ...