Guilin

I've decided to take the day off from writing, so I've got some time to do some writing! Herein lies my recollection of visiting Guilin.

The internet fora suggested to look out for a popular scam where the bus driver drops you off well away from the official bus stop for Guilin, and his taxi driver mates then charge you exorbitant fees to take you the rest of the way. Being wary of this, I put up a fuss when the driver dropped us off on the side of the highway, with no bus station in sight. Two Chinese girls also got off with me and asked me where I was going. A phone call later and one of them was escorting me on the local bus to my hostel!

After seeing me to my hostel, my guide waved goodbye and I checked in. Showered, changed my clothes, sought out the washing machine, then headed off into the night.

A pleasant walk down to the city centre, but I had trouble finding a beer at a decent price. There were also a lot of touts around trying to direct me to their bars and massage parlors. One particularly adventurous tout started progressed rapidly from 'foot massage', to 'massage', 'lady massage', before yelling out 'SEX?!' as I was walking away. Amazing.

Walked around some more, down past the quite pretty river front, and then back to my hostel. I then sat down to do some writing, and organising my future travels. I was up until about 2 am talking to the hostel workers about where to go, how to get there, and also picking up some more Chinese language skills.

The next morning I stepped out and went to the 7 Star Park. A cheap bowl of noodles, then I set off. The park is HUGE, and I took most of the day walking around, up and down hills, avoiding monkeys, and marveling at the natural beauty. I then went to some more of the parks around the city, but got sick of paying to enter each one. A walk around the city, taking in more sights, before heading down to the temporary street markets.

The city was pretty, and the parks and water features were delightful, but it was a bit of a let down after all the hype I heard from Chinese people I'd talked to before arriving. I decided to cut my stay short, and get on a bus to Yangshuo. At the bus station I was a bit confused, as the gate written on the ticket wasn't the correct one. An ex-pat Australian found me and directed me to the correct gate where he was also going. Had a chat, then boarded a full but comfortable bus. Nap time.