Guilin + Sun = Pure Awesomeness

(Mark)

Today we had sun for the first time this trip. It was awesome.

The day started at 7 AM, as we had to be picked up by Mingo at 7:30. Unfortunately, we were running a little late, partly because Alex lost his room key (50 RMB charge, but they found it for him). We then made our way to the airport, which we had been dreading since we first landed in Hong Kong. However, yesterday, Mingo told us that he would actually be ACCOMPANYING us through the airport and such, which would expedite things and make them much easier. He was basically our savior today, as he also helped us check our bags; Allison’s was the only one under 20 kg, but with Mingo’s help we were able to check everything without paying any extra charge. Yeah, Viz, we all got mad at you because there was no problem with the checked luggage, and they never even weighed our carry on. But don’t worry, we’re not mad at you anymore. We then made our way to security, where, after email address exchanges, “don’t forget me!”s, and hugs all around, we parted ways with Mingo. So yeah, we then went in shifts to get food; Lianna tried some orange-flavored Chinese muffins, but Alex and I just stuck with ham and egg sandwiches (hi viz- its lianna- I WAS MORE ADVENTUROUS THAN THE BOYS!!). The flight was SO short, barely even making it worth a flight… but it was certainly an experience—the Chinese are very loud on planes, and we saw a woman WAILING on her children. It was actually a little sad.

So, we soon touched down in Guilin, picked up our baggage, and found our guide: Ling, who calls herself Macy. As we stepped out of the airport, we were ecstatic to be able to see the sun for the first time since before we arrived in Hong Kong. Macy brought us to our hotel (which is SO awesome) so we could drop off our stuff, and then we headed out to the first of the day’s main attractions: lunch.

Lunch was amazing. They sat us down in a small room by ourselves, and brought us a bunch of preordered dishes. We took pictures and notes on what we were eating, and which dishes we liked. Our favorites were a beef and green peppers dish, and a pork with cucumber and peanuts dish. Allison’s favorite was the eggplant, but Lianna, Alex, and I didn’t even try it (unlike last year’s group, we HATE eggplant… it’s texture is just horrible. We tried everything else though. Alex and I took it a step further and tried Guilin’s renowned dishes: a special chili sauce (a pea-sized amount of which completely burned my mouth), and fermented tofu, which was just VERY salty.

After lunch, we headed to Fubo Hill. The hill was pretty cool, it was all decked out for the New Years celebrations and such. Traditional attractions included the giant iron bell (weighing about 200 kg), which was covered in Chinese characters, and the thousand-man bowl, which was a giant bowl big enough to make dinner for a thousand monks. The New Years stuff, however, included an AWESOME game: you stacked  7 thick disk-like things on top of each other, and used a mallet made of bamboo and cloth to knock the lowest disk out of the stack. If the tower falls, you lose. They were offering a prize if you could knock out five without the remaining two falling, but the most we could get was 3 or 4. We got some really good pictures though, and they gave us a prize, just for being westerners (we think). Then it was time to CLIMB Fubo! Lianna counted 316 steps along the winding path, but it was totally worth it. When we got to the top, we could see for MILES since it was so clear, basically including all of the city and most of the surrounding mountains. Speaking of which, I assume you’ve seen the traditional paintings of Chinese mountain ranges, in which they come to sharp peaks, one after another? Well, they’re completely accurate. The mountain ranges here are so amazing, and they completely surround the city.

After Fubo, we headed to Reed Flute Cave, renowned as the most beautiful cave in China. Words can’t do justice to its beauty, so just wait for the pictures (also, it’s a little late and I want to go to bed soon). Basically, it was full of stalactites and stalagmites, which were lit by multicolored lights from every angle. With a little imagination, the rock formations looked like lions, monkeys, feet, and many other objects and creatures. On the way into the cave, we were waylaid by hordes of street merchants, trying to sell everything from little whistles to books of pictures. A woman offered me two books of postcards for 10 RMB. I said no. She offered me three for the same price. I said maybe when we came back down. She offered me the fourth one she had, all for 10 RMB, so I went ahead and bought them. Turned out that ONE of the very same post card books would have cost 20 RMB at the gift shop, so I certainly got a good deal.

From the cave we went to Elephant trunk hill. It was basically a rock formation that looks kind of like an elephant with its trunk in the water. So we walked around there for a little bit, including walking right up into the hole between the “trunk” and “body.” There was also a Buddhist shrine (I forgot to mention the underground shrines at Fubo hill… they were pretty cool, they had live turtles and everything!). This shrine had a pool of water (where we saw the first LIVE fish), and a Buddhist statue that’s over 2000 years old. Yes. 2000. Older than Jesus. Owned. ANYWAY. After Elephant trunk, it was time to call it a day. We headed back to our hotel, trying to figure out what to do for dinner. Alex was disappointed when we got back, however, because the room’s internet wasn’t working. After calling the hotel’s head geek, he and Allison went out to get money from an ATM, and disaster struck. Alex and I have a vague memory of Viz telling us that “pins need to be four digits,” but at the time, she didn’t specify for debit cards, so we had no idea what she was talking about. Turns out, Chinese ATMs only accept pin numbers that are fewer than 6 digits. Mine is 7. Alex’s is 8. Guess what? WE CAN’T ACCESS OUR ACCOUNTS! So we can’t get money. We’ve resolved the issue by having our parents give Lianna a large amount of money that she will then give us. Or something. Hopefully.

So now it’s bedtime. Tomorrow we’re hoping for good weather as we’ll be cruising down the Li river, and we’re hoping to access money. For now, Wanan!