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| Ms Waterman (teacher) |
After an early breakfast, Elaine, our tour guide, met us at the hotel. Together, we drove 45 minutes out of Guilin to board a 3-level river boat for a cruise down the Li River.
On the boat, we sat inside for the first few minutes of the trip until Elaine led us outside to see the scenery. She told us that the mountains along the Li River were formed by wind and water over 10 million years ago after the tectonic plates in this area shifted. Even though the day was cloudy (with occasional light rain), the views were absolutely incredible. The mountains passed along both sides of the river and filled our views ahead and behind of the boat, looming up through the mist and the clouds. To see them emerge slowly in the distance was truly beautiful. Kelby commented that she had never seen natural beauty on such a massive scale. Like the Grand Canyon, the gorgeous views just kept coming and it seemed impossible to take a bad photo. We took photos of everything, including Goat Mountain (with two peaks that look like the horns of a goat) and Nine Horses Mountain (an immense flat rock face where, if you look closely enough, you can see the shapes of nine horses - 7 white and 2 black). As Elaine said, you have to use your imagination to see them!
During our cruise, we ate two new fruits- a pomelo and kumquats. Pomelos are a little bigger than grapefruits and you eat them in slices like oranges. They are sweet and full of big seeds. Kumquats were fun to eat because you can eat the outside peel! Liz thought they were too sweet, though Kelby loved them. The four year-old girl sitting at our table also loved them and Iona and Kelby played the card game “war” with her while practicing numbers in English (the little girl) and Mandarin (me and Kelby).
Our 5-hour cruise ended in YangShuo. This is Elaine’s hometown, so she was excited to show us around. After walking through the busy market streets, we checked into our hotel and rested a bit before dinner. This mid-afternoon rest (a Chinese siesta?!) is becoming a great routine! Dinner was at Elaine’s favorite restaurant, Cloud 9 Restaurant. We are broccoli, eggplant, crispy duck, and beer fish, a local fish that had been recommended to the girls by many different people. Everything was delicious!
Our next few days are also in YangShuo and we are on our own to decide what to do. The girls have a few ideas, so I’m looking forward to see what they plan!
During our cruise, we ate two new fruits- a pomelo and kumquats. Pomelos are a little bigger than grapefruits and you eat them in slices like oranges. They are sweet and full of big seeds. Kumquats were fun to eat because you can eat the outside peel! Liz thought they were too sweet, though Kelby loved them. The four year-old girl sitting at our table also loved them and Iona and Kelby played the card game “war” with her while practicing numbers in English (the little girl) and Mandarin (me and Kelby).
Our 5-hour cruise ended in YangShuo. This is Elaine’s hometown, so she was excited to show us around. After walking through the busy market streets, we checked into our hotel and rested a bit before dinner. This mid-afternoon rest (a Chinese siesta?!) is becoming a great routine! Dinner was at Elaine’s favorite restaurant, Cloud 9 Restaurant. We are broccoli, eggplant, crispy duck, and beer fish, a local fish that had been recommended to the girls by many different people. Everything was delicious!
Our next few days are also in YangShuo and we are on our own to decide what to do. The girls have a few ideas, so I’m looking forward to see what they plan!
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