Guilin
We left Xian early in the morning to fly South to the green hills of, Guilin.where ethereal landscapes have been immortalized by poets and painters through the ages. In the afternoon we toured the city sights and the immense Reed Flute Cave filled with impressive grottos, pillars and inscriptions over 1,000 years old. We are staying at another Sheraton hotel here. Sheraton really has a foothold in China.
|
|
Here is Sue in the Reed Flute Cave. It is a huge cave, and in this area Bill Gates of Microsoft fame and fortune hosted a formal sit down dinner, catered of course, for his Chinese hosts. Wouldn't you have liked to have been there? I would!! |
| Here are Kate, Joe, Fran and Cheng sitting for a demonstration on different types of jade. Factory tours were a "must stop" in just about every city. We saw them all...silk, cloisonne, rug, pearl, jade and others I just can't think of right now. |
|
Life on the Li River. It's real name is Lijhang River,
but everyone calls it the Li River.
It's a busy river with families living on it and besides it
all earning their living from the river and enjoying their beautiful surroundings.
|
|
You see large boats like the one above, and much smaller boats like these. These are probably not boats that anyone lives on. |
| There is a house set back from the river, and the majestic mountains right behind it. |
|
|
|
During our lunch, which was prepared for us as a box lunch from the Sheraton Hotel, thank goodness, one of the stewards came around to offer us a delicacy. Snake wine!! Can you see them in the bottom of the jar he is holding? I had heard from people who had been on this cruise before that the food and the squat toilets found on the ship were to be avoided if possible. Thanks to the Sheraton, and our delicious box lunch we were able to avoid the food and wine, and by judiciously watching what we drank we didn't have to use the squat toilet. |
| And here is this year's Chinese New Years stamp, and what else..... "The Year of the Snake". |
|
|
|
As we left the boat this man was waiting with two birds. They are called Comorants. They help the farmers with their fishing, because they are fixed so that they cannot swallow the fish they catch for the farmer. |
The next morning we had a short flight to Guangzhou, the famous old seaport of Canton. Later that afternoon we boarded a hydrofoil and sailed from the Pearl River Delta to nearby Hong Kong. Now rejoined with China, this former British colony remains as vibrant and forward-looking as ever.
They did not permit photographs as we were waiting to board the Hydrofoil, but I don't think any of us will forget the sign which said,
"Please do not make the Hubbub"
Click to return to first page.
