TRAVEL|CHINA
Guilin and Cruise on the River Li
I had never heard of it but I’d seen pictures
We went through very tight security at Xi’an airport to board our 2-hour flight to Guilin. No slow overnight trains for us — an 11-hour journey! I managed to read without falling asleep until dinner was served — a Chinese hamburger — we had seen plenty of them on Muslim Street.
A language problem
On arrival in Guilin, we headed for the baggage carousel where my bag was the very last one off the plane. Helen, our new guide, was waiting for us and walked us brusquely to our waiting car. She started chatting on the half-hour drive into the city but sadly I could barely understand a word she said. Once again it was midnight before we managed to get to bed.
Our room overlooks the river which is very pretty at night. There’s also a German Beer Club across the road from the hotel. I was asleep the moment my head hit the pillow and slept till seven. We made it down to breakfast by eight and into our waiting car by 8.30.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to go to the toilet. I asked out guide to please tell the driver to find a toilet — urgently. He managed to find a service station with oriental toilets, but honestly, it would have been better if I’d gone in the bush.
I tried to find a bucket but Helen ushered me into the car and told me the attendant would clean it. I don’t think she realised how bad it was. There wasn’t a surface in the entire cubicle that had escaped my volcanic emissions.
Luckily, after that expulsion of liquid, I didn’t need to go again until we boarded our cruise boat — one of thirty — for our trip down the Li River.
Cruise on the River Li
This was the most stunningly beautiful trip on a river I’d ever taken. This is what I came to China for — apart from seeing my son, Rowan. Unfortunately, halfway down the river, I had to pay another visit to the loo — I waited until the western variety became vacant. On completing the task at hand, I tried to flush. Nothing!Nada! Zilch! I lifted off the cistern cover to see if I could fix it but it was completely empty of water as well as the normal workings of a cistern.
There was a button on the wall with a bell on it, so I thought I’d better call for help. And lo and behold, it was the flush button — why it had a bell on it, I don’t know.
The tourist village
We continued down the river until we reached Yangshao, a village that exists I imagine solely for tourists. We had to walk through hundreds of market stalls. I wanted a silver charm, but couldn’t really find one I loved. I did buy a tapestry of the karst area for 80 renminbi ($17), bargained down from 380. Then I saw a painting of the same scene but I couldn’t afford both! I haggled with a girl for a satin nightie but ended up walking away empty-handed. It was just too hot and humid to enjoy shopping.
In search of a hard drive
We arrived back in Guilin at four o’clock and decided to go in search of an external hard drive. We were in the middle of an electronics/ phone city so I thought we’d have no trouble at all finding one. We went to 27 (at least) shops only to be told they didn’t have one.
One intersection actually had a labyrinth of electronic shops in the subways and this is where we got lost. Our error came about when we exited the subway because there were two Apple stores on two different corners! We accidentally took the road at right angles to the road back to our hotel. After walking a couple of kilometres, we turned back as we knew it wasn’t right.
I had to buy a new pair of thongs as my feet were killing me. My thongs had lost their tread and had become so thin that they were no longer comfortable, so I ditched them. The new pair cost 15 renminbi ($3) and my feet are thanking me for them.
All we wanted when we arrived back at our hotel was a nice drink in the bar but the “bar” was actually the restaurant, and they had beer or Pepsi! We decided to skip the Chinese buffet and headed out to find something a little less Chinese to eat. The German Beer Club seemed like a good option. A nice hot knackwurst would go down a treat — but alas, it was a bar with beer only.
Pizza for dinner
We kept walking until we spotted a pizza café. We both cried “ Pizza Papa” at the same time. We sat outside and shared a beer and lime soda ( half and half). We ate pizza while watching the hundreds of scooters riding past — at least half of which had no lights on — and it was pitch black.
Back to our room where I had to download the dozens of photos I’d taken today to Facebook as my phone is completely full again! It’s the only option left to me since I couldn’t find an external hard drive. It was after midnight when I gave up.
