Where to begin? After a surprisingly good night's sleep - in bed by 7 - awake for a 'midnight feast' at 10 then sleeping through (occasionally waking up to turn over and prevent complete numbness of body) Eric woke us at 6am as we drew into a very wet Guilin.
After making our way through the station we hopped on a bus to head for Yangshuo. Most took the opportunity to take in the scenery (or catch up on sleep if we're being honest) while the others watched the driving through parted fingers. After a while we came upon the breathtaking limestone karsts, huge 'bruises' of rock which appeared out of nowhere like lumps on a cartoon character's face!
Upon arrival in Yangshuo we were delighted to be met by a hotel with the traveller's favourite luxury - Western toilets! The Hotel Explorer is just off the town's tourist-aimed West Street, lined with restaurants and shops all aiming to persuade you to part with your hard-earned. Some wisely took advantage of the cheap Gore-Tex coats to protect from yet more rain, but the change in humidity was a welcome break!
In the afternoon we headed for the River Li in another bus and spent a couple of hours' boat ride admiring the spectacular scenery.
After an equally adventurous bus ride back we were deposited on West Street where we agreed to go our own ways and then re-convene in the hotel's bar later than evening.
We headed for the vegetarian restaurant 'Pure Lotus' with three others from the group for another sumptuous bargain banquet of chilli broccoli, shredded fried vegetables, caramelised taro, fried pumpkin in sesame and sweet and sour aubergine.
We then met up with most of the rest of the gang in the hotel bar for a bit more food and drink before retiring early in preparation for a reasonably early start tomorrow for the bike ride. Thus far Yangshuo reminds us of Banff in that it's quite small but lively and friendly.
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