Catherine gets the call from the tour guide at 6.30, apparently we are being picked up at 7.30 at a hotel just round the corner from our hostel. Let's go!! I packed my bag the night before so I have all my stuff ready to go. When we get on the bus we take a seat, the bus is not full so we are going to pick up some more people from their hotels. Once everyone is on board the tour guide starts talking, and talking, and talking. Honestly I think she spoke for 30mins with no break. Just constant talking, all over the speaker. So loud, too early in the morning for me. It is not long before Catherine tells me that we will be stopping at a diamond shop shortly, for 30mins. Ohhhhh right, the good old Chinese tour. Well I won't be going in, I can tell you that. When we arrive there are at least 50 tour buses here, in the car park, all over the road, everywhere. I can't believe it, when the bus stops the Chinese are off the bus in a shot, running to the shop, leaving only Catherine and myself on the bus. They are all loving it, when they come back most of them have bought something, and many of them have bought a couple of things. I didn't think that anyone liked these shop stops, but now I can see that they love it, that'll be why they are so common.
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We move on from the diamond shop and again the tour guide starts babbling on about I don't know what. We get to the dock about 15mins later and get our tickets, the boat has a couple of levels on it and we are allocated a seat on the ground level. Not a window seat, but you can go up to the standing area on the top deck whenever you want so it's not too bad. Off we go, and it's not long before there is another bloke on a microphone shouting all over the boat. He is selling the opportunity to get your photo taken with a professional camera, 8 shots along the cruise for ¥100, as usual the Chinese are all over it, handing out the money like it was sweets. I head upstairs to see the view and it is inspiring. I have seen nothing quite like it, the weather is not great, I don't have blue skies, but the haze adds to the mysterious nature of the scene. Mountains extend high in to the sky, and off in to the distance until they disappear in to the haze. It is not long before the rest of the boat is up here on the deck with me. Pushing, shoving and basically getting up in your face. I find that when I get a good spot that I don't move, that way I am able to get some good photos. The photographers quickly follow the mob and then the shouting begins again. They occupy the back of the boat and start calling people forward to take their photo. It is a conveyor belt of people, one after another, while the photographer positions them and takes one photo, then calls the next people. Very loud, and very frantic. This continues for the duration of the cruise. At various points another member of the crew comes up to tell people about the mountains, and how some look like horses, and some like fish or whatever. I'm just enjoying the scenery. A particular highlight for me is the point in the river that is on the ¥20 note, and is the most painted scene in Chinese art. We are on the cruise for about 4.5 hours, so it was quite long. The ticket price also included lunch, which was better than expected. At the end of the cruise we stop at Yangshuo, which is right amongst the mountains. This place is tourist city, with most of the boats stopping here it really is no surprise what it has become. When you get off the boat, we had to walk for 20mins through a covered walkway of shops and so many people. I actually thought that it was never going to end. When we get to the end we are to get the bus, but someone on the street offers us a cheaper price. I was lead to believe that the distance was great, it wasn't, you could have walked it. Though the tour guide said she would not wait for anyone who did not get the bus. Typical. So when we get back on the bus we are going to be stopping at a number of sights on the way back to Guilin. We stop at a temple, a big tree and another cave, Not as impressive as yesterdays cave, but still good none the less. At on point in the cave they had a gift shop in the middle of the cave, where you had to follow a snaking path through the stalls, it was so loud and unnecessary. Unbelievable. The traffic is pretty bad and I think by the time we get back to the hostel it is about 9.30, a long day. Sleep time.