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Hey everyone
We have just arrived very late into Guilin after missing two pre booked trains and frantically getting a five hour bus to Changsha, and then 14 hours in a 3rd Class train cabin with 60 other people all crammed in. We have now seen the best and worst of Chinese transport. Luke and I had two top bunks, there were two below us and we couldn't even roll over. Oh well it was an experience and only cost 13 pounds each.
We were woken up in Guilin at 7pm by the first of many tropical thunderstorms. It was incredibly loud and scary and the giant hail and lighting set off loads of car alarms. Luckily storms only last a few hours here. We had been told to visit a little village outside of Guilin called Xing Ping so we headed off there. The village is so pretty and looks over the Li river, and on either side of the river there were big rock outcrops called Karst peaks. The next day we took a bamboo ride down the river steered by a friendly Chinese man who pointed out all the best views. It was absolutely stunning as all the rock took different forms , and we weaved our way down river for an hour. Words cannot do it justice, we will show pictures when back. We were dropped off in another village and hiked back along the river to Xing Ping. It was really cool to walk trough the Villages and see how the other half of people in China live. People were carving items to sell and working in the orange and rice fields. A woman wanted to sell me a puppy for a fiver but Luke said no. It was a wonderful day, My eyes couldn't take in all the sights.
The next few days were full of riding bicycles around Xing Ping, eating pizza made in the hostels own pizza oven and eating fresh oranges. On our bike ride we stopped by some discarded oranges that weren't suitable for shops and had a little feast. We weren't sure if it was because it was so hot and humid or because we were so thirsty and the oranges were free that they tasted so good. They were incredibly juicy and fresh and delicious.
It was so nice to see rural China after lots of towns, and the villagers once you got to know them were very friendly. Off to Hong Kong next where it shouldn't be so hot.
Lots of love to you all x x x x
- comments
Rachel Xing Ping! Awesome :D Sounds fantastic :)