Happy Halloween!
Unfortunately I can't celebrate because I'm in a hotel right now and not a hostel. A hostel would be partying right now but the one I wanted to stay at in yongding was full. More on that next post, right now I need to catch up.
I arrived in Guilin and checked into GreenForest hostel where it was next to the water and a little further down the block you could see the karst hills. Except its really hazy these days. While in Guilin I met a Chinese guy also staying at my hostel. He doesn't speak any English so as I was explaining Halloween to him it was through drawings and his translator on his phone. We really hit it off because he took me out for dinner and showed me around Guilin.
Mandatory to eat when you are in Guilin is the rice noodles, beer fish and bamboo rice. Everything tasted great in Guilin! I've also gotten to see the reed flute cave and seven star park (where I saw monkeys!). The cave is one of those must see things but to me it was just a big cave with pretty lights. They also keep old turtles there for a stupid photo op... But actually they cave itself is a great natural wonder, I just wish it was less developed for tourism. They showed us movie projections and the floor was all bricks not cave. Oh well, I got to taste tea after just like my fake cormorant fishing show in Dali! Tea makes everything better.
After Guilin and I guess going on mini dates with XianXiang I took a motorized raft tour (too expensive 190¥) down the Li River. It was beautiful but too cloudy for nice photos. After that we arrived in Yangshuo where I got to visit a village to take a real bamboo raft, and see a water buffalo and some local scenery. I really liked Yangshuo! After that XianXiang met up with me at Wada Hostel (best hostel in the area!) And we went out for dinner where I met my Israeli friends.
Running into people you've traveled briefly with at a whole other random location is really cool and so nice feeling. Its like seeing long lost friends even though I haven't really known them that long.
After supper we had a romantic walk around the town and it was really nice! I didn't know for sure but we pretty much became an item for the week. I haven't held hands with anyone in a long time! It was cute. The next morning (my last morning with him) he got me breakfast and rented bikes for us to bike around the river and karst hills. That's grade A right there!
I had a really good time in Guilin and it was mostly thanks to XianXiang and the beautiful scenery!
