As much as we enjoyed Xi'an we were ready to move on to our next stop: Guilin. Not only because of the promise of beautiful landscapes but also to join back up with our travel group. While it's nice at times to be on what is effectively a private tour, we miss the opportunity to get to know the other families in our group better. They are all super nice people.
We headed out from our hotel at 8am for the one-hour drive to Xi'an Airport, where everything went smoothly for our flight. We arrived in just over 2 hours - at about 1pm. Coincidentally, the rest of our group arrived from Chengdu arrived just a few minutes before us and we bumped into them in baggage claim.
We were by our guide in Guilin, Cherry Yan. She is very sweet and seems knowledgeable about the area. A forty minute bus ride later (we are now back on a BIG bus) we arrived at the Bravo Hotel - which is nicer than it sounds. The further you get from major cities, the more idiosyncrasies you run into, but nothing major.
The landscape in Guilin is absolutely breathtaking. The mountains here are what you probably envision when you think of a classic Chinese landscape. Here's a not very professional shot out of the bus window.
A very pleasant surprise at the hotel was the combination of a beautiful outdoor pool, coupled with a few hours of free time. Most of the families convened at the pool - for the girls to swim and for the adults to toss back a beer or margarita. This, for most of us, was the first time this trip felt like a true vacation. Don't get me wrong - it's the trip of a lifetime, but there is little to no relaxation - or sunshine. So here was my enormously appreciated vista this afternoon:
We just finished a delicious and really fun dinner with all the families, most of whom will be going on an excursion tonight involving a boat and fishing - I'm not 100% clear on the details. Tony and the girls will be joining in but I'm going to make it an early night. I finally bumped into something last night that did not agree with me and that, plus a rough round of serious snoring by my husband led to not much sleep at all. Plus, we have to be up and moving early - checked out and on the bus by 8am for our Li River Cruise. I'm hoping the weather holds as I've really been looking forward to this.
Time for some Zzzzssss,,,,
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