Day 17
Our final day in Guilin was spent first visiting the famous Reed Flute Caves, so named because they used to make flutes from the reeds that grew outside the caves. The caves are huge and very impressive.

We also visited another cave where there were some Buddhist carvings. We then went and visited an art gallery and our final stop for the day was the local hospital to visit the chinese medicine clinic where we all had foot reflexology massage which was a very pleasant end to a long day of walking.
Our flight to Hong Kong wasn’t till about 7pm.

Day 18
This morning we visited the Peak catching the Peak Tram and then going up to the top of the new building which has the most sensational views of Hong Kong.
Then we went to Repulse Bay and walked about at the beach there. All the times we have been to Hong Kong we have only ever passed by Repulse Bay but never stopped there.
We spent the remainder of the day walking around HK and we visited the bird park. This evening we drove out to Aberdeen and caught a short ferry ride out to a floating restaurant called Jumbo which is quite famous and has been there since the mid 1970’s.

Our tour has officially ended but we are staying on in HK one more night before flying home. This is the final blog for this trip.

The painted hill of Nine Horses.

A girl from the the local minority group, the Maio people.

Day 16
Guilin is the highlight of our trip. It is stunningly beautiful here. Today we went on a 4 ½ boat trip up the Lijian River which originates from Cat Mountain in the north. We travelled 83 kilometres from Guilin to Yangshuo. It was even better than the 3 gorges. The local people call the river a jade ribbon winding among the peaks. From the river we can see the towering peaks, jaggered cliffs, odd shaped crags often reflected in the deep jade green river.
Along the banks of the river we watched buffalo grazing and wallowing in the shallows. Fishermen were abundant all along the river, standing on a raft of bamboo poles lashed together, the water lapping over the top. Some had the trained cormorants and a basket with fish. There were small boats and large boats sailing up and down the river. Some of the larger bamboo rafts had bamboo chairs on them and were carrying passengers to and fro. Other boats were peoples homes, cooking utensils hung up at the back with huge woks and a line strung across with washing hanging out to dry. The larger boats were carrying tourists like us up and down the river to marvel at the scenery.
Our boat had a kitchen at the back where they prepared an excellent buffet lunch in a very small space.
All of the peaks have names, the first which we can see from our hotel room is Elephant Trunk Hill, then The Charming Hill, Yearning for Husband Rock, Beauty of Crown Cave and the most famous the painted hill of nine horses. If you use your imagination you can see nine horses. It was all absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.
Our cruise ended in the village of Yangshuo. We walked through the town and it’s market and saw some of the Maio people, a minority group who wear very decentive clothing. Very much like the hill tribe people in Sapa, Vietnam which is not far from here.The mountain and cliff peaks that surround Guilin remind us very much of Halong Bay, without the ocean but a river instead

The highlight of the boat trip was the fishermen. At night they sail out onto the lake on a bamboo raft. They have two or three trained cormorants whose necks have a ring around them to prevent them swallowing the fish and they catch the fish for the fisherman and bring the fish to him. They are well trained and respond to his voice commands and whistles, diving into the water and bringing up a large fish and presenting it to the fisherman and repeating the process again and again.

We went to the moat for a boat trip around the moat and up through the canals. The boats sails along gently without any noise. The sides of the banks are floodlit with coloured lights. There are many bridges to go under and each one is covered in chinese drawings and/or calligraphy on the inside. The bridges resemble the Golden Gate bridge and the Arc de Triomphe etc. There are several fountains in the middle of the lake. We passed a few stages where they were performing some chinese operas. We were grateful that we only had to listen to that for a few minutes but large chinese audiences sat enthralled listening to them.
It’s a bit Disneyland like, but quite pleasant.

In the evening, on our way out of the hotel we saw a bride and groom standing out front of the hotel. The custom is that as each guest arrives for the wedding banquet the bride will offer every man a cigarette and light it for him and offer every lady a sweet. A man stands beside her with a tray with cigarettes and sweets. It’s quite bizarre.
Another bizarre wedding custom was told to us by our guide in Yichang were we boarded our boat for the 3 gorges. When a girl is getting married there she must cry on her wedding day. So for weeks and weeks before her wedding she is coached in crying and spends several hours every day crying. The crying signifies how much she loves her parents, the more she cries, the harder she cries, the longer she cries means the more she loves her parents. If she does not cry enough or sincerely enough then the villagers will know she does not love her parents and this brings shame on her family. If she does not cry enough her parents will beat her.

Views from our 10th floor window.

Day 15
Today we left Hungzhou early in the morning for our 2 hour flight to Guilin. We arrived at Guilin and were taken to our hotel. Our first impressions were of amazement. The first thing we noticed were the rock formations around the city. These very tall pinnacles of rock covered with dark green foliage and some sheer cliff faces. The rocks remind me very much of Halong Bay and the rocks in the sea there, except these are not in the sea. Guilin sits on the Li River which winds its way right through the middle of the city. We are on the 10th floor and have a breathtaking view of the river, the rock pinnacles, a pagoda in the distance sitting atop a huge rock and slightly to the right our view is of a large lake surrounded by a pretty park and in the middle of the lake stands an enormous pagoda. Its name means forest of sweet osmanthus, owing to the large number of fragrant Sweet Osmanthus trees located in the city.

We also went to visit a tea plantation. It was a large plantation surrounded by hills with rows and rows of tea plants. The tea leaves are all picked by hand. We had a tea tasting ceremony. We sat around a table in a pagoda looking out over the hills. A lady bought us glasses and into the glass is put a pinch of fresh green tea leaves to which she added a small amount of boiling water and she raised and lowered the pot of water to aerate it. From this very small amount of tea leaves you are able to make 4 cups of green tea.

This is a photo I took last night at the performance of Impressions of Westlake.

A lady doing her washing in the canal.

Day 14
We are now in Hangzhou (hung joe) which is only a very small place with a population of a mere 5 million. We left Suzhou by coach and travelled to Hangzhou stopping at the water village of Xitang along the way.
We loved Xitang. It was a similar in a way to the previous water town but much bigger. Although it was still the holiday weekend there weren’t quite as many people about which made it better. We had a local guide who took us on a walking tour through the narrow twisting lanes that line each side of the canals. The streets on either side of the canal are tea houses. Very small and low tables and chairs sit precariously close to the edge of the canal (no fences or barriers here) where people sit and drink green tea. This is a tea plantation province so the area abounds with tea houses and shops selling teas and tea making/drinking equipment.
There were many streets of tourist shops selling trinkets but there were also a large number of very simple guesthouses with traditional chinese beds. They look like what we call day beds with a very thin mattress, about an inch thick on a solid wooden base, not my idea of a good nights sleep, that’s for sure. Many of the houses are hundreds of years old and are now museums. We went into the workshop of a man making buttons from mother of peal shells. He showed how he cuts the button from the shell, polishes it and puts two holes in the buttom. He gave me a large mother of pearl button to keep. I should imagine it is very rare to have a hand made button these days.
We also went into a house where the owner who has since died did these amazing carvings in tree roots. We also saw some silk scrolls with beautiful calligraphy work.
Our guide took us to a local restaurant for lunch and after lunch we were able to wander around the village on our own and we walked up and down the narrow cobbled streets, over bridges and we eventually came to streets without another tourist in them. It was so peaceful wandering along these streets. People were sitting outside their tiny houses. Ladies were doing some knitting. Men were playing mah-jong or cards. All of them smiled and waved at us as we passed. Big smiles when we said hello in chinese.
Along the canals we saw some performances from the local ladies, some dances with sticks, a couple of chinese operas and some men dancing with a chinese dragon.
We left Xitang and drove on to Hangzhou. Our hotel is situated right on the lake. The lake is called Westlake and is surrounded by a beautiful park.
Last night we went to a performance on Westlake called Impressions of Westlake. It was choregraphed by the man who did the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. It was an absolutely stunning show. We sat outdoors and the performance was on the lake. The story is about a man who falls in love with a girl who is really a snake and it makes the gods of the sea angry. It is a well known tragedy apparently. Last nights performance had a happy ending and the man and girl/snake ended up living happily everafter.
The performers all looked like they were walking on the lake. Obviously, the stage was just a little bit underwater. The effect was brilliant and there were boats, people walking on water and a fantastic coloured light show. Absolutely amazing.This morning we took a trip to the 13 storey high pagoda which sits high up on a hill and overlooks the lake. Inside you have to climb up seven flights of stairs. I started to climb but came back down as the steps were very steep and there was no hand rail. Colin went all the way to the top.

Colin taking some video from the bamboo canal boat.

Here we are sailing up the river with the Bund in the background.

Day 13
Today we took a coach trip to visit Zhujiajiao or water town to us and the garden and canal city of Suzhou. Our first stop was at water town which is a traditional chinese village situated all along the fourteen canals. It is known as the Venice of the East and it certainly reminds us of Venice. The sampans have no motors only a driver with a large paddle to propel and steer the boat. The boats all had rubber tyres along the sides and I soon discovered what they were for. The many sampans on the canal were bumping and crashing into each other at an alarming rate. . We passed under several lovely bridges that were very reminiscent of Venice.
After our canal boat trip we had plenty of time to explore this small village. It really is the China we came to see, very little has changed over the years. The village houses are grouped together around a common courtyard area. They have a communal kitchen and a communal washroom. At night they have chamber pots. All of the kitchen duties are done in the courtyard area so as we wandered around people were scaling fish, peeling prawns and preparing little parcels of food expertly prepared, rice and fish wrapped in banana leaves and tied up into a parcel. I stood for ages mesmerised as an elderly lady put together dozens of these parcels in no time at all.
Many of the older people are superstitious and do not like to have their photo taken, as they believe it takes their spirirt away.
After the water town we went to visit a silk factory and watched the silk producing process which was quite fascinating. We saw the workers making the thread and then weaving into fabric and how the patterns are made.
From there we went to Suzhou and we visited the humble administrators garden. Unfortunately by the time we arrived there it had begun to rain. Also, this is the May day long weekend and there were many hundreds of domestic tourists also enjoying the gardens.
The story goes that humble administrator was sent to Suzhou to find all the corrupt officials instead of which he took bribes from them all. He was then sacked and he returned very humble and very rich and built the gardens and a traditional chinese house, now replaced by another house which is about 100 years old. It is all very beautiful with lots of ponds with gold fish and huge azalea bushes and hundreds of bonsai trees.
It is about a 2 hour bus trip to and from Suzhou but being the May day weekend it took a lot longer. Not that we were bored. The antics of the drivers on the road kept us entertained and the scenery was lovely. We passed through the rural communities and saw many farms and tiny villages lining the canals. There were many bamboo boats and rafts sailing up and down the canals.

Day 12
Shanghai. Wow what a contrast to the rest of China. For the first time since day 1 in Beijing we saw blue sky and bright sunshine. 17 million people live in Shanghai. The first thing you notice is the tall skyscrapers, hundreds of them. Some of them look like space ships. All shiny glass and steel. There is a TV tower, which really does look like a space ship. It has these revolving balls a long pointy needle at the top and is a twenty room hotel within these 5 balls suspended between two bigger balls. It’s not a regular hotel, you cannot book a room there, you must be invited to stay. The president of US and the prime minister of England have stayed there. So, it’s for those kinds of people. The tower glows an array of amazing colours at night.
Our hotel has a space ship like structure at the top which is a restaurant and bar. We are located a few minutes walk from the famous Nanjing Road. Our first night here we walked down Nanjing Road which is a very wide street with shops, shops and more shops. Bright neon lights flash constantly, huge TV screens adorn the corners of buildings at intersections. The traffic is chaotic, crossing the road is a nightmare made worse by the fact it is difficult to distinguish where the footpath becomes road as the surface remains the same. Hawkers are very persistent, copy watch, copy watch, handbags and shoes is the constant cry. Street stalls sell all sorts of hot foods and the pungent aromas are a little nauseating at times.
We walked the full length of Nangjing Road coming out onto the Bund. The Bund is the historical waterfront of Shanghai. The area once housed the numerous banks and trading houses of most of the European countries Britain, France, Germany, Russia etc. These beautiful old buildings line the East side of the river and on the West side of the river are the shiny, taller, more modern buildings. I prefer the character of the old buildings. We walked along the Bund and at night and the buildings are all lit up.
Our next day after visiting the local markets and a beautiful serene Chinese garden in the middle of the city we took a ferry boat up and down the river for a different view of the Bund. Just as beautiful in the day time as at night.