Guilin and Yangshou

Hi Everyone! Here's a quick update of July 1st in China! I'll do my best to not leave anything out .

On July 1st, we woke up in Guilin, one of China's more southern towns and the proud and joy of the Chinese people. Canada Day was off to a bit of a rocky start for us four; Justine's luggage didn't make it on the flight the night before (leaving her with only the clothes on her back and with no Canada Day t-shirt!) and Gill realized her debit card was left in a Beijing ATM (whoops).

So three of us got decked out in our Canada t's, loaded our bags onto our backs (oh! should mention here that our bags were weighed at the airport: Gill came in at 9 kg, Justine at 10 kg and Cat and Lisa at 12 kg each!) and headed to catch the next bus to Yangshou. While we liked Guilin (the little we saw of it), we'd heard that Yangshou is basically the same thing but catered more to people our age. So off we went!

When we arrived in Yuangshou (called Y from this point forward), we were not dissapointed! Absolutely beautiful green, rounded ("sugar tip") mountains everywhere, with a cute little village tucked right in the middle. Heisz's: the landscape and weather were both just like St. Lucia. Here's a shot:

Very lovely! What was equally lovely was the wonderful hospitality we experienced at the West Lily, our hostel. The owners were incredibly sweet and full of advice and even walked over to meet us as we got off the bus (we also discovered the next morning that they make a MEAN pancake). On the advice of our Hostel owners, Lily and Stephen (who resembles Stewie from Family Guy almost exactly), we took a raft cruise on the Li river for the afternoon, enjoying the relaxing pace. The cruise is rather famous (featured on the 10 Yuan Bill). We did get trapped in a bit of a downpour, but happily locals were ready with poncho's for sale and the rain lasted only 10 minutes.

We then spent the evening at the city's light show. The light show is also especially famous as it was designed by the same man who designed the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Olympic Games. It's stage is a bay on the Li river, amidst the mountains. While we enjoyed the action, we were caught off guard by the "theatre culture" of the Chinese people. During the show just about everyone carried on a conversation at a regular volume, answered their cell phones, left early and nobody clapped either through the show or at the end (other than us and maybe 10 other Westerners). Here's an image from the show:

After a long day of travel, we were anxious to jump in bed and rest up for a great July 2nd, which was sure to be exciting!