China Chapter 16

Well, it's evening in Guilin on our first night here. This is probably going to be a very bold statement from me, but, so far, in all of my travels, I will say that Guilin, People's Republic of China, IS my favorite place in the world. Florence, Italy will have to move to my number 2 slot.

This city is beautiful. It's sub-tropical. It's green. It's laid back. It's got spectacular scenery. The people are nice. It's clean. It's tidy. It's really something else!

As I said earlier, mom and I relaxed a bit before venturing out this evening. The guide, James, picked us up at the hotel at about 6:45 p.m. to take us to a boat launch on the 4 man-made lakes in Guilin. It was night time. Guilin is all lit up in the evening. It's got ground lights along the river banks in greens and amber, and it is extremely pretty. The sidewalks are VERY tidy, and the walk was about 8 minutes from our hotel. The Sheraton is really nice here. From James, it is the nicest hotel in Guilin.

Anyhow, James took us on a boat ride, where we saw many different bridges reminiscent of the famous bridges of the world. They are spectacularly lit up in the evening, and the weather was about 80 degrees. We also managed to see men fishing with cormorants (it was really interesting, and funny, as some of the cormorants have a mind of their own when it comes to "working").

It was really beautiful, we got to learn more from James about his city, and we were both surprised that instead of going home, he took us to the boat, went on the tour with us, made sure we got back to the hotel o.k., etc. I am extremely impressed with most of the guides we have had on our tour, especially with a lot of the nonsense that some of them have had to put up with from the others on our tour. I also find that if you show genuine interest in learning from them learning about the culture, trying new things, being open minded, and really go with the flow, these guides will surpass any expectations you will have, AND manage to go up and beyond for you. We've certainly noticed that with Annie and the Beijing Olympics store, Mrs. Xu and the Tea Ceremony, calligraphy studio visit, and food tutorial, Susan in just handling things for us, and now James, and his awesome tour this evening and interesting discussion about rural China we had today.

Honestly, I never want to be tourists like the other twosome on our journey: inconsiderate of other people's time, inconsiderate of other people's money (after all, we did pay for the itinerary we chose), rude to the tour guides, looking down on how other cultures do things that are different from those we do in the U.S., complaining about the food, complaining about the weather, complaining about the tour, blatantly disregarding others' personal space or rules, and my list could go on and on. What I do know is this: this trip has been an incredible experience, and one in which I have a better understanding of how China is. And really, it's not the scary place that, unfortunately, our media in the U.S. plays it to be. It's actually quite nice, and in fact, is fantastic. I just hope that the Chinese people that we've met on our trip don't look unfavorably upon my mom and I by being involuntarily associated with the "dynamic" duo we've been paired with on this trip, who have been nothing but prime examples of ugly Americans that the world perceives us to be.

Anyhow.....I'm off my soapbox, and I'm off to bed as it's about 10 p.m. here as I finish this. We've had a long day today, and we have another long day tomorrow.

Guilin IS the best!!