Guilin

We arrived in Guilin in the evening, despite any airport troubles this time, and jumped on a bus to our hotel. I was a little unsure about Guilin when riding to the hotel, because the area surrounding the airport seemed really rundown. However, as we got closer to the water and to the hotel district, the city became beautiful.

By the time we checked into our rooms, we were all starving. Molly, Jon, Aaron, Richie, Jay, and I decided to walk around near our hotel in search of food. We found a really cool pedestrian area about a block away, filled with outdoor cafes, bars, nightclubs, and fast food. We ended up eating at an outdoor café, which was really delicious and really inexpensive. I ate fried Guilin noodles, a specialty of the area.

After dinner, we were so tired from traveling, that we all went back to the hotel and crashed, despite the relatively lively nightlife scene. We were so tired in fact that we slept in the next morning and slept right through breakfast. It was a much desired and needed rest to recharge for the second half of our trip!

Before leaving Guilin on our bus to Long Sheng, we had a huge meal, perhaps one of the biggest on the trip so far. Joyce Li and Hong Li told us it was because there was no food on the mountain where we were going. Little did we know they weren’t kidding. Sarcasm is not actually understood at all in China.

At the lunch table, Joyce read all of our palms, which ironically she says is not a Chinese thing, but most Chinese people know how to do and are superstitious about anyway. Believe or not, I received the best reading out of most of my friends. I have an incredibly long life line with no complications, leading Joyce to believe I ill die peacefully of old age. I also have an incredibly long wisdom line that intersects with a stable career line, meaning that I will have a good, high status, and challenging career. Joyce also told me I have one of the most complicated love lines she has ever seen, but according to my palm, I will eventually get married and have two children. It was all very interesting.

After lunch, Joyce and Hong Li took us to a super market nearby, really forcing us to believe that there was going to be no food on the mountain and encouraging us to buy snacks to bring with us. After stocking up on a variety of goodies we were back on the bus and off to Long Sheng after our brief stop in Guilin!