Guilin

April 1
Shanghai to Guilin

After an early start from the hotel we made a stop at an embroidery "museum" which had not only a women doing intricate satin embroidery but also many rooms full of framed embroidery works -- old and new. (The pictures are in the Shanghai section -- confusion reigns.)  The old ones were often fragments of garments, often the back panel of a man's top, sometimes the sleeves or cuffs. All were covered with exquisite, intricate embroidery. Guess what! We could have purchased them! Well, we did not. There was also some lovely old furniture for sale -- we did not purchase any of that either. Then we sat down to yet another vast Chinese meal -- and then on to the airport for our flight to Guilin. Two o'clock flight; two hour flight -- we checked into the Shangri La in time for another big buffet meal -- we certainly aren't going to go home hungry. The Shangri La is another 4-star, lovely hotel. Our accommodations have been first rate. Now that we are back on the mainland we are very aware of the smoking that is prevalent in China -- dining rooms, shops, parks, streets -- everywhere but in the old pagodas made of wood.

April 2
Guilin

After buffet breakfast at the hotel we hot an early start for the bus ride to the dock, where we boarded a tourist boat -- upper deck seating six on benches either side of a table with checked plastic cover. Also full of smoking Chinese! And a few kids who were not smoking. There were 31 of us and another 60 or so people. We saw at least 8 boats of this size starting out down the Li River for our 4 hour cruise. In the first boat was the grandson of Chang Kai-Shek who had come to Guilin to pay homage to his ancestors. We never saw the dignitary but the River was heavily patrolled by police of some sort and a full-scale escort entourage of about 8 vehicles with sirens and blinking lights at the front and rear accompanied him to the pier and away from it at the end of the tour.

The mountains through which we passed were very impressive, rising straight up from the plain and immediately dropping straight down, with visible layers following the loops. Unique. However our pictures won't be terribly impressive since the mist and overcast made them almost invisible.


Buffet lunch of pedestrian quality was served on board -- the people watching was pretty good, though!  Check out the dishwashers on the stern of the boat:



The people-watching on shore, on board, and on other boats was the best part. We got a few pictures of people cooking on the sterns of the river boats, of women washing teacups on the stern of our boat -- but our scenery pictures will be pretty much pale grey.

Then to the airport for the flight to Hong Kong. This flight was only an hour, but with all the bus travel and waiting around we didn't get to the hotel until 9 -- we skipped dinner and just fell into bed.