We were pretty lucky with our train as it turned up in Guilin a few hours early! Sounds strange that they can be so wrong about the time of arrival, but apparently the tracks are constantly being improved and it depends on how many times you have to pull in for passing trains etc. Guilin is another pretty big city, so looked pretty similar to all the others, but luckily we weren't staying here! We took a bus to a smaller town called Yangshuo where we stayed at a hotel called Fawlty Towers and guess what? The host was called Manwell!! I'm pretty sure we could money on the fact that he wasn't born with that name though! Yangshuo is far greener than anywhere we'd been so far, although we weren't in the countryside yet and the place was still buzzing with the streets packed with restaurants and bars, most of which trying to tempt you with Western food. This seemed pretty strange, as you'd think if anywhere in China was going to serve Western food it would be the big cities, although I guess the Guangxi area is for more holiday makers. After being here for about ten minutes there was a huge sense of calmness that came over us, from the more chilled atmosphere. The first evening James and I had a meal at a quaint little restaurant on one the corner of the main street and one of the little side streets. I had a fab beef and chilli fried rice dish and James treated himself to a pizza (his tum hasn't been the best, so he didn't want to chance more Chinese food - although I'm sure the temptation of pizza would have proven too much even if his tummy was fine!). Afterwards we joined the rest of the group at a place called Bar 98, where we had a few drinks and played pool for the remainder of the night.

We had two nights at Fawlty Towers and whilst we were in the town we kept pretty busy . . . . one morning we took a Tai-Chi lesson, which was a great start to the day even if it was pretty hard to grasp. Something that maybe we'll take up at home, as it's great to get you going. We also spent an afternoon kayaking down the Yu Long (Dragon) river - this was spectacular and a great bit of exercise for us. The views of the Gui hills was a really something else, it was just a shame we didn't have the camera, but there's no way I was risking dropping ours into the water and losing everything we had on it! Some of the others got a couple of photos of us though so we'll be able to get copies for one of the many albums we'll be sorting out when we get home! The last day we were here we took a Calligraphy lesson with some of the others in our group. James was awesome at it and I think he may have found a new career - and he says he's not arty!! This takes some work, as their calligraphy is all about the movement of the brush when you're writing and it was not as easy as it looked! We've got our artwork to bring home to impress you all too - I bet you're so excited!! The rest of our two days was spent walking around the shops and markets to do a little shopping and having some great fun bargaining with the vendors! The prices you bargain down from are stupidly cheap anyway, but apparently overpriced so you have to try and get an even better price, which is pretty fun and we got quite good at it!

The last day here we picked up mountain bikes and cycled to a small village called Chaolong which was really out in the sticks and the weight on our shoulders from the earlier tension of staying in the mad cities was further lifted and I even think I let out a sigh of relief when we arrived - actually maybe that was me getting my breath back after the bike ride ;-) The only downfall was we still had squat toilets and not only are they annoying to use (especially for ladies), but when you've got one in your room, the odour isn't so great!! However, we didn't spend much time in our room as it was so lovely outside, being surrounded by greenery! We sat outside for dinner and then stayed there for a good few hours chatting over a beer or two, with the stars and full moon above us - proper relaxation!! Oh apart from the bloody mozzies, which are back with the heat!

The next morning we had an early start as we had a local guide taking us on a 15km bike ride. This was proper off roading - through rice paddies, over fields, along muddy and rocky paths, as well as swerving buffalos, cows and dogs on many occassions - great fun, but a little hard on the botty with no suspension!! We had a stop at Moon Hill (which is a popular sight of a bridge shaped hill) and climbed the 880 steps to get to the top (just what you need after all that biking!). Actually we are appreciating the exercise as it's all good to keep us fit! Afterwards we went to a local farm where they fed us a banquet lunch, which was just what we needed for an energy top up and very tasty too. A proper Chinese experience having dinner in a dark barn and one I'd imagine not many visitors get to have. We had to take the bikes back to the rental place in Yangshuo and once we had James and I took a bus back to Chaolong with Kaiden, David and Brett and then walked to a nearby river (guided by the guesthouse resident dogs) where James, Kaiden and Brett took a swim whilst David and I took some photos of the scenery and a lonely buffalo in the field beside us.

On the 19th we left Chaolong and dropped our main backpacks at a hold at the train station in Guilin for a few days and then got back on the bus for a further few hours to get to Longji (home of the rice terraces). Our guesthouse here was a 50 minute up hill hike from where the bus dropped us, so we were well ready to relax after tackling this as it was ALOT harder than it sounds! This place was paradise though - literally in the middle of nothing but rice paddies, so all we did was play games of cards, dice, watch the local kids play badminton and then eat - perfect! An easy evening was just what we needed as the following morning we had breakfast and then set off on a 4 and a half hour treck to the next village we were staying in (Pingan). This was a tough walk, with four huge hills and seventeen not so large ones (so the guide told us, I certainly wasn't counting!). The weather for the first part was perfect - not too warm, dry and not too misty, so some great photo opportunities. However once we got to the halfway point the thunder started and down came the rain - we got absolutely soaked!! Luckily this only lasted about 30 minutes, but it was enough to make the walk even more difficult, with slippery rocks and wet mud everywhere. There were four tumbles all together in our group, but luckily nothing so bad that we had to carry anyone!! On the way there were lots of local ladies and at one point we had the opportunity to pay them to take down their long hair, which is down to their ankles!!

That evening we just stayed at the guesthouse and were entertained by some more local ladies performing a cultural show for us. This involved a little more audience participation than we would have usually been comfortable with but hey you've got to go with the flow in these situations and James was the first up skipping over sticks of bamboo with one of the locals and we both got roped into a show of YMCA with two of the Americans in our group, which was tragic!!

Today we had our first lay in, which was nice as we had a bit of a late night playing a drinking game with the group, and after a leisurely breakfast and lunch we walked down the hills, through some little market stalls to get to our bus which brough us back to Guiln, which is where we are right now and once again waiting for an overnight train. This time, however, we are leaving China for good and going to Hong Kong!

It has gone so quickly and it seems strange that we'll be leaving our group and joining another in a week. China has been a fantastic experience and we'd recommend it to anyone, especially taking an intrepid trip as it takes the pressure of the language barriers away and it's a great opportunity to meet some new people.

Next Stop Hong Kong . . . . . .