Guilin

Li River

We made it into Guilin around 11pm last night, arrived at the hotel around 11:30 and were in bed by midnight. We only stayed the night in Guilin and a driver came and picked us up today around 11am to take us to Yangshou (about an hour away).
The drive to Yangshou and Yangshou itself is more of what people think of when they think of China. It is very rural in areas and there are all these incredible mountains surrounding the area.
We got to the hotel and checked in and went to grab a bite to eat. The meal was excellent as usual and after we were done we did a river boat tour of the Li River. The Li River is very scenic but the tour itself wasn't the best.

Annemarie, Bridie and Harold (in back) enjoying the ride

Water buffalo

It was pretty crowded with tourists and the boats were very noisy. They tried to make the boats look like traditional bamboo rafts but they were made out of bamboo-looking PVC and had lawnmower engines on the back. The tour was about 3 hours and we were pretty ready to get off the river by then.
Of course, after we were finished it was time to eat! Actually, Annemarie and I went for a run around the city park to get some exercise since we've been sitting on our butts for the last week or so. After the run, it was time to eat and we went into the little Hamlet-like portion of Yangshuo. The place is filled with curio shops and restaurants. The funny thing is that all of the restaurants have basically the same menu. After walking around for a bit, we decided on a restaurant called "The Here", mainly b/c of the sign for $10 Mojitos (approx $1.40 US). The mojitos were good - the food was passible. Of course, we did go out on a limb. Bernard ordered spaguetti, Am had chicken curry, Bridget ordered pasta salad and a baked potato and Harold went really brave and ordered pizza. Well, the curry was pretty good, so I guess 3 out of 4 isn't bad. The baked potato Bridget ordered was very interesting.

Baked potato?!

Good thing she didn't order it with sour cream!
After dinner, we decided to call it a night. Gotta rest up for another full day of sightseeing....