As the driver dropped us off at the Shanghai domestic airport (sort of what National (Reagan) Airport is to Washington) we realized that it wasn't Kansas anymore and we had to get tickets in an environment of non-english speakers. First, we tried the Kiosks to see if we could quickly print our boarding passes. Even with the assist of an agent, this did not work and we headed for one of the long ticket counter lines. After a long wait, we finally made to the counter. The agent acted like something was wrong and called for a supervisor. Finally we got our boarding passes and went through security to the gate. They were already boarding so we got on and lo and behold we were in First Class! I still do not know why.
The flight to Guilin on China Eastern was very good with a small meal served. The quality of the Chinese carriers are comparable to any US commercial airline. We were greeted by our tour conductor as we left the arrival hall and were on our way.
After checking into our hotel we got our free lunch in the hotel restaurant. It was a variety of chinese dishs which were all very good. Our chopstick dexterity is still sub par but improving. In the afternoon we went to Elephant Trunk Hill which was a park by the Li River. Nothing special but very relaxing. Following that we went to the Reed Flute Caves which were comparable to many caves visited in the US. The Guilin area is honeycombed with caves many which are discovered by hikers and rock climbers in the area.
The next day we boarded a sightseeing boat that takes you from Guilin to Yangshou. The weather was great and we spent most of the trip on the top deck looking down at the crystal clear water and watching water buffaloes roam by the side of the river. Small boats pulled up periodically to drop off fresh fish. The fishermen in many areas fish with birds. They usually have a number of Comerons which are good size birds that are tethered to the fisherman. They are outfitted with bands around their necks to allow them to swallow small fish but bigger fish they cannot swallow. So they bring the bigger fish to the fisherman. The landscape is mountainous and every turn is very beautiful. Lunch on the boat was buffet style and very good.
We arrived at Yangshou about 5 hours later and headed for our hotel. There was a open market in Yangshou where you could buy all kinds of food treats and merchandise. After recovering from the cruise we went to downtown Yangshou for dinner and to check out the market. Believe it or not we had a great dinner at a German restaurant. The markets are just full of great bargains if you looking for scarves or shoes or trinkets. If you want a Montblanc pen or a Rolex you can also get them here.
The next morning we packed up and our tour conductor picked us up for our trip to the airport for our flight to Xian. It was a interesting trip with stops for our driver who had "loose bowel" and the frequent stops to add water to the radiator that was leaking. I noticed that the driver carried his own toilet paper (another ancient Chinese secret, always carry some toilet paper) They did get us to the airport and we did get out on time.
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