Guilin and Yangshuo

This past weekend I needed to get away from Liuzhou and have some fun...

So, Corey and I decided to go to Guilin.

Corey is a new PAC engineer. He is Chinese but has lived in the US for 12 years. Believe it or not, he studied at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale Illinois - just 10 miles from my home town. The world is so small. To come half way around the world to meet a Saluki.

Corey just started a month ago. We have both been working really hard on the new program and needed a break.

We took a bus to Guilin on Saturday morning and met Scott who I recently met at the Wooden Shoe. Scott and some of his teacher friends were planning to go to a big market in Guilin and shop for tea.

We joined them and had some lunch and did some tea tasting. We learned about the traditional tea ceremony and tried several kinds of Chinese tea. Green tea and Red tea.

Later we climbed a mountain called Diecai Shan and had really good views of Guilin. It was a really beautiful warm day and we enjoyed sitting on top of the mountain talking

At one point, Scott was really relieved to find the toilet. Can't you tell?

There was an aviary (big bird cage) and I made the mistake of buying the food to feed the birds. They attacked me and even sat on my head. :)

The beautiful red and gold bird is a Golden Pheasant. It is a really beautiful and brilliantly colored bird.

Corey made friends with the male peacock who was showing off for the girl peacocks.

Then we were hungry so we all went to a Korean restaurant where you cook all kinds of meat on a grill in the middle of your table. Scott doesn't eat much meat, so he was in heaven!

After that we had a really nice tour of Guilin by night. The Sun and Moon Pagodas are sitting in a lake. They are really beautiful at night. The Moon pagoda is made of wood and has 7 levels. The Sun pagoda is the tallest structure made from copper. To get to it you have to walk through a tunnel under the lake. It is 9 stories high plus one under the water. It is really beautiful.

We walked around the city and another lake at night, but Corey and I were really tired.

Scott let us sleep at his house. He has a really cool apartment in the countryside. It is much bigger than mine and he only pays 600 RMB per month which is about $75. What a bargain! But then again, he is a teacher and doesn't make so much money. But he really has his priorities straight. He has found his home for life in China and never wants to go back to America. I had a great time in Guilin.

The next day we took a boat to Yangshuo down the scenic Li Jiang (Li River)... Stay tuned...