Guilin Adventures

So it turns out our little 3 hour nap yesterday was not a good idea. We both woke up at 5 am this morning. So we made the best of it and went for a walk beside the river.

After some xifan (rice porridge) and other chinese delicacies we were picked up for our Li River cruise. The views were incredible and breathtaking. And VERY romantic. A perfect little getaway before we become parents. We met some really nice people in our tour group. We were very blessed that the boat was half empty. Most of the boats we saw were overflowing with people.

In Yangshuo the small town at the end of the river tour, we were inundated by street merchants trying to sell anything to anybody that looked in their direction. Some of the other group members, were physically grabbed to try and keep them from leaving before buying something.

Deb was quite the thrifty shopper. We made out with some great deals that unfortunately look like they will be too long to fit in our luggage.

After a brief stop in the hotel room to lighten our load, we headed off for a walk into the city. Our only plan was to find a place to post on the blog and to find some good Chinese food. No sooner did we get ourselves lost in the crouds that we happened upon Kevin. Kevin studied in Seattle and knew all about Santa Fe weather, and spoke excellent English. He is an art teacher and use to process papers for the local orphanage. He brought us to a tea shop where we sampled some of the local teas. Our favorite was Gensing leaves tea, with its mildly sweet aftertaste. After hearing about its healing and slimming properties, we bought a the largest tin they had. Boy could we use it right now.

Kevin then took us to check out his art at a gallery. He paints traditional Guilin landscapes in a more modern oil on canvas style. 60% of all the sales from this gallery go to help the local orphange that he is very involved with. What a coincidence! The Zhong Zhi Art Gallery is located at 3 Ren Min Rd, in Guilin and we will be posting more information and a few pictures of some of the art from the gallery soon.

Kevin was gracious enough to take us through a labirynth of Guilin side streets and through a basement that looked deserted before we came to the largest catacomb of computer terminals. Well over 300 computers in this underground internet club, the Purple Fortune Internet. Where all the locals go.

Kevin will be picking us up shortly to take us to where the locals go for good food. We plan on sampling everything but the Guilin specialties of Dog, cat, rat and snake. (We heard as a side note, that they also have good veggies.)

The adventure continues...
Love & Blessings, Debbie & Justin.