Guilin

One of the places on our "China bucket list" has been Guilin.  It's famous for it;s unique mountains and beautiful river settings.  It's featured on the 20 RMB note, so you know it's got to be worth seeing.  We were excited to be able to share the trip with our good friends, the Tobias family, who sadly were leaving for home this summer.

On the drive in.

Watering the hedges.

Scenic rest area.

Waiting for a taxi back to the hotel after a long, hot, full of people travel day.  I think Rowan's posture says it all.

Feeling fresh on day 2.  I just love this outfit, one of my favorites.

The view from our lodgings.

Taking advantage of some downtime to do a "squat off".  I'm not sure Lilly is taking this seriously enough.

CRAZY bike riding from the hotel to our first stop, a river cruise.  No scooter lanes and tourists struggling along everywhere.  Thankfully at least some of the kids were on two-seaters.  Very stressful and hot.

Bamboo raft time.

Shot of Reid and Andrew watching Mitch and Will go down the "waterfall".

Now this is talent.  Rebecca had no idea.

Kim and Emmakate lounging.

Huh?!?!?!

What is that?  I was kind of freaked out by these red things, they were all over the place!  Answer at the bottom.

Loading the "trucks" to haul back the rafts.  Yes, that guy on top has pulled his shirt up to his nipples.  No, he wasn't the only one.

A famous mountain that we just had to climb.  Something about a moon as I recall.

The view from above.

The boys were fascinated by the climbers.  How many can you see?

Next were the caverns...

So sweet.

 

Sadly, there was a disconcerting amount of English letters on here.

Um, rebirth hole?!?!?!

Riley demonstrating his rebirth.

Mud baths will always be a highlight.  Note how the smiley face stayed in place.

Nothing like a good pose off. 

Mud slide.  Mitch caught this impressive action shot.

Love it.  Something about the mud makes you automatically tough.

Hose 'em down!

Day 2 started with a tour of a fan factory.  The big red semi circles are the glued fans drying.

Demonstrating the process.

All the kids got to be involved in the process.

Next was another boat run.  We thought this old dredging equipment was pretty cool.

Dropped off, we wound our way thru the fields towards town for lunch.  Yes that is a big pile of poo and yes, it was raining.

Lilly enjoying the ride.  No need for a stroller.

The red tag is a prayer placed on a tomb.  We were just past tomb sweeping day, so a lot of decorations were still out.

Nice shot Rebecca.

Farmhouse lunch.  VERY good local food.

Demonstrating the proper way to get food in the belly.

Unprompted "it's soooooo good" face.

A little erhu entertainment.

Water buffalo and flotsam.  Can't escape it here really.  :(

Weaving our way thru another small town, we ditched the last leg of the bike ride in favor of a taxi.

Night time show.  Done by the guy who directed the Beijing Olympics.  Very nice pageantry.

The "kids" prices were actually fold out seat that we jammed in front of the adults.  No potty breaks!!!

Best I could do on this one, really cool visual but I needed a tripod to capture is right.

Headed back and loaded down with hats.

All in all it was a great time, while only a tad exhausting.  Would have been a good trip to leave the kids at home and spend a few more days.  Glad we could squeeze it in before the Tobias' left Suzhou!

Answer to the "What is that":  Snail eggs.