There was much to see in Guilin and it would not have been possible without the help of the one English speaking girl we found in our first mornig there. She was helpful and nice though she would only take us to certain places as we gleamed that she received a comission for doing so. It all works out though.. she helps us and we help her.. thanks Courtney for helping me see it that way.. I was a little more skeptical at first.

Her friend took us in his little Jetta up to a cave in the moutains where we met a camel and learned Chinese from a boy from New Jersey. When we got back she bougt us our train ticket for Beijing.. which will be a thirty hour ride!! Wow.. yea.. crazy! Hey.. its cheaper than flying and we can see the countryside!
We toured the city on foot and climbed a moutain at sunset.. breathtaking views which were again a mix of poverty and beauty. The pictures will be up soon I promise!

We ate dinner at a cute little resturant and ordered more food than we knew what to do with. The only disturbing thing was that the food you would eat was waiting outside all the resturants. Now the only thing I can relate it to is when you go to a seafood resturant and you pick the lobster from the tank that you want. In this case not only are the fish outside but so are the chickens, bunnies, snakes, guinea pigs and other animals I could not even identify. Courtney was really upset and so was I.. though her vegitarian ways are starting to look a lot more inviting to me now. I suppose the Chinese are just more forward and show it like it is. In any case our meal was delicious and so cheap.. great to be out of Hong Kong and Japan.

We finished off the night at a riverside park with a gold pagoda where Courtney was a celebrity. I have never seen so many people want to take pictures with her.. so cute!

I had my hayday in Hong Kong and Japan where I suppose I look very out of place with my blond hair and blue eyes. We find that the children point at us and then run away.. though they are so cute! I have abotu a hundred pictures of little kids.

Tomorrow morning we leave for Yangshou on a boat!