Guilin Glory

New pictures have been added - enjoy!!

There are many balms for the tired souls of winter -- a retreat to warm weather, sunshine and beautiful flowers and plants is the best and that's what we were treated to today.

Our day started with a stroll around the lake by our hotel. There we saw groups of men and women practicing tai chi as well as dancing. I was particularly interested in the group of senior ladies who danced in the morning sunshine with their vivid red fans.

Then we were off of to Elephant Trunk Hill. It was wonderful to have the whole group together. Here are first of many group shots of the kids taken today.

The myth we were told came to life when we saw the most interesting mountain formation. The Emperor had an elephant who became ill during a journey through the area. So the poor animal was left in the care of a kind-hearted couple who nursed it back to health. The elephant then helped them with their work in the rice patties. This angered the emperor so he had the elephant stabbed as it was drinking from the Li River and the poor creature turned to stone.

The park surrounding the ares is filled with many statues of elephants that the girls, young and old (even Lianne and her sister climbed one) enjoyed posing with and climbing on.

Julia was in her glory scampering up these elephants and enjoying the warm weather feeling of the sun on your skin.

Then it was off to Piled Silk Hill for our big climb of many steps. We were rewarded with a splendid view. Lianne picked this province to be part of our tour because in her mind's eye THIS was China. I can see what she meant. What a happy bunch of climbers we have here -- I'm sure the ice cream helped.

Then we were off to Reed Flute Cave, a cave formation of staglemites and sp , lit up with coloured lights. Many of the formations called on your imagination to see the shapes.

As we came out of the caves and made our way to the bus, we were descended upon by many peddlars trying to get us to buy postcards and reed pipes. We bought a set for Julia's classmates as a souvenir - sorry in advance Mr. Ventura.

The day wasn't over - after a bit of down time at the hotel and dinner out, we went to see an evening commorant fishing presentation. We had seen the birds and the fishermen resting at the shore when we were at Elephant Trunk Hill earlier in the day.

Then tonight we watched the birds and fishermen in action.

Tomorrow we are off for a cruise on the Li River and then on to the airport for our flight to Chengdu. Only 3 more sleeps until we see the pandas.