TRAVEL : GUILIN 桂林 Summer2015

13TH JULY 2015 Guilin  桂林

A stifling hot day it went up to a ridiculous 40' - we were melting! we climbed the huge Solitary beauty peak in the park - a famous spot beside the stone due to a photograph taken decades ago of revolutionary leader SUN YAT SEN and his wife. the mountains around the area were spectacular - there are just so many beautiful hills and peaks in and around Guilin - its quite tropic with the heat and the plant, rivers, environment and animal life (noisy cicadas, sounding a tad angry they are so loud!) - reminding me of Thailand a bit - but we are quite far West.

we continued on we exploring this beautiful area:

up near the top of the peak with some pagoda's we could see so much more of the area, lots of lake areas, the hills, mountains lakes, plants animals and daily people going about their business, so much colour, so natural and peaceful sub tropical views. on the way to the place along the Li river we spotted lots of the local Chinese swimming (this is a common and relatively staff area to do so) I was hot -  i hadn't been in water in a long time, I took of my shorts and got in too!it was just too nice to say no, too inviting

 - Do as the locals do eh! Ru Xiang sui su 入乡随俗

 the Chinese were loving it haha - lots of yells of encouragement and photos of course. i even persuaded my sister to start wadding it. was utter bliss, perfect way to cool down - not really dirty either ( I did swim in some brown rivers/lakes in Cambodia though haha) however she made me get out when a big creepy bug kept swimming onto me and then bit me - i felt nothing then or after but she was convinced i was going to die. haha. 

On our way back to the Hostel on the river,  the old style traditional

14th July 2015 

Longji rice terrances / Dazhai and the Sun and Moon Pagodas

龙脊/大宅