China Trip - Guilin Images

Here are some images from our trip to China in early July. I've been a bit too busy to get these uploaded but better late than never as they say...

Now the trick is choosing from 1,200 photos!

I will upload photos in chronological order. First on the itinerary was a private tour of Guilin, Li River, and Yangshuo. Mrs. Gao, Colin's Chinese teacher, set this up for us.

We had a great flight from Denver to San Francisco and SF to Beijing, all thanks to Laurie upgrading us to Business Class using her miles. We were able to fully relax, sleep a bit and enjoy movies, TV shows, games and music on our individual TV monitors. Of course, the biggest perk was being able to lie flat!

The downside to doing our own private itinerary before the students/parents tour starting July 8th was that we had to fly to Guilin the morning after arriving in Beijing. The jet lag was significant that first night.

Upon arrival in Guilin we were greeted by our private tour guide, a young Chinese woman from the area. Her English was decent but we did have some trouble communicating. Her English name was Emily and her enthusiasm and personality were endearing. We also were driven around Guilin by Wu, the best taxi driver we would ever have.

To say the rules of the road are different in China is an absurd understatement. We were initially petrified by what we were seeing but slowly we began to realize that there was some order in the chaos. I didn't understand it but I quickly gained respect for Wu's skills and became more relaxed.

The first thing on the itinerary was a boat ride on the Li River. It was hot and humid, as we expected, but the boat ride was more bearable than being on land.

Elephant Trunk Hill, the symbol of Guilin, resembles an elephant who has placed its trunk in the river for a drink.

A close-up view of Elephant Trunk Hill:

After the boat ride, Wu and Emily brought us to the Guilin Min Fang Chinese Art Centre. We had a very interesting visit and learned quite a bit about the different types of tea and how important tea is in the Chinese culture.