Day 9 -- Liuzhou - Guilin, Guangxi - November 18, 2015
We woke up to yet another misty morning. As we went downstairs to have breakfast, we saw this sight from the other side of the hotel. I thought the location of this hotel was just wonderful. Scenic whichever direction you turn. Breakfast was not ready until 7:00AM and it was mainly Chinese style but they did have a waffle maker which was very unusual for any hotel in China. They only have tables for 10, so you would have to share tables with other travelers. Of course, we found friends to sit with this morning.
Leaving the Dong Xiang Guest House. We were told that this is a government-run hotel, the best in this area.
A few quick shots from the bus as we drove back to Guilin.
After the many days of rain, the rivers seemed to be all swelled up.
Oh, another "Wind and Rain" bridge.
We stopped at this public restroom near the highway this morning and we were the only people there.
Back to Guilin.
This will be our last lunch with our table-mates. All of them will leave the tour to go back home early the next morning. They had to get up at 4AM to catch their flights back to Shanghai. The two of us continued our journey with the rest of the group for the Yangtze River cruise.
Good travel companions! Sad to see them leave.
Don't know what happened but we did not see people from Bus 2 at lunch.
They got excited every time fried bananas was served.
The only stop we made on this day was the tea farm in Guilin.
Here it is! We had been to tea farms in Hangzhou and those are generally crowded with tourists. It was very quiet here though, just us again!
They passed out the hats so we can use them as props.
Time for some lessons on tea.
freshly picked tea leaves
after being 'stir fried'
kneading
We were then taken into a room for the tea ceremony. People were sitting on those benches when we first walked inside but were told "Sorry, you are sitting on the tables." I thought that was kind of funny.
Finally a picture of our tour leader MiNan. She was with us throughout the tour. I wouldn't want her job with such responsibilities.
We were told that this is the proper way to drink tea.
Practice, practice, practice!
We were given three different kinds of tea to taste.
One of the items they were trying to sell--"block tea".
Many made their purchases on tea, tea pots, tea cups here. We have tons of tea at home that will last us for a long long time so after staying inside for a while I left the store and waited outside instead.
That was where they showed us how to 'stir fried' the tea.
Lijiang Waterfall Hotel
We were back at the Lijiang Waterfall Hotel in Guilin after the tea farm for one more night. It was like coming home. Again, we were put in a room on the 8th floor, similar location but a couple of doors down the hallway.
Unfortunately, I was not feeling well that evening as we were getting ready to go for dinner. I was worried that it was another episode of my intestinal problem which I had surgery on before the trip. Thank God that it was not. I think it was probably the greasy food that we had in the last few days that caused the upset stomach. Skipping dinner meant I missed the chance to say good-bye to our table-mates. It was nice meeting you all, friends!
By the way, we watched the waterfall show from the room that night. Well, it was just like having heavy rain outside our windows. What can I say.
If I remember correctly, this was the night that we had to have our big luggage out the door by 10:00PM because they had to check-in as a group for our flight to Chongqing the next morning. They collected our check-in luggage, transported them to the airport, checked in and got our boarding passes even before we got to the airport the next morning. Poor Summer and MiNan probably did not have any sleep that night having to oversee all the necessary procedures and taking the groups to the airport. I think Sinorama really did an excellent job in that respect.
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