We have arrived in Guilin! And it is hot and humid. The hostel is in a great location just off the Li Jiang river and close to a low-rise pedestrianised shopping area, apparently designed by an architect from Birmingham! The hostel is pleasant enough, we have a large room with two good size beds. But we have to move to another room shortly after settling in because the loo’s blocked. Our first priority is to get train tickets for the onward journey to Nanning, so we head straight for the central station armed with our requirements written in Chinese. We have to settle for hard seats (no soft seats available) at the remarkably low cost of 130 yuan for the pair – a mere £6 each for a 5-hour journey. These are the cheap seats.
Guilin is a very attractive city as Chinese cities go, at least around the river area, and we take a stroll along the embankment. The river is very shallow and people wadding in search of what, we are not quite sure. There also a number of bamboo rafts with recliners perched on them waiting to punt people up and down the river, although there are few takers. Tomorrow we are taking a boat up the river to Yangshou where we are going to stay overnight. The karst scenery up-river is reputedly spectacular and we’ve come here specifically to see it.