We spent the last few days in some charming towns. We're further west, so everything feels a little more rural. We spent five nights in Guilin, one day in Kunming and a night in Lijiang.
Guilin is a beautiful town along The Lijiang River. It is also the most international place we've been to in China. We not only saw westerners all over town, we also found western food. We had pizza for dinner... Cheese never tasted so good. There were also French fries that tasted like French fries, so not a bad place to be.
Our first afternoon, we spent time walking along the river. While walking, we found a tourist company where we booked a cruise along the Lijiang (the first Lijiang)from Guilin to Yangzhou.
These were the cruise descriptions: "a Deluxe cruise with an English guide or an ordinary cruise with a Chinese guide." After being in China, you read between the lines and you know the implications of an "ordinary cruise". But ordinary cruises are cheaper, so we went with the Chinese guide.
We were seated at a table with a woman and her mother and aunt. They were 79 and 84, and just the cutest. They made me miss my grandmas. They loved trying to explain things to us in Chinese and just laughed at our attempted responses. They had good laugh lines around their eyes.
We spent most of our cruise on the top deck taking in the scenery. We wound along the river and couldn't believe the views at each bend. It was truly amazing, these rocky peaks. The water was full of bamboo boats and people playing along the river edge. Through most of our ride, we were just ahead of a thunderstorm. Dark clouds covered the views behind us as we chased after the sun.
We reached Yangzhou in the early afternoon, and spent the rest of the day walking around. There is a certain dress style you find at most tourist hubs. They are the same cut and generally the same fabric all over China. I had been eyeing them for a couple cities now, and bought two here for $4 each! I also found $7 Birkenstocks. Shopping has been so successful that I told Matt I had almost forgotten there is an H&M in our final Chinese town! (I had originally told him I'm reserving one hour for wandering H&M.)
Anyways, Matt bought a belt. He's so good at only getting the necessities.
After the Lijiang River cruise, we just hung out in Guilin, drinking milktea and eating dumplings. We then had an overnight train to Kunming, where we spent the day. I think our highlight here was a grocery store that carried cheese and a cafe with Caesar salad.
That night we took another overnight train to Lijiang (thus 2 Lijiangs). It is another ancient city. We walked around more narrow streets and enjoyed the local snacks and were entertained by fighting in the street. Just another day.
