Feb 6th

Sunday afternoon we left Hong Kong by bus and drove to Shenzhen where we flew northwest to Guilin. Monday we took a boat trip down the Li River. The boat was like an enclosed ferry. It was cold and rainy but the scenery was beautiful and three little girls Lily , Molly and Fiona made the trip entertaining. Nelson helped entertain them with finger tricks.
Jack and Carolyn Theler were sitting across from us at a table. There were some water buffalo on the banks of the river and a man in a traditional Chinese hat sitting there too. Jack slid open the window to take a picture, just as someone in back of him slid the window towards Jack and it hit his elbow and his camera fell in the water! They had gone home for Christmas and all of those pictures were on their camera.
We were bussed back to the hotel and that evening we took another boat to watch the cormorant fishing. The Chinese have used tame cormorants to fish for thousands of years. Fishermen set off on bamboo rafts after dark, with cormorants wearing collars to prevent them from swallowing their catches. The birds swim just below the surface alongside the raft that has a light hanging from the bow. When the bird makes a catch, it gets on the raft and the fisherman pulls the fish from the birds throat.It was so cold here I had to buy a fleece jacket for 80 yuan ($12.50)!
Tuesday morning we're off again. We visited the Reed Flute Cave. They were huge! We sang a hymn,"Firm As The Mountains Around Us", when we were inside. Our U.S. Forest Department would have a fit if they saw how the Chinese ran electricity and decorative lights all through this beautiful natural wonder! I bought a black over-blouse here. Supposedly hand-made. It's cute. Several women bought them.
That afternoon we flew west to Kunming. Everywhere we went we shopped. But there's only so many scarfs and trinkets you can see before they all start looking the same! Our breakfasts were advertized as "Western". There were always eggs, scrambled and wet or fried, bacon that looked like it was boiled, french fries, toast, fruit and cereal and a lot of Chinese stuff, like fish, rice, vegetables, congee (rice porridge) and other weird things. Lunch and dinner were Chinese style food. By Wednesday it was beginning to all look the same too although there was some variety. The bus rides were getting boring too!
Wednesday we visited the Stone Forest, a massive collection of limestone pillars in fanciful forms. The guides were in traditional Yi dress. Of course we had to buy one. I'll have Halloween costumes for several years.XXOO Mom