Our Adoption Trip to China - Page 2
October
5th - October 8th
Guilin, China
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Guilin was described as the "most picturesque area of China" in our guide books. Well, with that resounding statement, we felt we had to check it out. We also knew that the rest of the cities we were going to visit in China were very large and crowded. So we wanted to see what a "small" Chinese city of only 1 million people looked like. Well, we were not disappointed.
Guilin looks like something out of a fairy tale book. There are small to medium sized mountains scattered all throughout the landscape. These mountains are very steep peaks and covered with luscious green trees and plants. The Li River runs right through the middle of the downtown area and helps to create stunning rock formations all along the river bank. One of our many tours we took on our four day stay there was a boat trip along the river and into the more rural landscape.
One of our favorite things we did while in Guilin was to go through the old market town. It's no longer a "must see" for the tourist and it's where the locals get their daily wares. They had everything from sides of beef hanging from the tents to a dentist setting up shop (which consisted of a stool and a few very old tools) next to the woman selling bear claws and other traditional Chinese medicine remedies. One of the other highlights was when we were strolling down the small alleyway and were invited into a few of the locals homes to see how they lived. It's amazing to see homes with dirt floors, a single strung light bulb, no toilets, and water that not only isn't safe to drink but is only available at 5:00 PM on certain days. All of this was shown to us and explained by our wonderful guide. China is not a country that you can really explore without the help of a guide and a driver. We were so lucky to have great people showing us around in every city.
We left beautiful Guilin for Beijing after only 4 days. We saw so much in such a short time. But now it was time to hook up with 10 out of the 20 families from our adoption trip and get to know them a bit and see the wonderful city of Beijing.