Trip from Xingping back to Guilin / Daxu / Guilin

Thursday 21/09

Isabelle and Ludivine come back a bit before 9am. We were about to wake up… The weather was not great but they are happy about their (tough) hike.
Breakfast in the hostel before our departure to Guilin. Not great.
We take the ferry to the other side of the river, where our minivan is waiting for us. Our driver will be with us for the next 5 days.
Today we have a light programme. We just go back to Guilin, only stopping in Daxu on our way. Daxu is an ancient market town. Located 20km southeast of Guilin, near the bank of the Li River, Daxu is noted for its well preserved ancient buildings, worn bluestone streets and traditional culture.
We have lunch there (fried rice with eggs).
We arrive in Guilin, at our ‘This Old Place’ hostel, around 3pm.
Ludivine sleeps a bit (and talks to Mamie), while Isabelle does homeschooling with Florence and Jules and I write a couple of posts (on Xi’an).
Around 7:30pm, we go and walk near the lakes (nice lighting, although kitsch) and around the Central Square. We eat at the ‘Li River Cuisine Restaurant, a typical restaurant with good local food (including skewers that we choose outside).
Back in the hotel around 10pm.
I write a couple of posts (I’ve nearly caught up).

Friday 22/09 (1/2)

We have the pleasure to meet the boss of the ‘This Old Place’ hostel, Leo. He owns 3 places where we’ve spent much time during the last few days: ‘This Old Place’ hostels in Xingping and Guilin and the ‘Nirvana Organic Farm Inn’ hostel in Xingping. He travelled a lot (as can be witnessed by the pictures in the hostel) and has plenty of good ideas. One of his priorities is now to develop the activities in the ‘Nirvana Organic Farm Inn’.
We leave at 9am; we take our breakfast sandwiches with us in the car.
We first visit Elephant Trunk Hill, the landmark of Guilin. The hill looks like a giant elephant drinking water from the river. The site is for the local tourists (we don’t enjoy much).
We then go and visit the Reed Flute Cave. Inside this water-eroded cave is a spectacular world of various stalactites, stone pillars and rock formations created by carbonate deposition. Illuminated by (cheesy) multicolored lighting, the 240-meter-long cave is spectacular.
We then take the car to the Longji Rice Terraces.