Day 15 - Hangzhou to Guilin

We were up at 6am to make the most of our morning in Hangzhou. This gave us plenty of time to get ready and enjoy breakfast at leisure before heading out in the light rain around 8:30am for a stroll around West Lake.
Hangzhou is famous for its lake and surrounding scenery; however our time was limited, so we made the most of the very pretty area that had quaint market stalls and some delicious looking food. The lake area links to the main shopping street that boasts many high end shops. After a bit of window shopping, we picked up the pathways again around the lake for a browse and shop for gifts.

Everywhere we go we are always pleasantly surprised by various displays around the cities - here we came across a man-made bird’s nest - very tweet and sweet 🎶

Catherine was quite moved by the sculpture depicting local people bidding farewell to one of Hangzhou’s famous poets, Bai Juyi (772-846), who was also remembered as a great governor of Hangzhou for his contributions to the prosperity of the town and the beauty of Westlake.

Back to the hotel to collect our ever growing collection of luggage and gifts, ready to check out and onwards to the train station for our 6 1/2 hour journey to Guilin (meaning: forest of sweet osmanthus).

Osmanthus is a delicate flower grown on trees that is used to flavour beverages and food, (we had actually sampled this in our coffee at Sophia’s) and is the native tree of Hangzhou. (Feeling well educated!)

We arrived at Guilin around 6:15pm and were met by our tour guide Boon and driver Mr Yang. A short drive took us to our boutique hotel, Jolie Vue, which was right on the doorstep of the city, where we were staying for just one night. We had a lovely room with a view of Elephant Rock. Of course we ventured straight out to explore the surroundings and find a bite to eat. We had a very
nice meal on the terrace of a restaurant, accompanied by craft beer. A walk afterwards on the side of the river Lijiang led us to the two pergolas
lit up in yellow and white representing the moon and the sun.

The traditional costume here is also very different to what we have seen in the other cities.

No surprises, we found a busy market - they really come alive later at night, with buskers and shoppers. A few more gifts bought, we were ready to retire as we had another early start in the morning.

Guilin has a completely different vibe to the other cities - although still thriving, the roads weren’t so busy, and without the constant sound of horns!
Guilin has a population of around 4 million and attracts many tourists, especially for its rivers and mountains.Read more