We flew from Hangzhou to Guilin today and have a new guide who is a young woman named Sophie who speaks excellent English. First we went to the Reed Flute Caves and meandered through amongst the stalagtites and stalagmites which had been lit up with coloured lights. As you might expect, we saw lions,mushrooms, broccoli and even a koala climbing a gum tree!!! In the very large cave, there was an animation of the dinosaurs, mammoths and other prehistoric creatures projected on tothe ceiling of the cave. Then a projection onto a screen of a ballet performance which reflected on a pool of water and was screened with classical music (I think from Swan Lake ).

From the caves we went to the Elephant Trunk Park where the elephant trunk is the lower section of a hill wih a natural moon gateway underneath the trunk. There were  a few man made elephants in the river as well. Apparently in the wet season the whole river rises and the whole park area floods.The locals apparently comedown to the promenade to view the flooding river. In the same park is  the love garden section with contemporary statues of happy couples and some large statues that might be dinosaur shapes.

 

Our hotel is the Guilin Bravo hotel which is comfortable and we went to  a local restaurant recommended by our guide which had some English on the menu. It was a treat to have both pictures and English. It was a very contemporary place with prints ofVan Gogh’s paintings on the walls and good food (called McFound). There were no surprises tonight at the restaurant!! But check out the night view of Guilin from our room!