Guilin River Tour and Evening Shopping-- May 30

Guilin was the smallest of the cities we were visiting, with "only" 700,000 people, and according to Lily and Jevons, it's pretty much a village out in the middle of no where, in comparison. It's quite close to Vietnam, and the sultry weather matches. The city has very distinct limits on the buildings, making sure that there were no high rises to cut off the views of the mountains. And there were mountains everywhere... all of limestone and all carved into karst formations that are covered with trees and tropical growth. They are quite reminiscent of Vietnam's landscape.

Our hotel was right by the Li River, in the heart of their shopping district. It had rained the day before, so profusely that the temperatures had dropped to something in the high 70's and low 80's when, usually, by the end of May, their temperatures are in the 90's. Sadly, the change in location didn't help my asthma, which really started to act up. Luckily, though, the overcast stayed around and made the river cruise quite comfortable.

( The river cruise and evening shopping... )