Guilin, China

We had six month visas that expired in March, so right before they expired we figured we better take the time to take a trip up north into China! We visited Guilin, which is a pretty famous place full of amazing limestone hills, like these:

Cool right?

So, our journey started off in a ferry straight to Shekou, China, which isn't far north of Hong Kong. From there, we took a train to Guangzhou and another train to Guilin. Sounds simple but it sure isn't if your towing three little kids and don't speak Mandarin. We showed up in a train station pretty dang overwhelmed, but a kind soul who knew English (and there really only was about one of those) helped us get last minute tickets and we made it. It was quite an adventure.

In Guilin we stayed at the Waterfall Hotel. It was kind of old but really pretty nice. It was next to a really cool town square that, among other things, let you pay 5 juan (about $.70) for a ride on one of these babies:

They were so fun! Here are more pics:

We found other really cool stuff in China, one of which was...a McDonald's playplace! Really! In Macau we have lots of McDonalds, but no playplaces.

Our first adventure in Guilin was to visit the Seven Stars Park. It was a big, beautiful place. We enjoyed the big indoor play area.

I also loved this sign - uh, what animal? what place?

At the edge of the Seven Stars Park was an amusement park. We bought our tickets, walked inside, and got pretty confused. It seemed like the place had been deserted and abandoned. We wondered if the place was still opened. All the rides were super rusty and dirty. Then we saw a worker sitting at one of the rides and decided that yes, it was open. We were pretty hesitant to get on the rides, and didn't go on anything risky - they were really rundown - but we had a pretty good time! No lines and super nice workers (even if they did sit and smoke while waiting to help the random visitor).

This ride was unnerving but fun! It was on a raised track and you could spin around - and used your own pedaling power to get it going!

On the way back to the hotel we got to ride on a double-decker bus:

The next day, we headed to the river for a ride in a bamboo boat and a view of one of the most picturesque areas on earth. First, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch and Haven tried chicken feet!

And this place - beautiful. We were freeeezing, but I think it was worth it.

Our boat

We interrupt our regular program for a quick flashback to 2004 (engagement pic night):

Cute boy.

We got a family pic at this beautiful river - you can tell how cold the poor girls were:

That night we did some exploring near our hotel. Bet this is something you've never heard of - these "kissing fish" bite at the bacteria on your feet to get them super clean! Wow!?!

 The girls were pretty captivated by the live food outside the restaurant door, including the duck.

The next day we got to see a super cool, enormous cave (called Reed Flute Cave):

I got a kick out of the idea that the only toilet I would consider  "regular" was meant for old persons:

After the cave, we visited our first Asian Walmart! It was great to be there. That may sound overly cheesy, but it's high on the list of missed things here in Macau:

Near Walmart there was a super fun kids area:

Our last day, we took some pretty pictures of the Moon and Sun pagodas near our hotel:

Then we played at a fun activity the community was holding on the town square:

Oh, and we rode some more cars. :) They're great!

We couldn't get train tickets out of town (turns out that can get pretty booked!) so we treated ourselves to a flight to Hong Kong, which turned out beautifully.

What a great trip. We feel so lucky to have been able to explore a small part of Mainland China.