Just back from an incredible adventure in China. Have descriptive "journal" of our favorite area Guilin and Yangshou. Happy to e-mail it if requested. Also, in response to questions re: tours vs independent travel -<BR>We started out trip with a small group of 11 people, a national guide and we were joined in each locale by an additional local guide. Later we took off on "our own" to Guilin-Yangshou with a personal guide and driver. China is not easy to get around without help. We stood in Yu Yuan garden area within feet of the site and walked in circles never finding it, even though the hotel's concierge had written in Chinese "Please show these people to Yu Yuan Gardens". Or perhaps he wrote; "Let's see how long we can keep these people moving in circles".<BR>Anyway Pacific Delight with CIT gave us a great national guide Chen Bai Ping. Ask for him. In Guilin/Yangshou we were most fortunate to have CTS euro-american dept guide, Fannie Mo. Her E-mail is "[email protected] A fantastic young lady who helped us to see the "real" China. She speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Japanese and her love of China and of people in general really works for those lucky enough to have her as a guide.Steven

My family and I will be going to China at the end of August. The weather may not be great but it is the only time we can get away. We would appreciate your information about Guilin and other places you visited. We will have private guides in Beijing, Xian,Guilin and Shanghai. We are particularly interested in your thoughts on seeing the "real" China.<BR>Thank you.<BR>Roberta

Please, Roberta, if you go to Yangshao Village, please get away from the main shopping strip with all those stalls selling Hard Rock Cafe t-shirts. Go back into the town and see people living their daily lives. Stop and have some lunch at one of those cinderblock "huts" with the locals. So many people come to Yangshao and buy junk then get back on their tour boat on the Li and go right back to Guilin.<BR><BR>Aren't the Yu Yuan Gardens in Shanghai?? Why does Steven say they are in Guilin? (I thought the Yu Yuan Gardens in Shanghai were a complete waste of time. Steven was lucky he missed them.) <BR><BR>I just loved Guilin. In the morning, my friend, Cynthia, and I got up and did tae-chi with the all the old ladies in the park. It was a hoot. (This one lady just loved my Kenneth Cole sandals.)Some people looked at us like we were ghosts. It was later explained to us that many, many people in China have never seen a "white" person before. Imagine me being the first Westerner these people saw? It scares the hell out of you, doesn't it?

My reference to Yu Yuan gardens was in response to a question about the need for a guide. Yes it was in Shanghai. I was also writing about how much we, like yourself, loved Yangshou and Guilin. Our most excellent guide, Mo of CTS, arranged through pacific delight, took us on a motorcycle with a side car back into the countryside, where we met local villagers who toil today the same way that there ancestors did 2000 years ago. Just water buffalo, stooping postures in the rice paddies and primitive clay brick homes on dirt lanes wide enough for cycles and animals only.. One woman we were able to "talk" with, (we spoke to Mo, who spoke chinese to our cycle driver, Annie, who spoke in dialect to the woman) was an 85 year old who had never left her village of 10 - 15 homes. She told us that no one has ever moved into or out of her village in the 85 years she has been there. You are born there and you remain there. She too had never seen a white person before and never heard of the USA or America. But she welcomed us into her home and was happy to have people to visit with. <BR>Mo took us to a local restaurant in Guilin with snakes in tanks along with the fish, where we were served delicious local dishes including prawns in a wonderful sauce with head, tail, shell all intact. While it had an incredible aroma I had to wait for Mo to eat a few before I could get the nerve to swallow some myself. Crunchy and yummy.The stalls on Yangshou's west street are avoidable, but it is an international scene worth just strolling through. The pearl factory in Guilin is a find. I hate shopping and only went to satisfy my wife. When we got there I came to appreciate what a beautiful south sea pearl could look like. And the prices (after bargaining) were excellent.<BR>Try to get to this part of China. [email protected] is my recommendation for a guide.

Steven, I'd love to read your journal! Thanks!

Steven<BR><BR>Planning a trip to China and would really like a copy of your journal.<BR><BR>Thanks<BR><BR>Ed

Steven,<BR>I would love to have a copy of your journal - we are planning a visit to Guilin in October. Thank you in advance.<BR>

One big MUST DO in Yangshuo is to rent bicycles and go out into the countryside to view the karst scenery. Any guesthouse can help you to make arrangements. A local guide is a necessity as it's very easy to get lost on those country roads.

Dear Steven,<BR>We'd love to read your journal. We are also going to China (& Bangkok) in October and Guilin is one of the stops we're really looking forward to seeing.<BR>Thank-you.

Just a brief not for those for whom a bicycle would be too much effort, You can take a motorcycle with a side car and travel the narrow rough paths of the countryside without effort or distress. You will never forget it.

We would love to read your yournal, please send a copy via this email address [email protected]. We will visiting Shanghai, Guilin in June.<BR><BR>Thanks.<BR>S

Steve, <BR>Please send me your journal. Planning on visiting China this year, still working on itenary... <BR>Thanks!!

Would be very happy to receive your journal. Thank you very much. Kathy

I would love to see a copy of the journal.

We are going to Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin and Xian in May. Would love to read your journal or any other info you might want to tell us. Thanks

Would love a copy of your journal...Thanks

would appreciate a copy of your journal

Steven,<BR>We are going to China, with Grand Circle tours, in about 3 weeks.<BR>Would love to read your "journal".<BR>Thank you very much.

Would love to see your journal on Guilin.<BR>Thanks.

Would love to see a copy of your journal. Any advice on the hard and soft class train sleepers? Are western type toilets available for both classes or neither or just soft class? How difficult is the bicycling as to hills?Our tour group is staying in Yangshou for two days. Do you recommend taking a boat trip on the Li River? How far up toward Guilin do the boats go?