Guilin National Park, China

Sunday, March 24, 2019       Guilin National Park

This morning we enjoyed scrambled eggs, a thin slice of Spam and toast breakfast with hot coffee and tea at 8:30am. 

                                    At 9:30am we headed out for a three hour hike in the park.

A glimpse inside a home....

Locals use bicycles

It was awesome. Lots  of beautiful scenery. 

 Yurts dotted one area.....you could actually sleep looking at the stars in the see through yurt.

                                         Fun  talking with the locals.  

                                               What an unique water irrigation system.

                                               Fishing  with a three way rigging system.

A nice tea time!

             Blue tea called butterfly piss.....oh my! I think they would sell more if they called it nectar.

 Our G Group Travelers outside the Tea House

 We returned  back to the lodge around 1:30pm for a lunch of sweet and sour pork with rice.

The afternoon was a fun cooking experience. We all enjoyed participating in a Chinese Cooking Class. There is a lot of  pre-preparation involved….chopping and dicing….getting the wok smoking before adding the  ingredients….adding things I never have used like oyster sauce, chili sauce, lotus root, frying cucumbers,  cashews, and tomatoes….steaming appetizers of stuffed mushrooms, tofu, zucchini. 

                                          It really was a big lesson in a the local cuisine. 

Chinese American food is very different from Eastern Chinese food.  We had fun…. a lot of laughs and a lot of love went into our cooking that bonded our friendships even more.

The evening was pleasant with a roaring, smoky fire and Willie treating us to some Jameson’s with many heartwarming toasts. We chatted until our normal bedtime…hearing fireworks go off locally as well as thunder and rain hitting the roof. 

Cheers to our new friendships with Suzanne, Sam, Willie, Irene, Farida, Ahmad, Carol, and Barbara….and our guide, Howard. What an unforgettable adventure we all have had!