Today was awesome! We got to go to one of the most beautiful places in China and view the Dragon Spine rice terraces. There are three minority groups that live on the terraces: the Zhuang live at the bottom of the mountain, the Miao live in the middle, and the Yao live at the top. These people all have beautifully colored clothing and handicrafts for sale. We drove about two and half hours to get to them mountain, and then climbed a million stairs to the top where we could view the rice terraces all around. The soil on the mountain is not great, so the people haul topsoil up from the valley below in baskets that they carry on their backs. The rice they grow is called dry rice because it doesn’t need as much moisture and is much heartier than regular “wet” rice. There is usually six inches of water in the rice patty, which some farmers stock with grass carp.

The people live in bamboo houses on the side of the mountain and there are winding staircases to climb between the houses (it reminded Val of Hallstatt, Austria). Everything that goes up the mountain must be carried in baskets or on polls. There are several hotels and restaurants at the top of the mountain and it was amazing to see how the men carried supplies up the mountains. Fortunately, the downpour of rain lifted once we started our hike. The rain and clouds kept the weather cool, for which we were very thankful.

After driving back to Guilin, we visited a pearl co-op. We learned that the fresh water oysters are the ones that produce 20 pearls each, while the salt water oysters produce only one, if that. Apparently, only 30-40% of salt water oysters produce pearls at all. The fresh water pearls are irregular because they are all nested together, whereas the salt water pearls are more smooth. Val, of course, purchased some earrings and a pendant, which are just lovely. Jessica did a wonderful job of modeling the various jewels in order to help Val choose.

Next, we were off to Elephant Trunk Hill, which is 328 foot high and supposedly looks like an elephant drinking from the Li River. We had some ice cream and watched some people making candy that is a local treat. It involved pounding sugar, walnuts, sesame seeds, and peanuts together on a heated stump. We enjoyed the free samples! Jessica was once again approached by some Chinese folks who wanted their picture taken with her.  She’s famous!

Dinner was a special treat. We dined in a restaurant where the Clintons had tea during their visit to China while he was in office. We took a picture of the seat he sat in as well as their family photo hanging on the wall. The reason they were probably taken there is because the food was presented is such a beautiful way. It looked as though it was designed for the emperor! (See pictures to the right.)

Tomorrow we get to cruise down the Li River and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the karst (limestone) mountains that have graced Chinese paintings for centuries. Can’t wait!

Today was a relaxing travel day. We woke up, went to breakfast, and then chilled out at the beautiful pool and hot tub. The pool was decorated like a super turbo beautiful Roman pool and we were impressed. It even had underwater music for us. Then we got ready and headed off to the airport to fly back to mainland China.

After a short flight, we landed in Guilin and went through the NIHI health screening, which was pretty intense in comparison to our last two experiences. Guilin is one of the most picturesque spots in China with fun limestone mountains and mysterious fog. Our tour guide, Wong, explained that Guilin has grown immensely in the last ten years due to the 10 million annual visitors. The sprawling city used to be rice patties and empty fields. There is construction going on everywhere you look and in ten years, this place will look vastly different (as will all of China!).

Today was a fabulous day in Hong Kong. We slept in and woke up to a bit of rain that blew over by the time we had finished breakfast. Then we hopped on the subway (which is super easy to use) and headed out to Lantau Island, passing Hong Kong Disneyland on the way, to see the giant Ngong Ping Buddha. After getting off the subway we got to take a high flying sky cab across the beautiful green mountains to the opposite side of the island. We had quite the views of Hong Kong for a bit, and then it vanished behind the hills. There was a cute little shopping area waiting for us when we got off the sky cab, complete with STARBUCKS. Before indulging ourselves with a cool Frappaccino, we hiked up 268 stairs to see the giant copper Buddha. Just to give you an idea of his immensity, he was 86 feet tall in a sitting position. The view from the top was breathtaking and reminded us of Hawaii with mist-shrouded mountains and ocean views.

After our Starbucks break, we experienced a very cool multi-media presentation of Siddhartha Guatama’s life. As we walked out, we thought we heard thunder, but it turned out to be a traditional drum performance presented by a group of about 30 students. We were very impressed and surprised by the special presentation, which was upbeat and entertaining.

After riding the sky cab back across the island, we popped into an outlet mall and visited a few stores, including a HUGE grocery store. We were surprised to see Doritos, Colby Jack cheese, Duncan Hines cake mixes, and many other American necessities :). Then, it was back to the hotel for a scrumptious afternoon tea and catching up on a bit of blogging.

In the morning we were mesmerized by the solar eclipse, which took place between eight and nine-thirty a.m. This was a bit of a problem because, as usual, our day was pre-scheduled and sitting and watching the eclipse was not part of the itinerary. But, due to our excitement our tour guide, Jack, finally decided to give in and take us to the beach to view the phenomenon. Fortunately, we had purchased eclipse glasses from the crazy eclipse chasers on our Yangtze cruise. We arrived at Repulse Beach, which was picturesque enough on its own without the eclipse, and watched as 75% of the sun was covered by the moon. It cracked us up that we were totally into it after having laughed at the excitement of the eclipse chasers on the cruise.

We trucked on down to Aberdeen, a floating fishing village that will be eliminated within five years, and enjoyed a ride on a sampan (small boat). It was very interesting to see this community up close and marvel at how they live on their house boats.

After the sampan ride we drove up to Victoria Peak, which is the highest place on Hong Kong island. Apparently, it is usually hazy and hard to see much, but due to the typhoon a couple of days before, the skies were clear and blue and afforded us amazing views of Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories. We rode a tram down the mountain that was a steep 27 degrees.

We came back to the hotel and had super yummy dim sum at a restaurant in the mall that is connected to our hotel (talk about handy!). That was a dream come true for Val, to have dim sum in Hong Kong. We took a nap and then wandered around the mall checking out what Hong Kong folks are into and had some Boba tea, which was also super yummy. Then, we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and had McDonald’s for dinner, talk about getting immersed in the local culture :).

We disembarked from our Yangtze cruise in the city of Chongqing. Chongqing is the largest municipality in China, with 30 million people. It is a hilly city, and therefore, no bikes. Our first stop was at the Chongqing Zoo, where we got to see some very cute red pandas, as well as some giant pandas. After that, we were off to General Stillwell’s museum to learn about his contributions to the Chinese during World War II. We also visited the Flying Tigers museum and learned about their dangerous flights over the Himalayas during the war.

For lunch, we experienced a special treat. Our tour guide, Carol, took us to a really nice restaurant where we were able to go back into the kitchen and watch the iron chefs at work, which was very cool. The head chef used a wok with an inferno for a flame underneath it. We were a bit nervous any time he took the wok off the flame, but he was a pro. The presentation of the food was truly amazing, complete with orchids on each plate. The food was definitely the best we have had thus far on our journey, and that is saying something. It was very cool to watch them make our food and then sit down to enjoy it.

After lunch we drove to Chongqing airport and flew off to Hong Kong. Our local guide picked us up and explained that the airport we had just landed in was built on a man-made island. Pretty impressive! Our hotel is the nicest yet, which is also saying something considering the beautiful places we’ve staying in thus far, and the concierge gave us some tips on where to eat dinner and we decided to try an Indian restaurant down by the water. We took the hotel shuttle down to the harbor, where we watched the nightly laser/light show (think Disneyland’s Electric Light Parade, but the lights are on buildings instead of floats) and walked along their Avenue of Stars. The harbor is beautiful at night and we enjoyed people watching as we strolled along. We ended up at TGI Friday’s instead of Indian food, which was a fun change from Chinese food. We even met a fellow American who was there on business and invited him to eat with us. It was fun to hear about his travels and adventures in Asia and tell him about our experiences, too.