Guilin

Well my first few days in China have been exciting. As far as I can tell the blogspot website is unavailable here so my parents will be posting via email. The karst topography here in Guilin is incredible. For those who don't know, karst topography is mountains of very hard rock with sheer faces. As the soft rock around weathered away the karsts remained standing tall. These geological formations surround Guilin. It is very hot here and I have had to make sure that I do not overexert myself during my hiking. My hotel sits on the main promenade along the Li River. Here people do tai chi all day and they also swim in the river. I have been Google Mapping this region for weeks and I must say that the satellite photographs do not do it justice. I really do think that this is one of the prettiest places that I have ever visited. The first site I visited was Elephant Hill . This formation sits right on the river and the way that it has weathered makes it look like an elephant drinking from the river. I woke up early and had the place mostly to myself, although I did do some obligatory posing for the Chinese tourists. I then started a 2 km walk north to the next site. This walk ended up being over 8 km as I got myself lost. So much for not overexerting myself. I did finally make it to Solitary Beauty Peak, which was at this time of day crawling with tourists. It is a steep climb to the top but once up there the cooling breeze and the view of Guilin is splendid. The afternoon was spent worrying and being homesick. That night I did force myself to go to the Ronghu Lake and Zhongshan market. It would not be worth it to sit in my room pouting. The next morning was another early one full of walking. I crossed the Li River on the Liberation Bridge and got some more great shots of the city. Then I went to one of the world's first tourist destinations... ever. 7 stars park was founded during the Sui Dynasty and it is simply gorgeous. It is essentially a area of karst topography inside of the city that has been partitioned off and for 35 RMB one can have full access to the peaks there. I climbed many more mountains and walked and walked and walked. Eventually the midday heat and throngs of tourists forced me to retreat to the hotel where I took a quick nap. For dinner I went to a place called the Little Italian which was near my hotel for some pizza... it was delicious. The second I walked in the manager changed the music from something from China to Bloodhound Gang's "Do it like they do on the Discovery Channel". It was followed by Michael Jackson. I wondered whether or not these men knew he had died. I didn't have the heart to tell them. I ended that day by climbing the world's tallest copper pagoda. The building is in the center of Ronghu Lake and offers great view on downtown Guilin. A full night's sleep is still hard to come by because of my jetlag but I am hoping that this will get better soon. I will soon be on my way to the next city where I will meet my employers and coworkers. I think hat meeting these people will help me to not feel so lonely here in China.
C. Johnson