The Li river and random meeting of Olympic torch

Trained cormorants for a bit of fishing.
Bamboo rafts on the Li river.
Typical ! Craigs still got his brolly!

The Torch. Craig loves his brolly!

Random ribbon shot on the railings of a temple!

Took our first flight of the trip a few days ago and flew the whole 45 minute flight from Haikou to Nanning! Definetly a quicker option than the 12 hour boat ride + 4 hour train ride. The reason why we flew was because the boat was overnight and we wouldn't have seen a thing. It was a reminder of how luxurious and quick a flight is! No wonder everyone flies! The only down side is the body search and putting your boots through x-ray machines. But back on track now after taking a 5 hour double decker train to Guilin to see the Li river.

After speaking to the lady in the office in Nanning where we have left our passports to get our Vietnamese visas, she told us that the Li river was no longer 10 feet deep in floods as seen on the TV earlier that week, so we decided that we would head off there as Nanning was pretty dull.

Guilin is an amazing place nestled by surrounding oddly shaped mountains and separated by a substantial river. The locals even use it as a swimming pool on the night, complete with swimming pool steps and flood lighting.

Today we went on a cruise down the Li river to Yangshou. We had the option of a Chinese or Western cruise, but decided to save 7 pound each by going on the Chinese one. Much more fun anyway! And then we can use our very limited Mandarin. They like to practice their English on us anyway and impress their children. The cruise was fantastic and Craig as usual got carried away with the camera. The scenery was dramatic and it didn't rain for a change. Afterwards we got a photo with comorant fisherman and then headed off to see some caves, a temple and a 1400 year old Banyan tree. As per usual, the Chinese love to cram everything into one day, as this would take us 3 days if we did it ourselves by taking a breath between venues.

Yesterday we were walking through the park in Guilin on a town walk around when we bumped into a random group of people taking photos of each other. We suddenly realised that it was infact Olympic runner number 66 of the torch relay complete with his torch! He had obviously done the run somewhere else and got to keep his torch and do a tour of his local park. Check the photos out!!!! Cannot believe we got to hold one of the real Olympic torches!