Day ??: Guilin & Yangshuo

Guilin had a beautiful 7-star park. I was pleasantly surprised when I climbed up the Sky Pavilion to see a gorgeous view of Guilin. Also, since the pavilion isn't heavily touted on the tourist map or the lonely planet, there was only one other person there. Guilin definitely has its charm - gorgeous scenery and interesting food. I was thinking that some of the small limestones hill can be compared to Ipoh but Ipoh doesn't really have much to snare the tourists. Too bad. My hometown should be more interesting. Yangshuo lies an hour and a half south of Guilin. Another gorgeous little town, absolutely catered to the tourists. I knew I was going to face a rough time with the touts, when an 'Auntie' followed me from the bus and down the whole of West street - their most touristic street- despite numerous demands that I wasn't interested in whatever rooms she had. I did a little cycling around the vicinity of the town to the some scenic spots and the place was very interesting. We passed through padi farms and little lakes to reach the popular Banyan tree and Moon Hill. I'm glad the French tourists that came along with the trip didn't want to do the parks nor the bamboo rafts nor the caves, as I did not want to get wet at all. I did not have a guesthouse or clean clothes so I wasn't very interested to take the bus to HK all grimy and muddy. Maybe I did miss some interesting sites, but then Yangshuo is really near to Singapore/Malaysia and I can always come back for a prolonged weekend trip. Anyway, after the bicycle trip - I was all sticky and grimy so I would have to look for a shower before the bus trip. Maybe drop down the local Giordano and get a cheap t-shirt.