Thursday 22nd

While packing up for today's checkout, noticed a couple of things in the hotel.  Never seen one of these in a hotel anywhere.  Seems like a good idea.

In the bedrooms, a 1.5-litre bottle of Evian costs 78 Yuan - that's £9.  Would anyone buy that?

Also, I'm not sure what goes on in this hotel but note the top right section of this sign next to the lifts.

70-minute drive to the airport to catch the 12:05 China Southern flight to Guilin.  The airport has 3 termini with 2 more under construction.

Noticed in the duty-free that no diseased body parts are illustrated on cigarette packets in China.

We left Xian in 36C like this:



 And arrived at Guilin in 29C like this.

Our first serious rain since we got to China, though it did clear up on the drive to the hotel.  The airport has one terminal with a second under construction.

Wasn't expecting food on the flight in economy.

We are now in southern China. I had wanted to come on the high-speed train but the journey is 10 hours.

Fairly long drive to the hotel.

There is a maximum height that buildings can be to protect views of the surrounding mountains.

The hotel was built 4 years ago and it's sprawling, with conference centre, cinema, gym, spa, huge indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts etc. etc.

 We found ourselves in the children's play area and left quickly.

Guilin is a staging post to visit the Yangshuo area.  When I asked our guide, David, what there was to see in Guilin he couldn't come up with anything and suggested we stay in the hotel as more heavy rain was forecast.  We had not booked to be in this hotel but before we left London the hotel we had selected was closed for refurbishment so we were transferred here to a club room at no extra cost.  So we were there right at the start of happy hour at 17:00 to drink the rain away.  Nice room but we are only here for 1 night and leave tomorrow morning at 08:20.

In the hotel, we continued our tradition of stalking wedding parties on holiday.

Most of today was spent travelling - by the time we got to the hotel is was 16:00.  The Yangshuo region is the Chinese equivalent of Halong Bay in Vietnam with its limescale formations and is supposedly one of the most spectacular sights in China.  We shall see.

We've eaten and drank so much in the club room, there is no need to go out to eat this evening.

 Result!