Today was our first full day in Guilin and we started out by having a super breakfast at the Sheraton Hotel which is absolutely in the best spot of the city for us. Bob met us in the hotel lobby at 9:30 (which with three kids became 10:00 am!) and then we were off for some sightseeing.
For the morning we headed to the Reed Flute Cave. The cave, called Lúdí Yán, is a natural limestone cave and has been one of Guilin’s most interesting attractions for over 1200 years. The cave itself is over 180 million years old. The caves name came from the type of reed growing outside the cave entrance which were made into melodious flutes by the local people. Reed Flute Cave is filled with a large number of stalactites, stalagmites and other rock formations in weird and wonderful shapes. Also inside the cave are more than 70 inscriptions written in ink, which can be dated back as far as 792 AD in the Tang Dynasty. These aged inscriptions tell us that it has been an attraction in Guilin since ancient times. Lost for centuries, the cave was rediscovered in the 1940s by a group of refugees fleeing the Japanese troops. The kids loved the caves and the lighting that provided the wonderful photos.
After the cave we headed back to the hotel to have a special lunch with our friends in the hotels restaurant. Our friends came with their children who we all enjoyed meeting for the first time and an wonderful Chinese meal, complete with ice-cream, was a true highlight! The staff at the hotel are such gracious hosts and we even met the General Manager and the Assistant General Manager who arranged to have a room set up for the kids to play in as it was one of the children's birthday, complete with a slide, jumping area and a Wii! It was a great event and a fun time was had by all!
After a short nap, we had dinner with some more friends out at a local Congee restaurant that is a favorite of the locals. The food selections were almost overwhelming, but we finally selected a spicy beef skewer, a peppered green bean with onion, garlic eggplant, rice, marinated cucumbers, crab congee, and turtle soup along with some local beer. An fantastic dinner with an after dinner conversation that we just as fantastic. Its been so much fun seeing our friends and sharing stories about all of our adventures. For us it is also very neat to gain valuable insight into the local area as they have lived here for many years. On a side note, our friends daughters are really spoiling the kids so it may be a bit painful when we depart for Guangzhou on Sunday, but there is a bonus in that we will see them again when they visit us in the United States in February!
One special peice to the entire evening was that there happened to be a wedding in the hotel this evening. As they were set up by the front door, we took the time to watch them as they greeted their guests. Savannah, ever the inquisitive one, wanted to know if she could get her photo made with them as well! With that, our friends daughters took her right over and asked the bride and groom if they would like to take their photo with Savannah, which was met with a resounding yes! It seems that it is good luck to have someone foreign, especially American, and doubly especially Chinese American, in your wedding photos! Good luck to the happy couple and may they have as much happiness in their life as we do! With that we will close out on Thursday here and Guilin and pick it up again tomorrow, same time, same channel!
So till then......
Michael (turtle tastes just like chicken!), Ann Marie (there is no way I buying my kids those whistles!), Savannah (is everybody here Chinese?), Aiden (I want to play Cover Orange!), and Declan (wǒ chī le tài duō le!)
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| Declan was being lured in by a slide whistle pushing local outside the caves |
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| An interesting form of transportation...... |
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| He really does know how to use chopsticks! |
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| The Kennedys outside the Reed Flute Cave |
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| I am thinking we keep up the gymnastics lessons! |
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| SURPRISE! |
After the cave we headed back to the hotel to have a special lunch with our friends in the hotels restaurant. Our friends came with their children who we all enjoyed meeting for the first time and an wonderful Chinese meal, complete with ice-cream, was a true highlight! The staff at the hotel are such gracious hosts and we even met the General Manager and the Assistant General Manager who arranged to have a room set up for the kids to play in as it was one of the children's birthday, complete with a slide, jumping area and a Wii! It was a great event and a fun time was had by all!
After a short nap, we had dinner with some more friends out at a local Congee restaurant that is a favorite of the locals. The food selections were almost overwhelming, but we finally selected a spicy beef skewer, a peppered green bean with onion, garlic eggplant, rice, marinated cucumbers, crab congee, and turtle soup along with some local beer. An fantastic dinner with an after dinner conversation that we just as fantastic. Its been so much fun seeing our friends and sharing stories about all of our adventures. For us it is also very neat to gain valuable insight into the local area as they have lived here for many years. On a side note, our friends daughters are really spoiling the kids so it may be a bit painful when we depart for Guangzhou on Sunday, but there is a bonus in that we will see them again when they visit us in the United States in February!
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