Goodbye China and Good Morning Vietnam

Well we have left China after 3 1/2 fantastic weeks, getting a taste of the country from North to South. Even in our 24 days in the country we only got a small taste of this huge and remarkable place. We had a fantastic time in Guilin visiting some spectacular countryside.

Local Mountain Village

Gareth was "volunteered" to help with a cultural show detailing a traditional marriage ceremony. Yes that is a local women on his back after he had sung to her and danced. (Michelle lovingly filmed the whole thing!) Plus they have a custom of women pinching the males bum. It hurt!

Then we climbed up a huge hill/mountain to see how they grow rice on terraces they have made over hundreds of years

Whole hillsides are stepped to grow rice

It is amazing how they have transformed the valley

Great to climb it but we felt it the next day

After we went to a tea plantation where Michelle picked some for herself.

Again they use steps to grow it but not on the same scale as the rice

We then got treated to a traditional tea drinking ceremony and tried some lovely green, black and herbal teas. 

The second day in Guilin - The River Li.

We thought this was the most beautiful place we have been in China. The pictures don't do it justice

Standing on the top deck we got a great view and a lovely breeze

The Limestone hill formations jumped up to create amazing shapes (apparently this one is a dolphin)

We had enjoyed heavy rain so the river was running high (and brown) with lots of small waterfalls

The River cruise gave us the best views and the bluest sky we have found in China

After the cruise we went through a local village (bamboo scaffolding)

Just chilling with some tunes

We went to a smaller gentler river

Stunning green water with bamboo rafts that we got on

The views from the raft where amazing and the smooth water reflected the sky and hills. Very peacful

Michelle made friends with a young water buffullo

And we got a demonstration of traditional cormorant fishing

Beautiful bird

Clever bird

All in all we had a fantastic time in Guilin! We then took trains from Guilin into Vietnam, one was 6 hours and the night train was 11 hours. This morning we arrived at 5am in Hanoi . Good Morning Vietnam (always wanted a reason to say that). Even at 5am it was hot and humid (it was already 28C!). We doubt temperatures will get under 30 degree during our stay. We are at a gorgeous hotel in Hanoi and are resting. We are so tired because crossing the border at night meant getting up twice, once at 11pm  for Chinese customs and once after midnight to get through Vietnam customs. We where exhausted from all the travelling so are having a chilled day with the air con today.