Mom and Karin were able to call Diane this morning to give her an update on their adventures yesterday. They visited Reed Flute Cave which is a huge cave featuring a walk of about 500 meters. It is filled with countless amazingly beautiful stalactite formations.
Mom fell in this cave, and to use her words, "a very graceful fall." She was wearing a white blouse and her skirt and her clothes were just black from the fall and then getting up. Her hair was a mess (Karin's fault, she didn't use enough hair spray to keep it from coming down while mom was scrambling on the ground trying to get up) and the entire rest of the tour she looked like a homeless person. Karin thought that worked out very well. No one came up to them begging for money or asking them to buy anything. The unfortunate problem is that skirt was the one thing helping mom use the 'toilets' and I use that term loosely. They are holes in the ground and require squatting. It is hard for an 86 year old lady to hold the squat much less keep her balance. Oh well maybe they can figure out how to clean up the skirt so that it can be worn another day.
The next place they traveled to was Elephant Trunk Hill. It is a landmark of the city of Guilin. It is supposed to look like an elephant standing in the water.
Later in the day they went to Seven Star Park. It is named for the seven peaks of mountains within the park and is 297 acres of gorgeous mountain views clear water and of course the Camel Hill pictured below:
The guide warned them about not eating anything in the villages and that was a good thing she did. Mom wanted to try the local food but not at a risk of getting sick. Tonight (Friday night) is the last night at this very very fancy hotel. They had just come up from using the women's hot tub when they called and both mom and Karin said the hot tub was very beautiful, clean and only for women. This hotel has a little zoo with deer and other animals they can see from their windows up on the 7th floor. They also can see apartments or houses of other people. This evening there was a man running circles in his underwear on his patio getting exercise and another lady hanging her laundry out to dry. Mom thinks they don't have the conveniences such as washers and dryers in this town of Gullin. The Shangr-La hotel they are staying in is 5 star and has WiFi so we have been able to keep in touch. They ordered room service for dinner ordering a cheeseburger. Karin said it was the mushiest cheeseburger she ever had and smelled funny but she covered it with ketchup in order to eat it. She is not sure what kind of meat it was but at least it really WAS a cheese burger. This morning (Saturday morning) they had a wonderful Western breakfast with bacon and eggs. Before they went up to the room they smuggled out some croissants, cheese and hard boiled eggs for the lunch as the guide told them the food is bad on the river boat cruise they are going on today (Saturday for them). After the 4 hour cruise on the Li River they will be transferred to a local family for an authentic rural China experience. Tonight (Saturday night) they will be staying at the Yangshuo Green Lotus Hotel.
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