After what felt like the longest train ride so far (even though it wasn't even close to the length of the train ride from Moscow to Irkutsk) we arrived in Guilin and were both so happy that it was warm.

We checked into a hostel which was down a back street, it seemed more in place with a seedy backstreet out of films than where a hostel would be. Once in the hostel though it was actually a really nice place. We dumped our stuff in the dorm room and went to get food. After 24 hours of noodles on a train we decided something greasy was in order and went to the first fast food place we found (being China it was a KFC, there is one on literally every street corner). I regretted it the next day but at the time it was exactly what was needed.

As we only had one full day in Guilin we did what everybody else wouldn't, we slept in. Once up we went to a park in the town (China charges to get into most of it's parks) called the Seven Caves Park. Once inside the scenery is so beautiful that you forget that you are in a city and walk up a series of steep hills (more like mountains). One such hill you actually walk through a cave, at least half a kilometre long, to reach near the peak. The views were stunning to say the least (little did we know at this point but the views would just continue to improve over the next few days).

We spent the evening with another couple (and there young home schooled son) and Aaron discussing our own travelling experiences so far.

The next morning it was time to try and find the buses to Yangshuo, which turned out to be incredibly easy as a bus was using the back street to turn round so we promptly boarded. The next half hour was spent with the bus driving up and down the same road (involving u-turns in heavy traffic without warning, which is kind of scary when there are lorries approaching at speed) until they had enough people to make the journey cost effective.

Once on our way the views just kept getting better until we arrived in Yangshuo. We were met off the bus by the hotel owner and Sarah and Aarons bags were placed on on scooter and taken to the hotel whilst we walked. Once our bags were dumped we made for the river and continued to be amazed by the views.

After a few beers by the river front we decided to eat, although where was out of our hands when offered two free beers per person at a place on the main street. The food was nice but the fact that I was invited to play hackey sack with the locals made it even better, even though I was crap.

The evening was finished by a game of beer pong (throwing a ping pong ball into your opponents glass to make them drink) and a snake whiskey on a roof top bar, at a place called Monkey Jane's.

The next day was Valentines day so we went for a raft down the river, through the most beautiful gorges I have ever seen (they will be hard to beat). Other than that Sarah kept up the tradition of feeling ill on any romantic event and we had to make it an early night. Although it is important to note that the Chinese celebrate Valentines day just as much (if not more) than we do. We lost count of the number of couples wearing T-shirts with drawings of each other on them.

The next day was our final day in Yangshuo and we thought to make the most of it we would go out of town to some water caves, where the only way in was on rickety rafts (the water had to be emptied before we got in). Once inside there was a mud bath which it is fair to say was freezing but good fun.

We were up earlier than we had been since the vodkatrain on our final morning in Yangshuo to get what should have been a five hour bus ride to Nanning (it turned out to be six and a bit hours). The ride it is fair to say was not the comfiest as the roads were awful. We bounced all the way here and now as the city is dull (as dishwater) we have to wait for our Vietnamese visa so I won't be writing a blog from here.