The disappointment of missing the 3 gorges cruise meant that we had 6 days spanning over the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival). We had read good things about Guilin and decided to treat ourselves to 6 days in one place.

The train journey from Chongqing was uneventful and we arrived at our hostel easily with Guilin being a relatively small city. Temperatures were sub zero which we were assured was unusual for this area and much in the same way we in the UK seldom have air conditioning due to the infrequency of use, buildings in the South of China seldom have heating!

Our initial exploration of Guilin was uninspiring as it seemed similar to the centre of many other Chinese cities we had visited, the only bright point was Gemma's discovery of sweet pumpkin buns which she ordered by the plate load.

Our first full day yielded much better results, more in tune with what the guide book had lead us to believe about Guilin. We climbed limestone karsts with Ming dynasty pavilions and pagodas at their summits and Buddhist carvings within. The weather and particularly the mist took something away from the otherwise spectacular views of the city but the ascents were still worth it. In the afternoon we took a walk along the Li river and visited the scenic seven stars park.

After an evening refuelling with more pumpkin buns the next day we travelled into the countryside to visit the Dragon's Backbone rice terraces an ingenious agricultural feat where by Chinese farmers grow rice on otherwise un-farmable hillsides. Once again we were thwarted by the mists which limited the views but the experience was still worthwhile. During the evening we were back in Guilin to visit its lake on which sit the beautiful Sun and Moon twin pagodas.

Whilst Guilin undeniably has some natural beauty it didn't reach our expectations. In addition we found it to be quite developed, lacking in character and offering very little in the way of nightlife. It was New Years Eve and we decided to leave Guilin, take a chance and spend the Spring Festival in the nearby town of Yangshou.