After Suzhou it was time to head south into Guangxi province. Guilin is famous mainly for being the image people often think of when they think of sterotypical China. The lush mountains in the area have that iconic cone shape and tower of relatively flat plains around them. The effect is spectacular. Running through the middle of the city is the river you see those iconic shots of raft fishermen using cormorants to bring in their catch. Being far south, the winter hadn't hit Guilin hard and so was still relatively green in appearance - just not so blooming is it meant to be in the summer.

Once again, just like Suzhou, we hired bikes to look around the city. The suburbs of the city are more like little villages, without the bustle of a city, and with plenty of (relative to general China) peace and quiet. Apparently many western holidaymakers to Guilin are shocked at how run-down the small surrounding towns are. Most of us thought they were lovely.

If we had cycled a bit further, we could have got right out into the countryside but we didn't quite get there. Instead we did go up onto one of those iconic mountains for a view over the city. The views over the city were great, and the chinglish on the way up was even more spectacular; a personal favourite being the sign ordering 'no wrong poses' on a slide down part of the mountain.

Like many of the locations, I considered coffee a tourist attraction. A good thing to, as Guilin is developing as a bit of a coffee town in the grand scale of China. There was a lovely tree-lined street with bookshops and coffee shops - just like home!

Guilin has really developed as a major tourist destination and so the sightseeing prices have rocketed. We did nonetheless get to one well known sight in the area - the reed flute caves. These caves should have been stunning. The only problem is that China has a different idea of what makes a natural wonder into a tourist destination, so instead of leaving it as it is, with some simple lights to show the way, the whole place was lit up in flourescent lights like some kind of Giant stony inside-out Christmas tree. It was impressive, but the light show was really not needed.

And neither was the random unexplained video of Dinosaurs and sharks that got projected onto the side of the cave in the main area.

But that is China for you! Sometimes you just can't understand it, no matter how hard you try...

One of our favourite things about Guilin, strangely enough, was actually the hostel. The staff were fabulous and great fun, the other people staying there were cool, and the place in general was rather comfortable.

They also had the only nice Baijiu in the whole of China. Unless southern Baijiu is actually ok!

Guilin also was the place I realised that I, although it is a little odd, get to practice my German with Germans more in China than I do in England. Nearly every hostel in China seems to have numerous German guests, and Guilin was no exception.

Now, that is possibly all I have to say for Guilin. We didn't take any boat rides, as they were too expensive. We didn't go the rice paddies, as they were too expensive. We didn't go on a raft ride, as it was too expensive. So the last thing to say, is that if you consider going to Guilin and want to do many of the touristy things, bring some cash with you.

And that was basically the end of the travels. I'll say a quick thing about the stop in Xi'an (for the sole purpose of breaking up a long journey into two) and the unexpected visit to Fukang on the way home, simply so I can complete that lovely map that is developing on the blog.

Thanks for reading!