I was picked up at the hostel by the van that would drive me to the wharf. We were there with plenty of time to spare. We were dropped off in the waiting room that was also conveniently the jade and crystal showcase sales room. People could only wait there. How interesting it was all scheduled this way. In fact all the people waiting for their cruise had to wait in this big sales room.
I sat by the restroom where the only seat were available in the room. The entire place was made for standing, shopping, looking over the glass counters showcasing things you can buy. I didn’t mind sitting by the restroom because I just wanted to meditate a bit. The place was bouncing with energy in no particular order. It was too much for me. I put on my ear plugs and recited. It was amazing that I was able to make separation with all of it.
An hour later we got our cruise tickets. There was an option to get on a tour bus afterwards for 110 yuan to see Moon Hill and old Banyon Groves and then a bus ride back into Guilin all included. I decided to pass. I didn’t know how well I would do on the cruise and may need to just rest afterwards.
I got the window seat and was happy to sit by the window. I sat next to a couple from Hei Long Jiang. The woman knew I was a vegetarian when lunch came around and I only had plain rice and gourd with salt. She was self conscious about eating freshly killed seafood in front of me so she would turn her back to me while she ate. Then she insisted on trying to convince me that I was malnourished because I was a vegetarian. I asked her to take another good look at me and questioned why she thought I looked malnourished. She said picky eaters like me tend to be malnourished and fat. So she decided to call me “Pang Gu Nang” fat girl the rest of the cruise ride.
The cruise ride was amazing. I highly recommend anyone wanting to check out Guilin to not miss this cruise ride. All the best views are along this river and the best ones are not at the end where YangSho is where you can skip the cruise but take the bamboo raft for a cheaper price. This cruise only does one direction travel which is down river. Up river it does not take passengers.
We passed by a cave and legend has it that aliens once lived there. In fact stories of aliens in China are well known and documented. Only locals are granted access to the cave today.
