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Well, me and likkle Mo can't do anything the easy way or without a likkle drama - for us, at this point in our trip, it came while we were trying to fly from Chengdu to Guilin.
All of the flights we had taken in China were pretty good - clean, spacious, free food & water no matter how short the flight. All in all, a pretty good and cheap way to get around a HUGE country.
I was telling Magic in an email this afternoon about this part (which I thought I would likely leave out of my report) - however, it really was a BIG part of the adventure for me, so here's what happened...
(Note to Magic)
"I haven't mentioned to you the one BIG scare we (I) had - (Likkle Mo didn't really know what was going on because of the no english on the Air China flights). I found all of the Air China and Southern China flights to run like clockwork, but when we got on our flight in Chengdu to fly to Guilin, I realized we were sitting for quite a while. I looked at my watch and it was 3:20p.m., out flight was supposed to leave at 3:15p.m.
The engine was shut off, and we were just sitting. I kept hearing what I thought and know to be typical rumblings of planes landing and taking off, accompanied by the loud noise assiciated with that landing and taking off in a busy airport. I really didn't think aything of it.
15 minutes later people were getting antsy and tittering in Chinese - again, I understood nothing, and now the pilot was talking (again, in CHINESE). People started talking more animated among themselves.... I hit the call button to see if ANYONE on the flight could translate what the delay was. The flight attendant came, I pointed at my watch and shrugged my shoulders as to say "when are we leaving?"... she said "no english" and walked away.
A few minutes later, who i think was a pilot walked to the back where we were and said in very broken english and said "no fly til quake finish - not safe! Just tremor now", and he walked away.
It was then that I realized (by looking out the window) that there were NO planes were taking off or landing, and that the rumblings and sounds were not from planes!!
We sat on the plane for about an hour and a half and then like nothing happened, the engine cranked up and off we went!!
No kidding, I was determined the next morning in Guilin to find some information to see what the magnitude of the quake was that we sat on the plane for, and sure enough, the english version of the South China Daily online indicated that a 6.0 quake hit the sichuan province (same earthquake zone) at 3:12p.m. - I had to print it off, I could not believe it!!
Fortunately Likkle Mo didn't really understand the pilot (I only did because I understand patois I am sure
) and I just told her that it was busy and we would take off soon (I repeated this every time she asked - but she has flown lots so she accepted that and we played cards)
Sheesh - us an our luck and timing!!"
Anyway... we did make it to Guilin, and here's what we saw there. First I will tell you that Guilin, the Li River in particular, is another Heaven on Earth place. I know it may sound redundant when I use the word "spectacular" again, but it really was.
The city was fine... nothing to write too much about. Some interesting places, and neat monesterys, but that river - WOW!! And there are still minority cultures and people living in their villages along the riverside. None of them have been displaced like on the Yangtze River.
We had a good sleep in a mediocre hotel (there really isn't such thing as an accurate "star" rating in China), and next morning, we set out on foot to find Elephane Trunk Hill which is a mountain (not really that large, maybe 50 storeys high) on the bank of the Li River. It is has the shape of an elephant (which in China is a very good luck animal and symbol)... it's trunk seems to hang over the river. Pretty neat. You can climb it and see a pretty good panoramic view of the city and the river. And as everywhere in China, there are likkle makeshift shrines and offering places in every nook and every cranny of every place. People in China are deeply spiritual and really hoping to do all they can to make it to a good place after their life finishes.
Here we go... Elephant Trunk Hill - even though by this point we said we would not climb any more hills, mountains or stairs!!! So much for that!! Unfortunately, we had to buy a postcard because it was too large to get a good picture of. I'll show you pieces...
The top
View from the top
Little shrines and offerings along the way
REALLY old water tank (?) at the very top
Nice walk ways, and LOTS of stairs to reach the top!!
City of Guilin from the top
All of the flights we had taken in China were pretty good - clean, spacious, free food & water no matter how short the flight. All in all, a pretty good and cheap way to get around a HUGE country.
I was telling Magic in an email this afternoon about this part (which I thought I would likely leave out of my report) - however, it really was a BIG part of the adventure for me, so here's what happened...
(Note to Magic)
"I haven't mentioned to you the one BIG scare we (I) had - (Likkle Mo didn't really know what was going on because of the no english on the Air China flights). I found all of the Air China and Southern China flights to run like clockwork, but when we got on our flight in Chengdu to fly to Guilin, I realized we were sitting for quite a while. I looked at my watch and it was 3:20p.m., out flight was supposed to leave at 3:15p.m.
The engine was shut off, and we were just sitting. I kept hearing what I thought and know to be typical rumblings of planes landing and taking off, accompanied by the loud noise assiciated with that landing and taking off in a busy airport. I really didn't think aything of it.
15 minutes later people were getting antsy and tittering in Chinese - again, I understood nothing, and now the pilot was talking (again, in CHINESE). People started talking more animated among themselves.... I hit the call button to see if ANYONE on the flight could translate what the delay was. The flight attendant came, I pointed at my watch and shrugged my shoulders as to say "when are we leaving?"... she said "no english" and walked away.
A few minutes later, who i think was a pilot walked to the back where we were and said in very broken english and said "no fly til quake finish - not safe! Just tremor now", and he walked away.
It was then that I realized (by looking out the window) that there were NO planes were taking off or landing, and that the rumblings and sounds were not from planes!!
We sat on the plane for about an hour and a half and then like nothing happened, the engine cranked up and off we went!!
No kidding, I was determined the next morning in Guilin to find some information to see what the magnitude of the quake was that we sat on the plane for, and sure enough, the english version of the South China Daily online indicated that a 6.0 quake hit the sichuan province (same earthquake zone) at 3:12p.m. - I had to print it off, I could not believe it!!
Fortunately Likkle Mo didn't really understand the pilot (I only did because I understand patois I am sure
) and I just told her that it was busy and we would take off soon (I repeated this every time she asked - but she has flown lots so she accepted that and we played cards)Sheesh - us an our luck and timing!!"
Anyway... we did make it to Guilin, and here's what we saw there. First I will tell you that Guilin, the Li River in particular, is another Heaven on Earth place. I know it may sound redundant when I use the word "spectacular" again, but it really was.
The city was fine... nothing to write too much about. Some interesting places, and neat monesterys, but that river - WOW!! And there are still minority cultures and people living in their villages along the riverside. None of them have been displaced like on the Yangtze River.
We had a good sleep in a mediocre hotel (there really isn't such thing as an accurate "star" rating in China), and next morning, we set out on foot to find Elephane Trunk Hill which is a mountain (not really that large, maybe 50 storeys high) on the bank of the Li River. It is has the shape of an elephant (which in China is a very good luck animal and symbol)... it's trunk seems to hang over the river. Pretty neat. You can climb it and see a pretty good panoramic view of the city and the river. And as everywhere in China, there are likkle makeshift shrines and offering places in every nook and every cranny of every place. People in China are deeply spiritual and really hoping to do all they can to make it to a good place after their life finishes.
Here we go... Elephant Trunk Hill - even though by this point we said we would not climb any more hills, mountains or stairs!!! So much for that!! Unfortunately, we had to buy a postcard because it was too large to get a good picture of. I'll show you pieces...
The top
View from the top
Little shrines and offerings along the way
REALLY old water tank (?) at the very top
Nice walk ways, and LOTS of stairs to reach the top!!
City of Guilin from the top
Peace and Blessings 
Soooo many boats going up and down the river all day and night. The river is used for transportation between some different places as well, so it was really busy in certain spots.
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