Back to the Xing Dynasty - March 2, 2015

What a difference a day can make! When we woke this morning, we had no idea what would follow. After the 45-minute taxi ride through the neon-lit city from the Guilin airport, Montana and LuRue were beginning to wonder about the hotel that they were expecting to be “near the airport”. When LuRue woke up at 7:30am, she lay in bed, thinking about how to change plans. It turned out to be ridiculously easy. More on that later.

Montana and LuRue went to breakfast in the lobby of the hotel (Xinxiang). It was buffet-style with a selection of noodles, dumplings, meat balls, rolls, and eggs boiled in tea, plus other things. We managed pretty well with the chopsticks.

The next order of business was to get more cash. The hotel clerk recognized “ATM” when it was written out & pointed us in the direction of the bank across the street. Mission accomplished.

The best part came when we were able to rearrange and simplify our plans for the Guilin area. Originally we were going to spend our first & last nights in Guilin (thinking the hotel was very near the airport), keep our luggage in our hotel room ($23 per night) and just take a small bag to the Secret Garden Boutique Hotel. Instead the front desk person called SGBH for us, which allowed us to talk to Faye who assured us that we could extend our stay there for one more night, would arrange airport transportation, and that she would send a driver for us at noon. We checked out of the Xinxiang, got some money back for the prepaid reservation, and are now settled into a charming place in Jiuxian Ancient Village for the remainder of our time in this area.

It is necessary to walk through cobblestone alleys to get to this place...truly like going back in time. The SGBH project was started in 2009 when a South African artist (who goes by a Chinese name...Fengzi) decided to preserve a small segment of local Chinese history & culture by saving a Qing Dynasty courtyard house in the village. He teamed up with a local Chinese woman Faye and her husband to lease properties from six landlords. They opened a hotel and artist retreat so that they would have the funds to do the renovating. So far they have renovated most of the buildings into a place dripping with atmosphere. The only downside is that the highest temperature that we’ve been able to achieve is 65 degrees. Even Montana has been wearing a jacket in the room! But there is one duvet on the bed, with another ready to put on if needed.

After a bit of settling in, we ate lunch in the hotel cafe. We both agreed that it was delicious. The cafe is open all day, so there won’t be any problems wondering where to eat...we’ll be free to choose.

After lunch, we took a walk on the unique cement road through a rice paddy onto the main road, where we walked through a village (about 1300 population) and down to the Yulong River. Bamboo rafts were being poled along, an activity which we plan to do. According to TripAdvisor, the “bamboo ladies” are relentless if you go to certain areas. We’ve checked out activities for this area on TripAdvisor...we’ll also ask Faye. Apparently she can make all arrangements for anything we might want to do.

Both Montana and LuRue were having trouble with “free wifi” at places which claimed they had it. Fengzi finally solved the mystery. China has any Google-based computer programs blocked. Bad news for Gmail users...also for LuRue who has a Google Chromebook. While LuRue was attempting to get on Yahoo with her Chromebook, Montana was looking up on how to get on Google in China. She found several websites that offered it for a price, but she did find one with a 30-minute free trial - just enough time for her to message people, tell them the news, and give them a new Yahoo email to send messages to.

We’re not sure how we can get these blogs on the website, but we’ll keep writing them.