Final day with Troy and drove almost 2 hours to Suzhou, an area renowned for its Chinese gardens (recognised by UNESCO World Heritage).
Visiting the Garden of the Master of the Nets and then on to the Humble Administrator’s Garden (12 acres, very humble!), with zigzag walkways, water lilies, bonsai and traditionally styled pavilions, a peaceful space for children to run around and parents to relax, especially in a country where gardens are not common place.
Next to board a boat and travel on the Grand Canal (considered the ‘Venice of the East’) passing peoples’ homes and washing lines heavily laden with knickers and bed spreads … not sure why Canaletto omitted painting such colourful items in his artwork!?
Monday morning came and Troy took us via the most impressive Maglev train (awesome, reaching 431kph with windows almost imploding as another train passed, 31 kilometres covered in 7 minutes!) to the airport and deposited us at the gate for our next plane journey to Guilin – It was very sad to leave him as we had formed quite a bond – he introduced us to Chinese dumplings and Subway sandwiches (!), we introduced him to Nero coffee and Fantasy Football – though I believe him the winner as his knowledge of the premier league far surpassed mine!!
After a 2-hour flight we landed in Guilin and were met by ‘John’ – a tall, overly jolly fellow who laughed at the end of EVERY sentence (though sadly any jokes were lost in translation!). Whisked up and placed in what can only be described as a tin can with four wheels, unlikely to pass any UK MOT with the stench of fuel filling our lungs, off we set for the Reed Flute Caves and cooler, fresher air (!) passing paddy fields and farmers embracing the modern machinery over buffalo. The caves were apparently found by a farmer many years ago, and now quite a tourist attraction with locals able to buy shares in them to take advantage of his unearthly find! Finally, we arrived at the Shangri La Hotel, a very splendid façade (by local standards), room large, food shocking! Dreaming of breakfast to be a relaxed atmosphere similar to that of the Shangri La Hotel housed within The Shard, London, all visions shattered like glass as a throng of locals shoved and pushed their way through to the local dishes – thank goodness for the seemingly empty toast station!
Collected early morning by John and the ‘smelly car’ (John armed with packed lunch boxes as apparently the food on the boat inedible!), we were taken to board the Li River Cruise boat – a ‘leisurely’ cruise (following other ‘leisurely cruisers’) of 4 hours passing limestone hills, fishermen and villages – certainly magnificent and dramatic enough for any Jurassic Park movie to be filmed, and had a brontosaurus popped his head around a hill and nibbled on his vegetation, I wouldn’t have blinked an eye (well, I say ‘wouldn’t’!!)
At the end of the very long boat journey, we walked in the heat and humidity of around 36 degrees to a shuttle cart (bus?!), then to ‘smelly car’ for 10 mins, then to wait for our hotel (Mountain Retreat) shuttle taxi …. It seems 4 days ago the Government decided that the area our hotel was placed was a tourist attraction (beautiful, remote and tranquil) and therefore should be ‘restricted access’ in order to preserve it …. No tourist cars permitted to drive to the hotel … wait for the hotel shuttle! John had to leave us as he was to stay at a more ‘modest establishment’ and would not be able to ‘get back to town’ from our ‘retreat’.
On finally reaching our place of rest, all we craved was a cool shower and a comfy bed … sadly severely rustic even by African standards! Thankfully my husband donned his protective armour (rarely worn as wife so usually independent!) and took matters in hand – call made back to John who within 20 minutes had taxi retrieved, us driven to 5-star Green Lotus Hotel in town and the promise that a replacement car was being ‘redeployed’ for the morning! (thoughts of 2-hour drive back to the airport in ‘smelly car’ was just too much to endure especially as migraine tablets supply running low!).
Husband, sensing he was on a roll, and seeming to quite enjoy ‘looking after me’, promised a ‘good meal’ to make things better and off we wandered to town … passing boards advertising chicken cartilage and duck tongue (apology’s, ‘spicy’ chicken cartilage and ‘spicy ducck’ tongue!), smelling the wretched durian fruit amongst market hawkers and less able bodied beggars, finally the Golden Arches of ‘McD’s’ beckoned and chicken nuggets and fries thoroughly enjoyed!! He sure knows how to ‘treat a gal’ apparently and at just over £6, a cheap date at that!!
Breakfast at the Golden Lotus clearly sponsored by a reputable diet company as the morning greeting of offal soaked in soupy cauldrons certainly puts you off eating – even the blessed toaster was broken so bread it was …. I know travelling is meant to inspire one to embrace cultures’ cuisine but I’m sorry, we are now struggling with this one in these more rural areas ….
Two-hour drive in what can only be described as ‘luxury’ (good-bye smelly car!) – cloth covered seats now real ‘leather look’, air conditioning and carpet, plus seat belts that stretch further than the locked in size 4 body mass! We said our goodbyes to John (who was STILL laughing!) and headed for our flight to Chengdu … so, to date 4 flights, 1 train, 3 boats, 1 shuttle cart (bus), 1 smelly car and a few decent ones, but we’re still smiling!!
