China is building. Lots. And fast. Cranes and rubble are everywhere – big cities, small towns, ethnic villages. It’s a country on the rise, quite literally with all the buildings changing the skyline (but Chinese investments ended the year down, so something else is obviously going on that I can’t see).
Nine-and-a-half-hour bus journey from Kaili to Guilin through more limestone karsts that look almost handmade:
Here they don’t move mountains, but just break them down if they get in the way of the relentless building programme. Literally break them down.
I’m not sure whether you can see it on this pic, but the trees were in lines again – Buddha was obviously a very neat chap:
Boarded the bus to see these little ‘uns in our seats – I told you Asians board a bus and immediately start eating:
As predicted, they started puking not long after. Is this some kind of ancient ritual, handed down from generation to generation? With the amount of food their father had with him, it would appear so.
Barking from below gave away the dogs in the hold, but they had better prospects than the hounds on this passing lorry (was that subtle enough?):
Arriving in Guilin, we were accosted by the usual groupies, found a hotel and were led to our room. The key didn’t work. This isn’t unusual- we seem to jinx these electronic keys. Again and again he tried the door, each time being greeted with the universal noise for “I’m in charge, and there’s no way I’m letting you in”. He paused. The door opened from the inside and a middle-aged man was standing there. He smelled strongly of alcohol. A lady arrived and everyone chattered away in Chinese. Eventually we were taken to a different room, complete with optional extras of ladies’ and men’s’ underwear, a copious supply of condoms and the necessary emergency breathing apparatus. The whole experience was very surreal.