Day One in Guilin

Today I woke up, did a load of laundry and ate a great breakfast of an egg with toast and oatmeal. I then headed out to find the Reed Flute Caves and Die Cai Hill by bus. I had a huge scare on the bus. When I got to the Reed Flute Caves I forgot my backpack on the bus with all of my water, snacks and i-touch. I must have some amazing luck stored up because I ended up being surrounded by a group of very kind women who somehow through my gestures were able to understand what happened and took me to a police officer standing close by and explained all together in some fierce Chinese that I needed help getting my bag. The police officer flagged down the next bus and road with me to intercept the bus I left my bag on. When we got there the bus driver had my bag sitting next to him and nothing was missing. They drove me back to the Reed Flute Caves and made me stay on the bus for about five minutes. I thought that I was going to be in trouble or something and I had left my passport back at the hostel. It turns out they were waiting for a woman that spoke English to come and make sure that everything was in my bag and nothing had been taken. She then graciously walked me to the entrance of the Reed Flute Caves and wished me a good day. OMG, what a flipping miracle and what incredibly kind and generous people. I am still reeling from it all! After the caves I road on a bamboo raft around this little lake and then got on the bus again and headed to Die Cai Hill. It was hotter than hell but I walked to the top of this Hill that had breath taking views of Guilin. I took tons of pictures that I will upload tonight!

Guilin is an incredibly beautiful city. So far it has turned out to be my very favorite in China so far. It is surrounded by green mountains in every direction but I will let you take a look for yourself! Tomorrow I ride on a bamboo raft down the Li River to Yangshou which is supposed to be even more spectacular than Guilin. I can't wait...