Day 11:

Guilin is a city of lights at night. It lit up much like Las Vegas is which was awfully strange to see as we arrived. We are staying in a 5 star hotel but I think the hotel received its rating sometime back in the 1960’s because the décor in the rooms is very dated. The beds are also the hardest/ firmest we have experienced – we might as well be sleeping on the floor! Many of the kids were itching to get to the gym at the hotel and do a work out or hit the pool.

Today was an easier day. After breakfast we went for a drive to the River “Li” for a cruise to see the local mountains. They are not very high but the reminded most of us of the sky mountains in the movie Avatar. It was an absolutely beautiful journey down the river for about 1.5 hrs. On the boat there was a bottle of snake wine that was a centerpiece at the counter. Many of the kids took a picture with it as it actually had about 7 snakes in it. It smelled like gasoline and that was with the lid on!

Have I mentioned yet that my group is on “C” bus? “C” bus is the best bus. We have John Lewis, Mrs. Roberts, myself, and a great group of kids on the bus. My chaperone group named themselves the “A” team because they feel they are the best group as well. We even have hand signals and a song worked out. The kids on our bus have been great and we have had random “dance parties” where the kids decide to sing and dance when a fun song comes on the radio. This has been a repeated theme and has really set the tone for our experience.

In the afternoon we went to a Tea factory where we learned about the traditional way to pick, dry, and prepare teas from the osmanthus plant. We had a lesson on how to pick the different types of tea and then the kids were let loose to see who could pick the most of a certain type of tea in a give time. Nicole Langmuir and I worked together to try and get a respectable amount while Nik Ottenbreit decided at the last minute of the competition that he would just grab handfuls of twigs, leaves and whatever else he could get his hands on in order to try and win. When our host guide came around she just laughed and his basket and refused to take it from him!

**** I guess due to the 3 days we lost with my backpack being missing I will have catch up with the write up on my plane ride back to Canada. I should have some performance pictures from Mr. Royer soon and will include those. ****

**** Important – Please remember that you are not picking up your kids from the airport but rather from Argyle on Saturday. We should be arriving around 12:30 if we clear customs efficiently and there are no flight delays. See you soon! ****