I got to Guilin without having to share the train compartment with anybody. It was great. It was a soft-sleeper compartment and I had the whole thing to myself for the full 27 hours. This time it was slightly warmer and more comfortable than the previous soft-sleeper service, but not by much. I still had to keep the cabin door shut and keep going for walks in the main corridor, just to make my compartment seem warmer, but they did eventually turn the heating on. The difference this time was the sun. It was out and making the surrounding countryside look beautiful. A train ride really is the best way to see a country that you could hope for.

Once I’d arrived in Guilin, as per a freind’s instructions, I travelled straight through it and went on to Yangshuo. Here I walked around, trying to find a hostel that looked good, but eventually just checked-in to the first one I saw. I was only there one night before setting of for Xingping, leaving my main bag in the hostel.

After hiring a bike and cycling the full 3.5 hours to Xingping, I had to dismount in the end and push the bike the rest of the way, as I was physically exhausted. The bike could have done with a bit of oil and was a few sizes too small, but it got me there. The roads were being re-surfaced, so I was covered in dust, but the countryside between Yangshuo and Xingping was exactly what I had been hoping for.

In Xingping, I found that there were no dorm rooms left, but fortunately, in the process of trying to establish with the receptionist that there was no space left, she remembered that someone else had recently had the same problem. I agreed to share a twin room with Kristjian, a Croatian tour-guide leader and we met Stephan, a German cycling from Bavaria, who agreed to accompany us on a walk through the mountains the next day. It was a good walk, but it was slightly tarnished by the pushy locals, trying to sell bamboo rides and anything else they could lay their hands on.

When I got back to Yangshuo, I met Aron, a Chinese student who was travelling the country in order to visit all of the provinces before University started again. We had an interesting conversation about China (which I took notes on) and we agreed to go for dinner together. I learnt a lot from Aron and he was one of the first real Chinese people that I had spoken to that had gone into any real depth.

The next day, I went on a Chinese cookery course. This was fun and we went to the market beforehand in order to buy some extra bits. Here I got the see the cold-eyed butchers preparing dogs and cats, something which I had never seen before. They were being kept there, skinned and blow-torched, in order to tighten their skin up, all in the same place. This was all part of the animal department and it was a relief to see some fish, which was slightly more what I was used to.

After the cookery course, once I was back in the hostel, I got my things together, checked-out and planned the trip to Guangzhou.