Last day in Guilin

Sunday 10 June

It's our last day in Guilin; tomorrow we will say goodbye to China, as we travel by train to Hanoi, Vietnam.   It's rained overnight, but this morning it's sunny and the humidity is rising by the minute. We love everything about this hostel, except the way the bottom sheet escapes from the mattress during the night – possibly because the sheet, though large, clean and crisp cotton, is not quite big enough for the kingsized bed. The facilities have been brilliant, the staff helpful and friendly, and the lounge/bar area is perfect for enjoying a relaxing meal or just chilling out, and for meeting fellow travellers. We'll definitely give the hostel an “excellent” rating on hostelworld.com.

Reg decides we should see a bit more of Guilin on our last day here, even though I suspect we are all river'd. pagoda'd, scenic park'd and even greenery-covered spectacular limestone-peak'd out. He's right though, we can't let this last day slip by. Our first task is to pop into the gallery to arrange payment for our paintings, and give the hostel owner our address for shipment.

We make our way to Guilin's most famous peak, Elephant's Trunk Hill, another leafy limestone-peak, with a hole in one side, giving it the shape of an elephant's trunk. The peak towers high above the parkland below, and on top is the Puxian Pagoda, built hundreds of years ago during the Ming dynasty. You can climb up Elephant's Trunk Hill via what looks from the ground to be hundreds of steps – Reg reckons that the view from the top will be amazing, and he assures me that I do have the energy to do it.  

It's already extremely hot and sultry, but the thought of that magnificent view spurs us on, and we slowly make our way up, resting now and again at the odd viewpoint, as we scale the hill. Surprisingly, we arrive at the summit in no time at all, and not only is there a spectacular view of the river and parkland below, but also the luxurious touch of a cooling breeze. There's a wide variety of wild plants, as well as meadowy grassland covering the hill, and while we rest at the top, we watch a cluster of huge black butterflies dancing together in the greenery.  It's a peaceful sight.

We make our way slowly back to the hostel, dripping with the heat, and Reg does some admin on the computer, checking train tickets in Vietnam, while I sleep. We decide to eat in, and when we go downstairs the receptionist tells us that there are 2 English girls in the lounge, asking if there are any other people from the UK at the hostel. We introduce ourselves; one of the girls is studying to a doctor, and has been working on a drugs project in Hong Kong, and the other is a youth worker at an Anglican church in Guildford, having just done a degree in Theology. The girls are Christians and met while studying at Cambridge University.

Reg teases them for being posh, from a top university, but they take it in good heart. They are lovely girls, and we have a lot in common, not least our Christian faith; we have a really good chat, and I feel uplifted. We may not have the opportunity to worship regularly with others here, but the Lord is making sure we have the opportunity of meeting with other Christians to affirm and strengthen our faith.

As it's our last night in China I decide to eat something different, beer duck, but although the sauce is nice, it's full of bones (which the Chinese normally just spit out while eating) and I don't enjoy it much - I should have stuck to fried rice. While I'm cross with myself for choosing the wrong dish Reg is saying that he really feels he's got the knack of using chopsticks now.  He does sympathise with me for choosing a meal I don't like though ... it's happened to him, too.

After dinner it's the usual night-before-travelling scenario – I go up to the room to pack my stuff, although actually most of my belongings are in the suitcase all the time until needed, as that's the easiest way when travelling from place to place. There's dried laundry to retrieve from poles in the ceiling on the 6^th floor, and food to sort for the journey; the hostel have cooked us some hard boiled eggs, and sold us some butter pats, as it's difficult to buy butter or the spread equivalent in China. We've bought bread and croissants, plus China's special brand of custard tarts, crisps, and have jam, and of course teabags. We're all set for our journey tomorrow, from Guilin, China, to Hanoi, Vietnam.