First impressions of Guilin

I slept in this morning until about 9AM.  (My flight was late last night and I didn't wind up getting to bed until about 2:30, and am having trouble adjusting to my new bed.)  So by then my new family was gone (both of the adults to work and the son to school - yes school on a Saturday it's normal here).  I've seen the mom briefly but I'll wait until after dinner tonight - when presumably I'll get a chance to meet everyone - to post details!

I had my orientation at CLI (my Chinese school here in Guilin).  Leona (in charge of student affairs) picked me up at the homestay and took me into the school.  I got a tour of the school and an overview of activities (lunch is available every day and Monday night is a school trip to see Star Trek Into Darkness!) and an overview of my class schedule.  I've got 4 hours a day and unfortunately not a regular schedule - some days start at 8:20AM and some run until 6:10PM (although thankfully not both on the same day), some days I have consecutive classes and some days I have a long break.  There are lots of places in the school to work, and lots of parks and shops nearby (and my homestay is only about a 15 minute walk from school) so no issues around the schedule.

Leona and a few other students took me out for a "welcome lunch":

At a Chinese meal the various plates come as they are ready, so for people who like to get a picture of the meal you either have to take multiple pictures (as the food arrives) or wait until it all arrives at which point half the dishes are empty.  There were 5 of us and 5 dishes - a mushroom dish, beans and beef, sweet & sour pork, tofu and steamed buns.  (We also learned that "eating tofu" is a euphamism for flirting or taking advantage of someone!  Don't ask!)

Then a couple of the students took me on a walking tour of downtown.

This is Solitary Beauty Peak.  This area is famous for these limestone towers that just rise up out of nowhere, no doubt you've seen pictures of the South of China.  They are all over the place in Guilin and I'll be updating more pictures over the next couple of weeks, as I visit the parks and climb the peaks.  There are boat and bus tours of the areas outside of Guilin (including the area that inspired the scenery in "Avatar") so look forward to that too!

This is a longer range view of Solitary Beauty Peak.  It's hard to get  sense of it from pictures - from a distance it hides behind the buildings and trees and up close it just fills up the frame.

There are a couple of streets downtown that are "walking only" - no cars or bikes.  Apparently this is where a lot of the foreigners hang out (although I didn't see many today) so there are a lot of souvenir and coffee shops.  This coffee shop for some reason reminded me of a Starbucks.

Guilin has 2 rivers and 4 lakes.  This is the view across one of the rivers.

This is the view across one of the lakes.  The two pagodas light up at night and are apparently quite impressive.

Guilin has a population of about 675,000 and so far reminds me very much of Victoria (right down to the weather - it was pouring rain this morning and is now bright and sunny this afternoon).