We had an uneventful plane trip and checked into our surprisingly nice hotel. Cynthia and I stayed in the Universal Hotel on our last trip to Guilin so I decided to make reservations there again. Great low price and remodeled rooms that were even nicer than I remembered! Their staff even helped us make reservations for the next days Li River Cruise and it was within walking distance of the Elephant Trunk Hill Park and the center of town.
We dumped our bags and walked to Elephant Trunk Hill Park. We took lots of photos and had lots of photos taken. The heat that day just seemed to wilt us. Even though we walked very little and drank plenty of water, when we got back to our beautiful river view rooms we just crashed. We managed to go across the street for a nice Italian meal and then get a massage but that was it for our day in Guilin.
Side Note – the Chinese language tour of the Li River cruise is half the price of the English version. Not sure that you needed a specific language to enjoy the breath taking scenery and we had an extra 200 yuan a piece to spend of food, souvenirs, and massages. So go native and save some money – plenty of people are willing to help if you need it.
