Guilin

Sunday October 23

We took a river boat cruise on the Li River. The steep hills that popped up along the shore were fascinating.

We met a man with two cormorants. No demonstration of fishing, though.

A big issue in China is that there is not enough food. We saw lots of small farms, but nothing like in the U.S. Of course the solution is free markets, private property ownership (all property is owned by the government. You just lease it.), and other freedoms. But that probably won’t happen in my generation. There may be huge farms, but not where we visited. Since China is one of the largest grain producers in the world, there have to be huge farms somewhere.

That evening Suzanne and John got a massage. Suzanne got a foot reflexology and John got a full body massage.

Monday October 24

This morning Suzanne went to a tea plantation and learned about tea-picking, sorting, heating, kneading, and drying. The white tea is the sprout, oolong tea is the sprout plus one leaf. The next leaf is the green tea. The plant forms a seed, and the oil from the seed is highly treasured for cosmetics. This is not to be confused with tea tree oil. She sampled the teas and bought some. She also had an attractively presented lunch.

Meanwhile, while Suzanne was learning about tea, John wandered around paths around the lake in front of the hotel. Along the way he participated in some tai chi. He saw some men playing a card game and they, through gestures, invited him to sit and watch, which he did.

That evening we flew to Hong Kong, and stayed at the Citiview Hotel Hong Kong.

To continue our trip, go to the Hong Kong page.