After climbing up a mountain and then back down again, we ate some delicious food at a little restaurant where we had stored our backpacks for the day. Miso Soup and something else I didn't know the name of. And probably boa-tze. Cuz that stuff is delicious.
The restaurant was a little chilly. Most public places like stores and restaurants don't have doors. They are just open to the outside. Or they have plastic drapes that cover the entry. This one didn't have a single blessed thing protecting us from the chill of the day, so we kept our jackets and scarves and hats on as we sipped our soup.
Soon enough, we headed back into the train station to wait for our outbound train. This time we had gotten sleeper seats. Rather like bunkbeds. 3 stacked on top of each other and all of them very close together..... It was a lot easier to sleep this time around.
What we didn't realize was just how LONG the last leg of the trip was going to be. We transferred from one train to another, and then another (if I remember correctly) and were immensely proud of ourselves for figuring it all out.
And then we rode the train. And rode it. And lunchtime came and went, and we started to wonder exactly how far we were going (and whether or not we had *really* gotten on the correct train), and why we were silly enough not to bring more food with us.....
Eventually it was supper time, and the train pulled up to the station in Guilin. Our destination. FINALLY!
It was already starting to get dark out when we arrived. So we stopped at a tourist booth in the parking lot of the train station and booked a hotel room. Got directions *to* said hotel and checked in. We had spent all day sitting or lying down (I couldn't sit up on the bunks, they were too close together) so we wanted to wander. Plus - the weather was really nice.
We put our jackets back on and headed out into the gloaming. Guilin is a busy tourist town in the summer time, but we were there in February. So it was a little quieter. It is the only place we went where bus routes were posted in characters *and* English!
We walked around and admired the lights and city, had supper at a fancy restaurant (this one was inside a larger building, so it was warm!), meandered through a night market, and did our best not to get lost. We stopped at a bakery and bought some food for breakfast the next morning. We made friends with random people on the street as we tried to figure out how to get around. And we walked past the "Twin Towers" of Guilin - all lit up for nighttime, and the Festival of Lights season.
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