I followed a flag .........

Yes, I am ashamed to admit that today I followed a panda flag being carried by a tour guide with a microphone. I apologise if there are people reading this who enjoy those guided tours, I despise them, but there I was, wearing a panda sticker and trotting along behind 100 other snap happy tourists. The reason for this? Getting from Guilin to Yangshuo, what a beautiful trip it was too (the Chinese tourists thankfully remained safely in their seats, only to emerge on the deck when 'highlight' karst mountain appeared). Guilin was a great place but Yangshuo is just amazing, a little town (300,000 locals plus the 100 million Chinese tourists here for the National holiday!) nestled in amongst the karst moutains next to the Li River. I am doing 'homestay' in a local neighbourhood along with about 15 other travellers, all with great stories to tell. Tomorrow, I'm looking forward to a 25 km hike along the river with a German guy who was also embarrassed to be following the panda flag. I'm getting a real education in what Chinese food really is. No fried rice or sweet and sour pork here! I went out for a local meal with some other backpackers in Guilin last night, we decided to choose based on the grainy pictures and Chinese menu. Based on that decision, I can now say I have tried (and kept down) duck intestine, cow brain and snake wine. Yummo! Snails stuffed with mince are a local dish here too, lunch tomorrow! Here for 3 nights then back to Guilin for a night. Take care, Anna.