A Glimpse of Guilin

Even before I arrived in China Xiaoyi planned for us a weekend away. Initially, she wanted to go to Hunan, but then reality kicked in - it would take more than 7 hours by train to get there. So we opted for Guilin - which is less than 3 hours by train (using the high-speed rail system's train to Guilin) - just over 600 kilometres. The idea was actually to go to Yangshuo, which is the second last stop before Guilin the city, but Xiaoyi wanted to take the boat trip from Guiling to Yangshou to enjoy the scenery.

We arrived in a very hot Guilin - 40 degrees Celcius.

Xiaoyi arranged with a taxi to pick us up, and in good Chinese tradition she tried to negotiate the price down, but the taxi driver did not want to give in, so the negotiation ended with him giving us a "free" sightseeing trip along the way (in this heat and in the middle of the day - not what I, as a photographer, would call a good deal). Xiaoyi felt very proud of the result of her negotiation...

Guilin at 40 degrees

The boat trip to Yangshuo is also not planned around photographers, as it starts long after sunrise and ends with the sun very high in the sky. But that I knew from the beginning - we were just on this trip to enjoy the scenery - a very difficult feat for a photographer-at-heart. I slipped the infrared camera in just to try making a landscape scene exotic in the middle of the day.

En Route to Yanshuo

After arriving at our hotel in Yangshuo, we hired an electric scooter from the hotel owner and did some sightseeing. On the way, we were caught in a thunderstorm, but this helps to set the scene for some sunset photos. But the sunset was not as I hoped it to be.

Sunset in Yangshuo

The next morning we were up before sunrise and was greeted by some beautiful low hanging clouds. This is the way to start a day!

First Photo of the Day

Using the scooter was a great idea, as this allowed us to stop almost anywhere to explore the best options for a landscape photo.

Setting up a Fishing Net

A Lazy Morning

This is my weekly landscape entry, hope you enjoy it.