Day 8: Guilin to Kunming

Taking it easy today in Guilin as I am still recovering from a cold I picked up in Hong Kong and we have a train leaving at 5pm to Kunming.  I want to get better because over the weekend or early next week we will be heading to a town in high elevation, but only if I feel better as we don't want to go to high elevation when I am coughing a lot.  It will be about an 17-18 hour train ride to Kunming.  (see map below) While we are waiting Charlotte is getting the inside scoop on where to stay and what to do from a worker at the hostel we are at (at least thats what I think she is doing).  Traveling in China is A LOT easier when you have Charlotte around.

Since it has been now over 1 week on our trip I thought I would give my first impressions of China so far, first off everyplace we have been is much more western and touristy than I thought it would be.  Each city we have been in could be anyplace, except its dirtier, smoggier and a lack of anything resembling traffic laws.  

Some things that I have noticed, first in cities that are over 90 degrees during the day shirts are optional for guys, and if they are wearing them they should be rolled up to chest level so your belly is hanging out.  Hong Kong has an extra take on this in that only men over 60 are the ones not wearing shirts and they must be drinking a beer at the same time (time of day does not matter). 

Another is bathrooms are for adults only...not that anything sketchy happens but when we were sitting in a bar in Yangshuo we saw a family with a daughter (maybe 3 or 4) who had to go to the bathroom and there was a public bathroom 50 feet away, but the mother thought it more appropriate to bring her daughter to a storm drain and pull her pants down while all the tourists walked by.  Then Charlotte and I saw a boy maybe 3 with a pair of pants with a large hole in the back of his pants (obviously there on purpose) with no diapers, we assumed so he can go to the bathroom whenever and wherever he wants.