Day 1 – 28 May 2012
It started off with everybody calling each other in the wee hours of the morning of 28 May 2012. To remind each other that our flight to Guilin was from LCCT and not KLIA.Air Asia Flt 1034. Takeoff at 0630.
Reminders were necessary as previous experiences have had some of us going to different airports.
The departure and the massive logistics arrangements for 45 of us went well. Thanks to Hans and Helmy of High Point Travel who were there ‘very early’ I presumed to handle us all.
The flight was uneventful. Everybody had nasi lemak ‘Pak Nasser’, not nasi lemak ‘Pak Abbas’ as in the previous trip. Must have changed caterer. Maybe our junior Mohd Nasser. We reached Guilin in time. At the Liangjiang Airport of Guilin, we had a Doa selamat of thanks to the Almighty led by our Imam, Hj Hamdan, for arriving safely.
Two coaches waited and we proceeded for lunch at a Muslim restaurant.
It was the only Muslim restaurant in Guilin. Being fussy about food, we thought it was palatable, except the telur dadar, a must for us especially for Isa came out after a bit of prompting. It was a case of first day oversight. Even though a Muslim cooking, it does not quite met our Malaysian taste. And I was eyeing for those who brought along extra messings like sambal ikan bilis and serunding daging to join their tables later on. We checked in early enough. 3.30 pm. ‘Rooms not Ready’. This seems to be the standard answer in China.
‘And whilst waiting for the rooms to be ready we will take you to -----‘.
After a short rest we then proceeded for dinner. The same restaurant.
After dinner we went for a boat ride termed as ‘ Night Cruise at 2 Rivers 4 Lakes’.
It was a beautiful cruise. Through multi-coloured lights they lighted up both sides of our cruise.
It included a lift through a ‘lock’ to reach the upper reaches of the lakes and down again through these systems of locks. Just like the Suez and the Panama. There were performances by Chines artists on stages along the routes.
It was a well-choreographed show. Impressive, this considering that their economy is 60% on tourism. Thus they went all out to thrive on this industry.
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