More Views from Around the Hotel

Views Around Our Hotel In Guilin

Another 5 star hotel near a lovely park and shopping area in Guilin. People walking along the promenade by the river, motorbikes whizzing by, tai chi in the park, the Pearl Museum, lovely pagodas by the lake, the Waterfall Hotel that drops the world's largest water fall from its top story cascading down the building to a pool below at 8:30 each night, lots of shopping areas. A great place to stay!

Guilin K-6 school visit

The visit to the k-6 rural school in Guilin was a tear jerking experience. The school welcomed us with the school band. Children were cheering in the courtyard and hanging from the balconies of the school to say hello. It was the best experience yet!

Guilin schools

Tuesday we had the opportunity to visit a middle and high school in Guilin. This large rural school is mostly residential because the students have to travel a long distance from the rural areas where many come from family farms- mostly rice. There are about 2500 students in this school. The man in the middle is the principal.


These signs were posted all around the campus at the Guilin Experimental Middle and High School.




We enjoyed the exchange with the Guilin teachers who were so interested in meeting and talking with us. The principal presented Page Keeley with a lovely banner expressing their gratitude for our professional connection.

We watched a lesson on separating mixtures. These third graders were so happy to show have us in their classroom!




Theses students had never seen an I-pod Touch. Ed is showing them Google Earth and letting them use the touch screen to find China. They were captivated!

Our photos with the school drum band that welcomed us and the red scarf students. Wearing the red scarf is a recognition of school leadership and academic excellence.

Guilin

We got to visit a rural school, set among the rice paddies, for the children of the poor farming community. Once you enter the courtyard you seen the sign indicating the school is sponsored by the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program. The children were very happy to see us and jammed it up for picture taking!

These first graders were adorable and so happy to see us!

Guilin

We arrived in Guilin last night. The scenery here is absolutely breathtaking. We took a slow, peaceful 4 hour cruise down the Li River, winding in and out among the karst mountains - huge pillars of limestone. The scenery on the 20 yuan bill is the same as this scene on the river!

Saw lots of straw hats, both worn and sold, along the Li River.

The water buffalo were grazing along the shoreline as well as in the water, where they were eating the river grass. Good swimmers too!

Saturday - The Forbidden CIty

We toured the Forbidden City today - the immense walled palace seen in the movie The Last Emperor. 9,999 rooms! The architecture was exquisite. Amazing to see this mostly wooden palace still standing after 600 years. The carved figures on the roof always show the Emperor followed by various animals. The lion (one of 2) guarding the palace is the female lion with a cub under her paw. The large urns placed around the palace acted as fire extinguishers if the palace caught fire. They now have lightning rods on the rooftops.