Yangshuo, travelling again - Friday 15th July

Exhausted from yesterdays triathlon - cycling, swimming, hill climbing - we had a lie in until 1000. Perhaps killing our last bathroom visitor was a mistake because we had to do battle with its big brother before we could use the bathroom.

We had to check out at 12 so we had enough time for a filling brunch before packing our bags again. We can all pack in less than 5 minutes now - a benefit of backpacking.

The rest of the day was spent lazily around the town and riverside enjoying the sun until we had to duck into a coffee shop to avoid a short rain shower - the first real rain we had seen since we started this trip, plenty of clouds but no rain until now.

I had been eyeing the very rustic looking restaurant next door to the hotel since we arrived. The locals seemed to frequent it which is a good sign and the ceramic pots steaming on the charcoal grill outside smelled interesting.

So it had to be the place to have an early dinner before getting the bus to Guilin station. We were not disappointed by the bold flavours and spiciness of the food.

The bus ride to Guilin was a mixture of madness and mayhem again, with only the main beam headlights to protect us. We couldn't work out how the roads are not littered with crashed bikes, cars and buses.

Surprisingly Guilin station was comparatively orderly and we even managed to get a seat, after Eva had posed with a few more people for pictures, to wait for the K951 @2120 to take us to Guangzhou, our final stop in China before hopping over the border to Hong Kong.

Our last overnight sleeper train turned out to be the most amusing. Dominic and I had the 2 top bunks and Eva was on the middle bunk beneath me.

The train had only just pulled out of Guilin when our neighbouring travellers, all locals, took an interest in us and we became the centre of attention in our part of the carriage. Adults and children gathered around to talk to us in English and Chinese but mainly in Chinglish. I even exchanged email addresses with a Chinese doctor and his son. His son wants to study in the UK and we were invited to see their part of China. Everyone we have met on this trip has been very friendly. Another boy, aged 9, spoke really good English and even gave us a demonstration of his Kung Fu moves.

In the middle of all of this we were subjected to bizarre sales pitch performance in the middle of the carriage by a young Chinese girl selling highly absorbent, lightweight towels (which she started the demo wearing as a hat).

She was so good and so persistent that when she soaked up a whole glass of water with the cloth, I showed my appreciation and applauded. This seemed to surprise our fellow Chinese passengers but then they laughed and the whole carriage applauded. Judging by the look on her face it must have been the best reaction she had ever had. It also appeared that the locals were impressed with the level of western interest in the product and they bought all of her towels. I'm sure I'm owed some commission.

After a bottle of local red wine (£1.20) that could only be described as a sweet red with a port bouquet - even the locals pulled faces at it - it was time to climb the ladder to bed.