Our last day in Guilin was mainly a free day for everyone. We get to choose where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do. Maddie and I still wanted to explore so we both decided to visit the Ancient Town of Daxu. As promised, we went back to 明桂米粉 one more time for the delicious rice noodles. After breakfast, Maddie and I headed out; we took a cycle rickshaw out to the city and the driver persistently urged us to join a tour group. After dropping us off, he continued to follow us and we ignored him, making our way towards the train station. It was very scary to see how commercialized Guilin is: from taxi drivers to rickshaw cyclists to pedestrians on the street, they all have one common goal --- encourage people to join tour groups so they can earn as much commissions as possible. Guilin is one of the “dog-eat-dog” city in China.

First stop: Ancient town of Daxu

​Maddie began talking to a Ctrip representative and we found out the only ways to get to Daxu is through 1) a 2-hour long public bus ride and 2) taking the cab. A guy from Ctrip sweetly walked outside with us, hailed us a cab, and asked the driver for price information to Daxu. We stayed in Daxu for about 2 hours before leaving the ancient town to find a cruise to Yangshuo.

Second stop: A town near Daxu

We both wanted to take an actual cruise to Yangshuo since we didn’t get to do that on our first tour. We hopped on a bus and then realized the hard way that the only way to take a cruise to Yangshuo is from Guilin and you have to book it one day in advance. Instead we took a short cruise around an area and met two newlyweds. They became my third friend in Guilin.

​This was the first time I felt helpless since public transportation is not organized and accessible by tourists. The only option for tourist is to take a cab.

Last stop: Guilin night market street

After this experience, we both unanimously decided to meet up with the others. They were near one of the night market streets we went to yesterday. We met up with them and got ice cream and mango pudding for dessert and then hung out near the twin pagodas. Joanna and Kritika both dressed up in Miao minority clothing for a photo-shoot.

​On the other hand, I made a sign for Oye, which read “Take a photo for 1 RMB” since the people endlessly took photos of her during our entire stay at Guilin, some doing it sneakily while others shoving their phones right in front of her face. In the end, she earned 12 RMB and we all made more new friends. A principal of an university and his brother took a photo with Oye and began a conversation with us. Two other girls (one of them actually attended the school one of the guy was the principal of) who watched the entire scene began a conversation with us too. They became my last friends in Guilin. Starting a small business with Oye is the second best part of the trip to Guilin. At one point, I pretended to be one of the tourists that wanted a photo with her and pretended to pay her to lure others to follow along.

​We didn’t really wanted to leave early but we had to since we were leaving tomorrow morning. We played card games while Kritika helped a few of us thread our eyebrows. She is super good! Initially we planned on pulling an all-nighter, we all eventually fell asleep at some point. I contacted Li and she helped us booked a van in advance for a cheaper price to the airport.