Today is such a day of nothingness. Not much was done today other than to run an errand and also to travel from Guilin to Kunming by plane. Initially I had wanted to visit Elephant Hill 象鼻山 but after hearing from my friend, I changed my mind. He told me that it cost 70rmb to enter the place and the only notable attraction is in taking photographs of the famous cliff that has a hole in it, making it resemble an elephant with its trunk.
Instead, I decided to go back to the entrance of Reed Flute Caves, to visit the street stalls there. Yesterday I had bought three pieces of Carbodorum and I was tinking of buying more today since I would not be able to get it in Singapore easily or cheaply and those three pieces will not be enough for my second aquarium that I was planning to have. After taking the 40 minute bus ride there, I visited the different stalls, this time with a very particular intention. I made my intention known to the stall owners that I wanted to buy certain pieces of that rock and I was not willing to pay their prices for it. One stall owner took out a big piece that he had kept hidden and offered to sell it to me for 180rmb. I quoted 70rmb and after some negotiation, we settled at 90rmb. I also bought a small piece for 15rmb. In total, I spent 205rmb for five pieces, across the two days. The good thing was that the stall owner wrapped my newly obtained piece in bubblewrap instead of newspaper!
Back in the hostel, I managed to stuff this huge rock into my backpack and now it is even heavier. Heading to the airport was easy as I took a cab to Aviation hotel and upon alighting, a cab driver offered to fetch me to the airport for 20rmb, in an effort to carpool with two other passengers.
I reached Guilin Airport at 1:15pm and was very early as my flight was supposed to be 4:05pm. However it got delayed to 6pm and that meant waiting at the airport for a miserable five hours!
The flight was uneventful and soon I was in Kunming. Taking the airport shuttle to downtown cost 25rmb and upon alighting, I fought a motorcyclist who was willing to fetch me to my hostel for just 10rmb.
The hostel is tucked away inside a quiet street but it seemed to be quite lively at the bar. I'm sharing the room with 6 other folks, 3 girls and 3 guys. There's a grumpy Caucasian in the room who insisted on sleeping early, having all the windows shut and he chose to change into his pajamas in the room in front of the ladies! What happened to mixed dormitory etiquette?
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