Still tropical Southern China, Guangdong or Guanxi Province

Some of the cold weather slated for Europe and North America, seems to have rerouted to the tropical area of Guilin. It was almost 80 when I arrived late at night, but when I tried to go out the following afternoon, it might have been barely 40, with a persistent cold wind. I was shivering in all the meager winter garb I brought with me, including (light) gloves and a hat. It looked and felt like snow would start falling any second and I considered buying a coat; still believing that the following day I’d be in the warmer region on the Northern edge of the Tonkin Gulf Basin, I soldiered on. The city of Guilin is described as very beautiful in the guide books, surrounded by karst hills and traversed by Osmanthus trees lined avenues; all I saw was shopping malls, high end and low (mostly) and a few tree lined avenues. The city was emptying for New Year’s, as it has a large student population, though the train station, when I went to get my ticket to leave the following day, the crowd was more reasonable than in Guangzhou. In two days it is New Year's Eve and most travellers must have already reached their place of origin, since this is what's done on this most traditional of Chinese holidays. I kept entering stores to keep warm, and in one I was approached by a young salesman who wanted to talk about soccer. His English and communicative skills were the best I had experienced up to that point in this trip, so the conversation went on for a while. I realize I should have taken his picture, though my attempts at starting a blog had been blocked by Chinese governement policy of not letting people express themselves freely to a potentially limitless (but more often parrochial) audience. I made a note for future reference that I should portray all people I have conversations with, though I did not adhere to this policy too stricly.