Our experiences over the past two days made it difficult to leave (依依不舍), the institute director came to see us off and after a short goodbye we were back on the road. The sights of Ning Yuan passed us by, including a moped with a dead sheep on the back, and suddenly we were back in the countryside.
The road to Guilin was good and the journey fast, if a little dangerous, and before we knew it we had arrived at the foyer of the Hotel Universal Guilin. It was diametrically opposite to the Yong Shun in Ning Yuan, open, modern and clean. However, it was undergoing modernization so we had not escaped the noise. It did however boast a wonderful view of the LiJiang and the some of the stunning Karst rocks and geography GuangXi is famous for.
It also had a Christmas tree in the foyer, a timely reminder of the season we had left behind, and oddly a taste of the decorations to come when exploring Guilin itself.
After a tea break, some unpacking and flopping in some much needed modernity, we ventured out into the moped infested city. Having crossed the river we almost immediately found ourselves at the gates of the Seven Star Park and, having paid our 70 ￥each entrance fee, we entered a large garden area that extended into a greater park that boasted some karst rocks ready to be climbed. It also had a zoo, which we avoided, and some signs warning us of the dangers of the local monkeys that we did not see. We did however descend into a large cave complex and took the guided tour, it was gaudily lit and had an odd souvenir stall half way down, but was well worth the time and effort. We then returned to the park and climbed our first karst rock of the visit to a spectacular view of the city.
We filled our lungs with the fresh air and sat and watched the scenery unfold. Now we had time to reflect and absorb some of the events of the trip thus far. The thought kept resurfacing that our first visit to China had been a stressful one and we had transposed that onto our surroundings, this trip was very different and we had been able to see a more accurate, unclouded China.
Our walk back down and out of the park was punctuated by water on slate calligraphy and an old lady firing questions at Chris about these foreigners who appeared to have a Chinese child. This was becoming a regular occurrence and my vocabulary improved to mitigate the questions as we went.
Back at the hotel I squared up with Chris, another 1800 ￥ for the transfer and 1000 ￥ for the following days boat trip. The evening meal was an event not worth recounting, except to say the vegetarian option mainly consisted of pork. We returned to our clean, warm and comfortable beds, via a shop that sold red wine, for some well earned rest and a little television to catch up on world events.
We were here for three days, and having achieved our daughters desire to return to her orphanage, we now felt able to relax and enjoy the rest of our time in China and this had been a good start.
第8天是2016年12月23日，我们不得不离开宁远到桂林。我们收拾好行李，登上一辆已经预订的面包车，克里斯带来一些饺子，女儿吃过后，等上下班尖峰时间一过，忙碌的交通已经平息，我们打包好行李，再次踏上旅程。
在过去两天的经历使得我们难以离开（依依不舍），福利院主任来为我们送行，在简短的说再见之后，我们回到了路上。宁远的景色过去了，途中一台摩托车后面载着一只死了的绵羊，突然地也消失了。
通往桂林的道路很好，车程很快，如果要说我们知道有点危险之前，我们已到达桂林酒店的门厅。它和宁远的永舜酒店正好相反，开放，现代和干净。然而正在进行现代化装修，所以我们没有办法避免噪音。桂林的丽江确实有一个美丽的景色，及一些令人惊叹的喀斯特岩石(岩溶岩石)，这是广西闻名的地理风貌。
大厅里也摆放着一棵圣诞树，及时提醒我们抛下的节日，奇怪的是，当我们探索桂林时随处可见装饰着圣诞节的感觉。
在茶歇后，在解开一些行李以及暂时喘了口气舒服躺下过后，我们就外出到这摩托车污染的城市探险。过了河，我们立刻警觉已在七星公园的门口，并付了每人70元人民币的门票，我们进入一个大花园区，从这儿延伸到另一个更大的公园，这里自诩有一些岩溶岩石可攀登。里头还有一个动物园，我们避开那里，因为从一些迹象告诉我们，当地的猴子是相当危险，这是我们所没有看到。然而，我们一路走下坡到一个大的洞穴群，带着导览图，里面有灿烂七彩的灯光，一个奇怪的纪念品摊挡在半路，但是这洞穴群是非常值得看的。后来，我们返回公园，我们爬上第一个岩溶的岩石，全览了这个城市的壮观景色。
我们呼吸清新的空气，坐着看着风景。现在我们有时间仔细想，和吸收到目前为止旅程中的一些事件。这个想法不断地重复，我们第一次来中国时感觉压力很大，现在我们已经可以把它转移到我们的周围环境，所以这次旅行非常不同，我们已经能够更准确、更清楚地去看中国。
我们步行下来，走出公园，看到一个人在岩板写书法，一个老太太问克里斯，这些外国人身边有一个中国孩子的问题。这似乎是习以为常的事，而我的中文已有改善，足以应付我们面对的问题。
回到酒店，我和克里斯结清，另外1800元人民币车资，1000元人民币用在接下来的乘船游览。晚餐是一个不值得记述的事，除了说素食可选择外，主要是菜肴里有猪肉。我们回到了我们干净，温暖和舒适的床，经过一家出售红葡萄酒的商店买了一瓶红酒，这是为了能好好的休息，同时看了一会儿电视知道世界新闻。
我们在这里待了三天，并且实现了我们的女儿回到她的孤儿院的愿望，我们现在能够放松和享受我们在中国的其余时间，这是一个好的开始。
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