Spring arrived overnight on my twelve-hour train ride south from Fenghuang to Guilin. I'd been looking forward to some warmer weather, and although it was still chilly with a light drizzle, the vivid greenery was enough to quench my vernal craving. Traveling in China is a first for me, but in entering Guangxi Province I was returning to a geographic landscape that I've come to know and love. From Halong Bay, Vietnam, to Vang Vieng, Laos, and on down to Krabi, Thailand and the islands of the Andaman Sea - one trait that many of my favorite destinations share is a stunning karstic topography - steep and dramatic limestone mountains caused by erosion from naturally acidic water. I may have been new to Guilin, but much of what I saw was wonderfully familiar. On my first day I explored the city, wandered into a park, and hiked to the top of a little mountain where I caught sweeping views of the city.
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