My first job as a Tour Guide
2009-04-23Working at VisitOurChina
Thursday, 16th April 2009
It finally happened that I was allowed to accompany a China-traveling group, when visiting Guilin. Thursday in the afternoon I met Mr Sun, the official local tour guide. It turned out to be a German speaking Chinese, because apparently the group, consisting of 13 people, was from eastern Germany. Mr Sun was very open-minded and so we had lots of topics to talk about while sitting in the bus to the airport.
At 5pm the group left the gate and after a warm welcome we went to the acclimatized bus waiting for us. It was interesting to see the reactions of the travelers on the beautiful scenery and the traffic in Guilin. During the one hour lasting transport Mr Sun already told them a lot about Guilin and its region. When we reached the hotel, the people had some time to freshen up themselves until it was time for their dinner. As I had some important things to do, I unfortunately could not attend this evening.
At 8am Mr Sun and me joined the group for breakfast, before taking out bus to the pier of the Li River cruise ships. On our way I had first conversations with the German tourists, and explained why I took part in their trip. All of them were very open-minded and happy to have a native German speaker with them. When we boarded the ship, they made me sit at a table with themselves, instead of letting me sit with the other tour guides. Until we got lunch, most of them were standing on top of the boat to fully enjoy the landscape and to take pictures. I tried to have conversations with all of them, asking if they liked the tour, where they came from and so on.
It was a nice time; they told me lots of things and time passed very fast. When we arrived in Yangshuo, it was very difficult to keep an eye on all of them, as everyone wanted to go into another shop and have a look at different things. But finally we managed to bring them to small vehicles, with which they went on a tour through the countryside.Two hours later we met again and took the bus back to Guilin. Instead of returning to the hotel immediately, we drove to Reed Flute Cave. It took us two hours to get there and after the exhausting day, most of us took the time for a nap.
After our arrival at Reed Flute Cave most of the participants of the tour spent quite some time in the souvenir shop, which provides any kind of typical Chinese decoration, jewelry and accessorizes. When we finally entered the Cave, everyone was astonished by its beauty and perfection. None of the 60 to 70 years old travelers had ever seen a similar cave of that size and beauty before. The formations of the stalactites and stalagmites were in evidence with their real correspondent, like the Vegetable garden, or the mushrooms.
Compared to the forms of the hills at the Li River, which need a huge imagination to be recognized, this was a lot more fun and realistic. The colored lights create a very mystical atmosphere in the cave. But the highlight of the cave was the lake. It is situated in the big hall and the pure water is glassy. The whole scenery around it is perfectly reflected. It is definitely a place where you want to stay for some time to enjoy it in the full!
The tour was during about one hour and on the whole way back most of the group members still were speaking about the cave’s glory.
At 7pm we finally returned back to the hotel and enjoyed a last dinner together. As all of then were very kind, I already felt like being part of the group. Before everyone left the table, I thanked them for letting me join them. I did not accompany them to the airport the next morning, because they departed at 6.40am. But I am looking forward to more jobs like this, because it was a great experience!
