Liuzhou (lee-o-jo)

40 minutes from Guilin on the high speed train and the change in temperature couldn't have been more marked, 32 degrees compared to 22.

The Chinese love to pose for photos and you will often see them going to great lengths to set up a shot. Although it may look like these ladies are performing some kind of dance, they are not, this set up was purely for a group photo. I sat on the wall nearby and took my own picture on the phone (camera battery was dead, rookie error) and as I was checking it out one of then came over to have a look. She attempted to talk to me which was clearly a flawed strategy so tapped away on her phone and the showed me the screen where she had translated the Mandarin for 'good photo' into English. I thanked her and she then repeated the process handing me back the phone, this time, the phrase reading 'can you turn me?'. I was about to point out that she had missed the end of the sentence when it occurred to me that this wasn't an invitation to improve east west relations but a request for me to Bluetooth the picture to her which I willingly did. I suspect east west relations benefited just a little today and as they say, every little helps.