Rural Homestay Guilin: John Mark Bellet

The rural home-stay in Guilin was my favorite part of the trip. Upon arriving at the village we were greeted with the constant crack of firecrackers strands that could go off for over an hour! I don't think I've ever met people that were more inviting and generous than the people of our village. I was especially lucky to be put with a family with two brothers near my age and two cousins that always hung around the house that were around my age as well. My closest brother who was officially assigned as my home-stay brother, Qingshuan (the tall one in the pink), showed me around the village the first day while my little sister followed us around keeping a cautious distance from my brother and me. The first night they served me snails and pickled chicken feet (possibly the grossest thing I have ever tasted) since I was the guest of honor. Even though the food was sometimes far from appealing I never turned down anything they gave me because they always gave with enormous generosity from what they had.