there and back again

i'm back from guilin!

it was really scenic i must say. really lovely scenes. some scenes really look so pretty that for a while i thought my brain had photoshopped some images i see. i've never seen water so clear, or mountains carved out of the rivers that way. I've never seen so many layers of hills. Never seen terraced paddy fields that pretty. but....

i gotta say i.really.don't.like.group.tours.

You know those type of group tours where you get herded like sheep, woken up early in the morning, herded to breakfast, then into the bus, and brought to some place somebody thought you would like because somebody has developed it into a money making machine, then you get off the bus like sheep and queue up to take photos at places where people think has the best angles and pose dead for photos because you are so tired and you are just taking the picture becuase someone arranging the tour thinks that it is a good place and your eyes are burning from the heat, your face frowning but you try and crack a smile anyway and come up with the worst pictures ever, then get herded back into the bus and then get herded to another moneymakingmachine somewhere else.

Holidays like this may be ideal for some. Not me.

I got to admit, the tour guide was great. Extremely capable, friendly, nice chap. The arrangement and all were great. Food, accomodation...All great. It's just that this is not my kind of thing.

For some it might be comfortable, hassle-free.

But for me, if i wanted comfort, i would have stayed at home. I wanted something hassle-free, it would have been too predictable for holiday excitement.

And i really don't like commercialised tourist spots.

Especially scenic spots. I totally understand if it's something historic. But please stop trying to tell me how a certain stone looks like an owl or squirrel or whatever. Let my imagination run free. Let me walk the hills, swim the rivers, let me run free! Let me dance in the mountains, let me run along the lakes. Just don't cage me up on my holiday...

but rants aside. i'm back! 8 more days and it's back to edinburgh. oooh, breathe!

talking about Edin, i just got a letter today from Edinburgh Uni that made my day. Apparently i've been awarded distinction for year 2! :) :) praise God!! :) it's nothing much, just a little piece of paper telling me i've actually achieve something a few months back, but seeing my parents happy really made my day. :)