Our last morning in Guilin had us climbing to the top of the Solitary Beauty Hill, a 66-meter-tall karst hill within the city of Guilin that offered an eagle’s eye view of the city, making its incredible, mountain-clad setting all the more obvious to the eye. As we began our ascent, we saw a bunch of workers with hammer and chisel chipping away on the steps that lead up to the top. They were carving out new grooves in the steps, which had been worn smooth by the heavy amount of foot traffic they’ve received. Considering how many steps we climbed to get to the top, this seems like a huge undertaking.

Our last stop in Guilin was the Reed Flute Cave, a cavern with impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations. The most amazing part of the cavern was a pond that reflected all the rock formations hanging from the ceiling above so perfectly that it seemed like the lake was a hundred foot deep, with an undersea kingdom of rock formations poking up. In reality, the pond was about the depth of a finger.

We then had to bid a reluctant farewell to Guilin and its laidback lifestyle and beautiful surroundings. We boarded our flight to Guangzhou, my hometown, where we will spend the next week and catch up with relatives whom I have not seen for 13 years. I was both excited and a little bit nervous. When we walked out of baggage claim and into the lobby of the airport, we spotted a group of about 10 or 12 of our relatives waiting and waving at us. As soon as we got close enough to hear each other, everything that followed became a blur. As the conclusion of our organized tour, we had a cruise on the Pearl River, but we were on a tight schedule. We were set up for dinner beforehand. It was 6:20 when we got to the restaurant, our ship departs at 7:45, and it was almost an hour drive from the restaurant to the pier. We hurriedly downed some Cantonese food, then climbed into our van. Our driver flew through traffic and somehow got us to the pier in time to board the ship with eight of my relatives.

We spent the hour-long cruise catching up with family and taking in the beautiful night views along the banks of the Pearl River. Though I spent the first 10 years of my life in Guangzhou, I have only relatively faint impressions of the city by now, and what impressions I do have are way out-of-date. I remember Guangzhou as a cosmopolitan city, but nowhere near the degree I saw on the cruise tonight. The river was lit up with neon, not only from the buildings on the banks, but also from other ships. I even saw a ship with a huge TV screen on its side. The entire river was lit up with an array of colors, and it was a great way to spend New Year’s Eve.