The beautiful and poetic landscape of Guilin welcomed us with its limestone hills rising out of the fog. In the Hotel a group of Chinese students from Guilin University of Tourism were already awaiting us. Each of our groups was assigned a group of two to three Chinese students. After some military exercises (Swiss army style) we went to have lunch with our group. As you might have read in the news currently heavy rainfall is challenging the southern part of China. Some of us could not get back from lunch on time due to flooding of the main road of Guilin.
In the afternoon we went to see the company Subachi with heavy delay. Subachi produces leatherwear for the luxury segment. Its main markets are leather wristbands for the Swiss and Hong Kong based luxury watch market. We were introduced to Mr Liu Yun und Mr Bernay, the CEO of Subachi. After a short introduction to Subachi we were split in two groups to see the various steps of production. The leather stock with
After the Subachi visit we went to see the famous tea plantations of Guilin. There we enjoyed a tea ceremony including the degustation of four local teas. Despite the heavy rain some of us went for a walk trough the tea fields. We were taught that the rainy and foggy weather allows experiencing the Guilin region in its full beauty.
In the evening we had dinner with the Chinese students. We had a lot of fun eating and teaching each other Swiss German respectively Chinese words. Especially interesting for us were the differences in daily University life, which were discussed during dinner. The Chinese students told us that it is obligatory in their University to be back at 9 o’clock in the evening and that they had never been out later than 12 o’clock. This fact made us students, which enjoy a high degree of freedom in our everyday think and is hardly imaginable for us. Lucky us!
The work of a heavy thunderstorm in Guilin