Countrysides of Yangshuo
Two days spent in Yangshuo, one night spent in Guilin, NOT ENOUGH TIME.
Last Wednesday Liz suggested that we go to Guilin after seeing pictures of the infamous rock caves, and as the motto of this study abroad trip is “YOLO” (in addition to, “Don’t bring dishonour to your GPA and your ancestors”), we got two more people (Gary and Dana) to go with us and departed 2 days later, on Friday.
Guilin and Yangshuo is my kind of scenery, if that makes any sense. I prefer the weekend we spent in China over the 10 days I spent in Thailand and Cambodia, despite both locations having so much to offer and so many things to see. There’s just something so charming and captivating about the rivers, mountains, and the countryside that I’ll never be able to shake off.
The Crew: Dana, Liz, Gary and I. We’re one big happy family! Can’t you tell by the smile on Gary’s face?
GETTING FROM HK TO GUILIN/YANGSHUO [Skip if not interested in travelling to Guilin/Yangshuo]
Friday afternoon after I finished class we headed to Shenzhen (by HK MTR — light blue rail line), where we could buy tickets to either take the train or bus to Guilin.
By train?
I think the last train leaves around 5-6pm, and tickets should be bought in advance to avoid the awkward situation of “sorry, tickets are sold out” (NOT a good situation when you don’t have the luxury of waiting until the next day to take the train). Trains have ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ sleepers (beds), hard sleepers starting from 200 RMB+ and soft sleepers from 400 RMB+. I’ve heard that hard sleepers aren’t as ‘hard’ as they sound, but that if you’re unlucky you’ll get stuck in a train where people disregard the assigned seating on the tickets they got and take whatever seat/bed they want, PLUS they smoke inside the train so for 10+ hours you’ll have to bear the cigarette stench and live with the knowledge that with every inhale, your lungs are slowly dying (although I WILL admit there are some cigarette brands that don’t smell bad at all).
By bus!
We opted for bus. This man came up to us and told us that the bus station had moved and to follow him to go buy tickets (he was obviously working for a tour agency but pulled out his “ID” to prove his credibility. Looking back on it the ID means nothing, it could easily have been fake.. as most things seem to be in China, lawls). We even asked the police officer and he said to just follow the guy so we reluctantly followed. At his agency they offered tickets for 240 RMB to go to Guilin or Yangshuo, our choice (some busses stop in Yangshuo with Guilin as the last stop).
First fail here: forgot to research the normal price of a bus ticket from Shenzhen-Guilin. ALWAYS LOOK UP PRICES BEFOREHAND.
We decided to go for it and didn’t worry about the what-if’s too much… to be honest, from travelling during spring break/reading break I’m quite accustomed to the idea that someone WILL rip you off and its part of gaining travelling wisdom. We were right though, the bus the man advertised to us was NOT the same bus we got on.
Second fail. The beds on the sleeper bus fit me juuuust right, but seeing how Liz, Gary, and Dana were taller than me, their knees kept hitting the rails of the bed in front of theirs. Not the greatest position to be in for 12 hours (that’s how long the ride was).
The ride itself was an overnight one, so we clocked out for the most part. Gary, Dana, and Liz (and others in the bus) got mysterious bug bites, so in the middle of the night we all threw off our blankets (creating a mountain of blankets that obstructed the aisle, it was a pretty amusing sight). I actually didn’t get any bites but I just wanted to be safe. The downside of getting rid of our blankets was that the ride was a bit chilly the rest of the way.
View overlooking Yangshuo from the People’s Park (人民公园, just opposite the bus station).. there’s a couple lookout points in People’s Park. We just walked around until we found the path up to a really tall one (where this pic was taken).
Guilin First? No, Yangshuo!!!
We decided on the bus (talk about spontaneity…) to go to Yangshuo instead of Guilin first, so we informed the bus driver of our change and got to Yangshuo at 7am. Completely disoriented and freezing (it was FREEZING. Third fail here: never assume what the weather will be like in the place you’re travelling to. Always look it up beforehand!), a very well-spoken tour guide came up to us and the negotiations began. He would take us to go bamboo rafting on the Yulong river, then see the rock caves, bike through the countryside, see Moon Hill, and boat ride down the Li River for 450 RMB. We bargained it down to 350 RMB.
Fourth fail here: don’t take the first tour guide offer you get ESPECIALLY if you’re not sure about the approx prices for the things you want to do. Another tour agency later told us that they would’ve given us the same package for 200 RMB (this agency was really, really nice. Even gave us pomelo and tea and gave us tons of helpful information).
Regardless, he bought us some breakfast, and we were off. Everything, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, was extremely enjoyable, even the bike ride of death through the countryside (we wanted to bike a bit slower to take in the scenery, but we had to keep pace with the tour guide who was on his scooter).
Yulong River
The Day in Yangshuo – Yulong River, Biking Through The Countryside, Gold Water Caves, Moon Hill, Li River
Bamboo rafting on the Yulong river is a definite must-do. Ordinarily its about 300 RMB/per boat (which fits 2 people, so 150 RMB/person), but local tour guides get it way cheaper. This price discrepancy is how tour guides make money off your services, but at the same time you save money because its cheaper to go through them than pay the regular tourist price for everything. It’s a happy medium, so long as you know the regular tourist prices in advance.
Yulong River
On the Yulong River :3 Cutiepies.
Make like a flamingo :3
Fifth fail here: we didn’t know the tourist prices for everything we wanted to do, only some. I’d recommend going to a couple different agencies and see what prices they give you to get a good estimate before you agree to any one tour guide’s services. Even better, figure out the tourist prices and bargain down as much as possible to get the local prices if you decide to tour around by yourself. e.g. instead of paying 120RMB to get into a rock cave, I’ve heard of foreigners bargaining it down to 50 RMB.
After the Yulong river we biked through the countryside (we biked around the whole day as our means of transport), stopped at a few scenic places, and finally reached the Gold Water Caves (also famous for its mud bath and hot springs). Here they light up the stalagmite/stalactite rock formations instead so it’s all pretty but the mystique is detracted a bit once you realize it’s just coloured lights against intriguingly-patterned rocks. I’d recommend going to Silver Cave or Assembling Dragon (聚龙潭 julongtan) instead of Gold Water.
IN THE COUNTRYSIIIIIIIDE. My friend says that it looks like I’m in the Asian Hunger Games.
We bought these flower crowns for 2-3 RMB each 🙂 If I was in the Hunger Games… these flowers would help me camouflage into my backgroud 8)
Biking. Always be sure to check that your bike is in good condition before you set out as bike rentals in Yangshuo are questionable. Check the brakes, gears, tires (is there enough air), etc.
Gold Water Cave
Gold Water Cave
Then we went to Moon Hill Cafe, where you can get a good view of Moon Hill. Wouldn’t eat here though–it was expensive. Also, make sure to get a tour guide who doesn’t hint all day that you should buy him lunch and dinner.
Moon Hill Rock is on the left hand side. I know it’s miniscule compared to the other mountain in the picture but it was quite impressive in real life haha.
Taken while at Moon Hill Cafe haha
We biked back to the city where our guide told us that because of heavy rain the night before, the Li River was flooded and we wouldn’t be able to do the boat cruise unless we waited until the day after (Sunday). We had planned to bus to Guilin that night and spend the day going to see the Longsheng Rice Field Terraces, so there was no way we could come back to Yangshuo. By this point we were kind of fed up with our tour guide; there were many things throughout the day that he did and said that pushed us to our boiling point. We demanded that we get a portion of our money back, and after 15 minutes or so he finally agreed to give us back 50 RMB/person (Li River boat cruise is about 80 RMB but only 30-50RMB for tour guides, hence we decided on 50). I was seriously about to punch him in the face.
After that we walked around Yangshuo, got some cheap eats (a must do when travelling anywhere in Asia…), explored the city and avoided the H7N9–although to be honest with everything that happened this week H7N9 was the LAST thing on our minds. Our biggest concern was probably the washrooms. Most of the ones here don’t have doors, or full walls (they only go halfway to about your hip), and usually have pools of water/feces/urine/godknowswhatelse on the floor. Plus every time I stepped within a 20 feet radius of the bathroom the stench made me want to puke. I would honestly wear a medical mask going into these washrooms haha. Carry lots of tissue paper and ANTIBACTERIAL SOAP.
Guilin!!! Nightmarkets, huge beds, and cheap haircuts.
We had pre-booked our beds at the Ming Palace Youth Hostel in Guilin (or else we would’ve just stayed in Yangshuo for the night). The hostel had huuuuuge beds, the biggest I’ve slept on here. It was decent, you can write on the walls and they’re close to a nightmarket and the Guilin bus/train station so no complaints (from the bus station we took a taxi for 9 RMB to the hostel since it’d equal out to only be 2.25 RMB/person. Public busses in Guilin are usually 1-2 RMB so we weren’t saving much by taking the bus).
Our mark on the Guilin hostel walls. Gotta represent UBC!
We asked for directions to the nightmarket and set off. Found it easily enough after a 5-10 minute walk. We made a ‘community foodie fund’ where we each pitched in 10 RMB and just bought food to share. 40 RMB (about $7-8 CAD) was enough to buy food to fulfill all of us actually. Any additional eats that we bought were just because we were curious, ravenous fatties who wanted to try everything and anything. Haircuts are suuuuuper cheap here and the salons don’t look sketchy either.. so maybe consider getting one 😉
I crave for this rice… it wasn’t anything extraordinary tasting but I find myself to be more a rice person lately. About 2 RMB/bowl of rice.
2 RMB. Rice with assorted fillings 🙂
Tofu pudding with noodles (left). Meatballs with some filling inside (unknown filling.. YOLO) (right).
Durian Desserts at Guilin Night Market!! Not a big fan of durian but these were yummy 🙂 Also it was Liz’s first time having Durian so her reactions were hilarious…
Buns buns buns… look at dem buns… we basically just ate carbs all trip. Delicious, delicious carbs.
Back to Yangshuo
We decided that night we didn’t want to stay in Guilin on Sunday and going to the Longsheng Rice Field Terraces wasn’t an option since it wasn’t the right month to go 😦 I have an unexplainable affinity for rice fields, so I was dying to see it, but instead my heart died a little when I realized it just wasn’t going to happen. Sunday morning we got some breakfast in the nightmarket area (congee, soymilk, and chinese fried donuts — 11 RMB for all 4 of us, talk about CHEAP!!! And deericious nom nom nom). Then we bussed to the train station, and went to a few different places/hawkers to figure out prices for busses going back to Shenzhen.
When we woke up Sunday morning and looked outside our window, this is what greeted our eyes. o_o Dana was like: “HEY LOOK GUYS MY CHILDHOOD!” Hahahaha. Dana moved at the age of 9 to the States but went to school in China until she emigrated.
Sixth fail here (so many more than 6 throughout the trip… but whatever): It was a Sunday, plus end of a holiday (Qing Ming was on Thursday), so there was more demand for bus tickets going back to Shenzhen than usual. That meant prices were higher and availability was lower–we were anxious to secure our spot for a bus going back to Shenzhen. We walked to a hawker on the street who told us 180 RMB for a shuttle bus seat back to Shenzhen, which was much cheaper than the 300 RMB sleeper seat others were telling us. Lovely as it was, our first time on the sleeper bus wasn’t exactly something we were eager to experience again, we bought the shuttle bus tickets.
In the end it wasn’t the greatest idea… the bus left around 8pm (although we assembled at 6 pm and just waited for 2 hours… waste of time), and at 3am it stopped, woke everyone up, and had us transfer to a sleeper bus. AT 3 IN THE MORNING. Momentary panic set in during the transfer because only Dana knew Mandarin fluently and the people commandeering the bus aren’t the greatest communicators in the first place.. just imagine the confusion of being woken up at 3am and shepherded off the bus in the middle of godforsaken nowhere with people speaking a language that sounds like an alien tongue since you’ve just woken up. Sleeper bus finally dropped us off at some station in Shenzhen where we had to take a bus for 30 mins to get to Luohu Station (which is the station near China/HK border).
Helloooo Li River!
Li River
In between our deliciously cheap breakfast and the bus ride of hell back to Shenzhen, we paid 90 RMB each for a van to take us to a little town halfway between Guilin and Yangshuo where we could board a boat to go down the Li River for 2 hours (it was cheaper and a shorter ride because parts of the river were still flooded). It was great because we had 4 people–just enough to get our own boat. The Li River and Yulong River leave different impressions on you… To me, the Li River was more grand, in-your-face, and left a deeper, more abrupt impression. The Yulong River, while equally magnificent, left a more subtle, serene, calming impression on me. Both are something to experience.
Hellooooo Li River!
Li River
And now I’ll shut up until my next blog post. This one felt extraordinarily long… Don’t have any major travel plans from now on planned except for Japan from June 21-29. I might try to do Zhangjiajie for 5-7 days, and am still applying for service trips.
![Fifth fail: not stocking up on Oreos (and other snacks) before I came back to HK. SO CHEAP IN CHINA, and such a wiiiiiide variety. Like the colours of the wind [cue Pocahontas song].](https://jessrrr.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/p1010653.jpg)
Seventh fail: not stocking up on Oreos (and other snacks) before I came back to HK. SO CHEAP IN CHINA, and such a wiiiiiide variety. Like the colours of the wind [cue Pocahontas song].
VANCOUVERKONG. 