Guilin

Another day another overnight train, this time from Guangzhou to Guilin on Saturday night. I was pretty tired when it finally came to getting on the train I was quite relieved to find that it wasn’t too busy. Even better was the fact that the people in my sleeper compartment had no desire to communicate in either English or Chinese which meant I could relax with my book. The train left around dinner time and as I left Guangzhou I felt a bit of regret that I hadn’t taken the opportunity to sample any of it’s famous cuisine. Instead I was once again left with the prospect of eating instant roast beef noodles!

Having eaten my not so delicious dinner I decided to explore the train a little and number one priority was to find the restaurant car. Much to my great delight the restaurant car was actually playing English football highlights and I was able to sit back and watch away while drinking a couple of cold beers. Once that was over I got chatting to a Chinese guy who told me he was a government official, he didn’t speak any English and this in fact gave me the opportunity to wrap the conversation up quickly and head for bed!

Much like Guangzhou I’d been warned on my arrival in Guilin to expect some problems, not in the form of thieves but this time from over aggressive touts. Thankfully it was perhaps too early in the morning for most of them to be out of bed and I passed through the station pretty easily and over the road to the nearby hostel.

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting from Guilin but it wasn’t quite what I imagined. I knew that most of the best sites to see were located actually away from the city. The very helpful girl in the hostel “Libra” pointed out to me that staying in Guilin for more than two days would probably be a waste of time. I’d already planned to take a trip along the Li River the following day which basically meant just a day to explore and actually see what Guilin city had to offer.

My lack of sleep didn’t deter me, a slap up breakfast and a quick shower later and I was back out on the streets. Personally for me the best way to always see a new city is on foot. I find that you can often miss lots of the little back streets by just jumping on buses to the major sights. So I picked up a local map and off I went. First things first though, not being used to the high temperatures and the sunshine my skin was in a state of shock. It has been pretty much used to be covered up for the best part of the last three months and all of a sudden it's being exposed to bright sunlight so sun block was a must!

I headed straight for Qixing Gongyuan about a half an hour walk from where I was staying. The Lonely Planet guide describes it as “one of China’s most picturesque city parks” although having seen it I’m not so sure. Apparently the park was one of the original tourist spots in China, Bill Clinton even took time to visit the park in 1998. I even had my picture taken at the very same spot as Bill!

The best part of the park though and certainly worth the ticket price alone was the enormous and haunting “Seven Star Cave” (Qixing Yan) I was fortunate enough that the entire time I was in the cave there wasn’t another person to be seen, which at the same time was quite an eerie experience.

Apart from this though the park had fallen into something of disrepair and it just looked a bit rundown and in need of a bit of paint. Nevertheless it still proved very popular with the once again ever so friendly locals inside it.

It was then off to ‘Solitary Beauty Peak’ (Duxiu Feng) which at 152m stands as the highest point in the city. I was a little annoyed when I arrived at the entrance gate to find that once again there was yet another entrance fee to pay. The guide book had warned travellers about this in Guilin so it wasn’t as if it was a huge surprise to me but all the same a little frustrating. However much to my surprise I managed to convey feeling of frustration to the girl and the guard on the gate and the next thing I knew she’d dropped the price from 50 RMB to just 10 RMB, I’m not even sure what I said! Not content with giving me a large discount on the entrance fee she proceeded to show me around the grounds surrounding the peak! The climb to the top of the peak was steep but once at the top well worthwhile. On arrival in Guilin by train I’d already had the chance to catch a glimpse of this peculiar landscape but now I could get a better and more wide ranging view of it. The downside however was that the weather was extremely hazy and it wasn’t possible to get a clear view. I left the peak satisfied that Guilin and it’s landscape had more to offer. This was backed up by a couple of people I met at the hostel who told me about the stunning Li River cruise to Yangshuo which just so happens to be my next destination, I’m sure it won’t disappoint! Until then…….

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