Guilin-Yangshuo-Dali-Lijiang

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Now I am on my own. I arrived in Guilin and left my backpack at the airport luggage storage. I was a bit stressed with all the warning I got mainly from chinese, I prefered travelling light for this first leg of the trip.

I was planning to go directly to Yangshuo. The airport shuttle was bringing us close to the bus terminal but quite far from Guilin old town. So I didn't take time to visit Guilin. In Yangshuo the town was much more relax and I the stress did diminish. Yangshuo is a very plesant town. As soon as I arrived to the IYH I met a english girl that wanted to go cycling around. It was a good way to discover the area and the temperature nice.

The day after I met a couple at my hostel and they were planning to climb one of the peak and they invited me to join them. The path was not clear at all. We had to pass in little aisle between house to get to the mountain. Then the path was not totaly secure. There was old stair but most of the time without railing so a bit dangerous. At some point electric wires were passing over the path but quite close to the ground. We got up to the top and had a nice but foggy view of the town. It was a good experience and I got good picture. Because of the time I had and the weater I didn't took a boat trip on the lake. Many travellers said it's a very nice trip.

After my second night in Yangshuo, I had to head back to Guilin to take my plane to Kunming. Even if my flight was late afternoon. I left at 9 am for a 1:30 min bus ride to Guilin and then I with the time left I look for the airport bus shuttle which is much cheaper than taxi. I had a hard time finding the place since the street was abruptly ending with a big wall closing the street. Because of that wall I couldn't figure out were I was on the map (not sudden street end, no bridge, no river). Finally after asking around I found out the the bridge was destroyed and another new one was builded upstream. Something that you wouldn't expect to happend often that why I couldn't find my bearings. After all that time searching i didn't have much time to go to see Guilin old town. Taking taxi, speaking chinese and having a good city map would help to save time. I will adjust on the way as i travel.

From Gulin I went to Kunming by plane on the 22th. Didn't plan to stay in that city but since my plan landed in the afternoon and my night train was only at 23h, I decided to visit a bit. Chinese people are not very good at map and they always ask you where do you want to go instead of pointing where you are on the map. In my case it depend where am I. I evaluate distance and see where i can go. So it was very hard to get the right information from chinese. I finaly found a american in Kunming that was living there. He show me a good hostel "The Hump" and the we took fews beers there and I decided to spent the night there.

I took the night train the next day for Dali. Some friend a the hostel had to write in chinese the phrase " I want a train ticket for Dali at 23h hard bed" This was a good experience. We did 350km in 7 hours without stop. That was not many kilometers every hours. Anyway everything went well and I did sleep very good. The problem was more when I arrived. To board the train my ticket was verified 4 times. So after the night I didn't keep my ticket since we arrived at destination...bad move. You need to show your ticket again to exit the train station. By chance I was let go but I was told that normally I would had to buy another ticket so that mean paying twice.

Just outside the train station, I met Dory a chinese girl from Shanghai. She was going to Dali old town like me and she knew which bus to take so I stay with here. She don't need a map to travel her method is to ask around. That how we got to Dali old town and to the hostel. The problem I cannot ask around that easily I don't speak chinese and people are afraid to try to speak english so I try to rely on map and info in the lonely planet.

At the hostel I met Dori's friend Julia we visited the old town together. We went for a boat ride...very small For the afternoon, Dori and I did horseback riding in the mountain to a temple. We walk back 7-8 km to the gondola and head back to the hostel. I have learn some chinese negociation skill from Dori. She negociated the horseback riding and the taxi home. I have to try to apply that technic but it easier if you speak chinese. I was suppose to leave Dali that evening for Lijiang but i was tire from the hike and it was getting late.

Next day, I wake up early and took the bus to Lijiang. Julia Dori's friend was taking the same bus as me so we spent time together. I decided to go the the same hostel as her since it was a IYH and the recommanded one I had from many backpacker was outside Lijiang old town. With Julia I ate real chinese food in Lijiang and we visited a small citym near Lijiang. I celebrated Christmas eve there at the hostel but the dinner was not that great. I was planning to do the Tiger leaping gorge and another town but it was very cold in the mountain. So the dec 26th I took a flight for Chengdu.

For this city I tried Couchsufing. A girl from USA responded positively to my couchsurfing request. Kelly is a peace corp volunteer in Changdu. I spent 5 days in Changdu. I discovered that Peace Corp is a very active organism in China and a great network to know if you want to travel. I visited the Panda breeding center and the Giant Boudha. I also cycle in Chengdu for an afternoon. It's probably a bit dangerous but this is the only way to get around and spot when you want. I was supposed to go to a park north of Changdu but the weater was not nice at all.

If I just take into account the weather and the budget, I should have headed south at Kunming instead of north. I was a bit limited with what I could do up north and I had time constaint that I will not get into in the future.

Chinese are very friendly compare to what people described them before my departure. After Julia and Dory in Dali and Lijiang. A chinese couple offer me to join them for dinner in Changdu. They were helping me to get back to Chengdu bus after I visited the Panda breeding center. I ate typical Changdu cuisine with them and head back home after. The day after at the Giant boudha in Leshan, I met a brazilian that was living in China. He help me to get to the right bus to the giant boudha site but before he offer me to go to eat with him and a girl he meet in the bus.

Shanghai was my last destination, I wanted to celebrate new year eve there with some people I met in Hong Kong. Before bying the ticket I confirmed with them everything and they were very happy to see I was coming. Once I got there they were not available anymore....how reliable. I had a great time anyway with Julia,Dori and Rina. Rina is a contact I got from my friend Guillaume who live now in Japan.

This conclude my trip in China. My objectif was get a taste of that country. I found exagerated some caution and warning I got before leaving either from chinese or from canadians. I still think it's better to learn the language before getting in the country. It facilitate the communication. At this point my plan for the future are to visit Thailand during January go to Malasia and Indonesia during febuary. I will see where there are cheap flight for Australia in that area. After that I should spend 3 months in Australiaso march, april and may. I keep in mind the possibility of buying a organised tour in South Africa. For the summer, I will check if it possible to go spend some time in Beijing and learn chinese. For september and october I might do Mcgill MBA class in Tokyo Japan.

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