Guilin, Yangshuo and Longshen

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Fresh from a few restful days in Xiamen, we boarded our flight to Guilin in the hope of returning to a more travelled path. The town of Guilin, with a population of 5 million, is a 'small' city according to the locals. It has a very unique terrain with Karst limestone rock formations springing out of the ground at random. This makes the surrounding area beautiful to gaze upon as the bus rattles by.


We had booked a river cruise at the airport that picked us up from our hostel 'This Old Place' via shuttle bus for the cool price of 400rmb (40 quid) for the following day so had one evening of strolling around Guilin before heading out. The same trip was being sold by the hostel for 580rmb so we were definitely right to buy this at the airport. The city of Guilin is built on a series of connected rivers that all flow into the Li River that our cruise was travelling along to Yangshuo. At night, they light up these miniature rivers and have a market that runs alongside the entire riverfront. It was wonderfully serene to stroll around, mixed in with some other tourists, and finally feel like we were not being stared at all the time.



We got picked up at 8am am shuttled to the port for our ferry to take us the 4 hour cruise to Yangshuo, with promises of a spectacular view on the way (we even got a fairly decent buffet lunch thrown in!). One of the highlights of the cruise was definitely the landscape that actually appears on the 20rmb note, and our friendly tour guide even got us all in position to try and replicate the scene. I would recommend the cruise to anyone as the views from the river are stunning, and it's a great way to spend the morning relaxing before the hustle of Yangshuo. When you arrive in Yangshuo itself you have to run the gauntlet of the 'Hello' market (named after the 'Hello bags, watches?' Sales pitch made by EVERYONE). It's not as bad as most places though and always jovial, whilst generally people leave you alone if they can see you are not interested.



We put our bags down at the No Kidd Inn (get it?) and went for a stroll to meet our tour guide again for our additional extra (200rmb or £20) trip of a bamboo rafting experience on the Yulong River. This river has been protected by the government and motorised crafts are not allowed on it, which ensures constantly calm water. It was a very pleasant 80 minute tour of the river and the rafter even stopped so we could watch the local fishermen using tamed Cormorant birds to fish. The fishermen tie a rope around the cormorants neck, which stops them being able to swallow the big fish, and then they take the fish out if their mouths.



We got back to Guilin at about 5pm and went straight back to the hostel to freshen up; it was 29 degrees and this time we had no coastal breeze... As we had two nights in Yangshuo we decided to eat somewhere close to the hostel, and opted for the Riverview Hotel Restaurant, around 25m from our hostel. It turned out to be superb and very cheap. Not being sure what we were ordering in terms of size we got a dish each, with rice and noodles. The waitress seemed taken aback but happily got on with our order anyway. What then came out was about 5-6 people's worth of food, which Kayleigh and I valiantly demolished (give or take a few servings) with a few local beers. The food was beautiful and I had crispy duck which was so good, we went back the next day for lunch...and dinner (variety on the menu is the spice of life?). The whole dinner, with dessert and booze still only cost us 160rmb (16 quid).



As there are no public buses that go from Yangshuo to our next destination, the 'Longji Rice Terraces', we had the choice of either paying 180rmb (18 quid) for a day trip and just stay in Longji, or go back to Guilin and then get another bus there. As the latter option was longer and cheaper but still only saved us about 60rmb (6 quid) we went for the easy, but more expensive one. After a hair-raising 4 hour bus ride we made it to the mountainous rice terraces at around 11am in scorching 30 degree heat. Our first port of call was the Yao village, where the women boast the longest hair in all of China. Interesting as it was to see them, the show they put on was horridly cheesy and purpose-built for tour groups. It felt extremely fake and had cliche Chinese music adding to its faux authenticity.



We grinned politely and pushed on to reach the village of Ping'An, the biggest of all the settlements in Longji. Once up here, we decided to walk to the mystically named 'Seven Stars and the Moon' viewpoint as the afternoon was pressing, and we did not want to get caught on the mountain in the dark. It was a breathtaking view but sadly, because our camera equipment is not professional quality, it is very difficult to recapture. There is a level of smog across all of China that seems to render most personal cameras ineffective at trying to show just how beautiful some of the scenery is. The pictures still give you a vague idea though...The next day we planned to hike the 3.5hrs from Ping'An to a neighbouring village called Dazhai, so we opted for an early dinner of rice cooked in bamboo (I thought it was nasty) and stir-fried vegetables.



The hike between the two villages is approximately 10km but as Dazhai sits a few hundred metres higher, it's a tough 10km. We departed at 9am and arrived just after 12 noon, and I have to say it was very tiring, but thoroughly worth it. We were fortunate enough that we arrived in Longji on 7th Oct, and the 8th Oct is the beginning of the harvest. We saw the rice terraces at there utmost grown, beautiful and vibrant yellows bursting out of the platforms, and then during our hike we saw them stripped bare, as the workers hurriedly gathered the crops. I would thoroughly recommend the hike, but given the opportunity again, I would go from Dazhai to Ping'An as it is mostly downhill!!



After our hike we arrived in the parking lot of Dazhai village gate, about 50m downhill of the village (none of these villages have roads so all vehicles must stop at the gates) and were ushered onto a packed shuttle bus back down the mountains to the main road. The gruelling 60 minute journey in the stifling heat, whilst desperately clinging on to the standing rails was tough on the calves after the trek, so we were looking forward to boarding the bus back to Guilin in comfy seats from the main road (another 60 minute journey). My level of nativity here still perplexes me, as we got on an even bigger, more crowded bus to be told we were not allowed to stand in the aisle. During our attempt to disembark we got given what I can only describe as the plastic chair from a kids tea party, and told to sit on this in the aisle. Seeing no alternative we did as the locals did and endured the 60 minute bumpy ride on a child's plastic garden stool...an experience if nothing else. Sore bum galore...



Before leaving Guilin for Yangshuo a few days prior, we queued and bought tickets (with our hostel receptionist having written the request in Chinese) for trains to Guangzhou in preparation for our train to Hong Kong. This was to be our first experience of trains in China, and a 12 hour overnight sleeper too. It was one of the best nights sleep I have had in China and so very comfortable, as we opted for the top of the range ticket of a 'soft-sleeper'.



We have noticed whilst travelling throughout China so far, that the local people seem to have what we are playfully calling 'mad-dash syndrome'. Whenever you wait for any form of transport of any kind, the local population seem to take the event as a challenge as to who can get onto a bus, plane or train the quickest. It perplexes me and I cannot fathom it on some occasions, where the seating is allocated anyway (painfully British way to think about it I know). As we waited for the train, which started in Guilin and so was completely empty, and all of the seating is ticket allocated, there was still an unrelenting and forceful desire on the native Chinese peoples part to get to the train first. Their irrepressible resolve has no prejudice as they clatter the old, young and infirm out of the way to be 'número uno'. Still, train travel here is obviously over vast distances with some very long train journeys and from our solitary experience, it is very comfortable and easy. We have two nights in Guangzhou before heading to Hong Kong to see our not so native guide Matt Burchell.



Dan

Xx

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Photos

Ping'An terraces
You are allowed, provided you stay off the crops and stick to the stone paths, to wander freely amongst the terraces.