Guilin, Yangshou & Kunming, China

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Hey everyone! We have now arrived in Dali after spending the last 5 nights in Gulin and Yangshou! We arrived in Guilin after a very long bus journey from Shenzhen, we headed to our hostel called the Flowers Youth Hostel where we had booked a 6 bed dorm. After a long bus journey to Guilin we were starving so got a breakfast soon after checking in at the hostel. They had quite a good food menu and we got a full breakfast.

After a short rest after brekkie, we went and headed out into town to see the Sun and Moon Pagodas at the banyan lake. On the way into town, it wasn't spectacular looking it was just a normal city like anywhere else. The park itself with the lake and the two pagodas was beautiful though and very peaceful. Luckily we had got to the pagodas just in time before the crowds did. We paid 30 yuan which is 3 pounds each to go on the pagodas. We went onto the Moon Pagoda first overland across the lake and walked all the way up the Pagoda to the top which was 7 stories high and took in some amazing views of Guilin. Then we went to the Sun pagoda, which is made entirely of Copper and is the tallest Copper pagoda in the World. To get through to the other side you had to go through an underground tunnel underneath the lake which was lit up quite bright with flower lights going along the side. The sun pagoda is the first pagoda to have a lift going up to the top, and with us feeling quite tired already from walking up flights of stairs to the Moon Pagoda, decided to be lazy and get the lift and walk down! You couldn't go up the full 9 stories though, the highest you could go up was the 7th, and on the top floor there was a shrine with incense and a Buddha.

After going to the Pagodas, we sat near the outside for a while and drank lemon green teas. We were both still really tired out from the bus journey so decided to go back to the hostel and sleep for a short while. Whilst Toe went up first, Natalie stayed down in the hostel common room on the net. Toe had an interesting encounter with a fellow dorm mate who was from Macau who just would not stop talking to Toe about how much money he won, properties in Hong Kong and was throwing a toilet roll pretending it was a dice on the wall! When Toe tried to put across that he just wanted some sleep, he just stood over him and kept on talking to him! When Natalie came back from downstairs after about 45mins, Toe still hadn't had a wink of sleep and was relieved that it wasn't him that just came back! Finally, Toe got some shut eye and Nat stayed up reading until around 9pm when we went downstairs to get some dinner. As the food menu looked quite good we though may as well. We got a really tasty dish of rice with beef and vegetables, and they gave us free green beans to snack on as well as we bought a couple of beers. It was quite busy downstairs so we asked if we could join a guy who was from Holland who was sitting at a large table. We ended up spending until half 1 in the morning talking to him (with quite a few large bottles of beers) about all of our travels and where we and he was going. Sleepily at 1.30am we got into bed.

We woke up and had some breakfast, then went to head to Seven Stars Park. We walked along the li river, where there were loads of locals there with children swimming and paddling in the river which was pretty scenic. After a long walk down the side of the river and over the bridge to the other side, we couldnt be bothered to walk on further to the seven stars park so decided to carry on walking a different route down to the town square. We walked down to the main area down to the river where all the locals were swimming, then back through an alley of rural chinese homes which was an interesting view into common city dwellings. Then after a brief rest, headed to the town square.

In the town square it was a big shopping area with lots of cafes and restaurants, we bought a drink called The Wizard of Oz which was sprite with creme de menthe and some jellies at the bottom! Then getting quite hungry we went searching for a dumpling restaurant but were unable to find it anywhere! We came across a small cafe and decided to go there as the menu looked quite tasty so went there instead. Toe bought a barbecue pork and rice dish, and Natalie bought a spicy noodles guilin style. We were both very impressed with the food! Very tasty! We went back to the hostel, it was Friday night and very much bustling. The hostel was giving out free sweet wine, but to Natalie's disappointment it tasted more like apple juice and the alcohol content was probably less than 1%, but hey it was free!! We went up for an early-ish night as we booked the ticket to Yangshou and had to get up really early, we watched Role Models on Toe's i-pod then sleep.

The bus to Yangshou was pretty straight forward, and was only an 1 and a quarter away on the bus which was a very nice change from all the 12-19hour bus journeys! It was the first place we got somewhere and still felt fresh from having a shower lol! We got there quite early in the morning and tried to look for our hostel, which was the Showbiz Inn and Rooftop Bar which we picked because it was going to be definitely showing the World Cup Final. We walked down West Street which is the main street in the small town, and the busiest during the day and evenings for tourists as it's home to souvenir shops, bars and restaurants. We had a bit of trouble finding the hostel until we bumped into some friendly Chinese girls who were actually off to Guilin and helped us to find it. They also wanted a picture with Natalie who in the pic is wearing her day rucksack at the front and her massive backpack as well! We got into our hostel and checked into our dorm, then went up to the rooftop as they had free breakfast which you served yourself which consisted of toast and butter with some milk. The rooftop bar was pretty nice, and had amazing views over Yangshou and you could see all the limestone peaks in the distance which was very impressive.

We walked and explored the town, the town is so small that in no time we pretty much circled the whole town. It's very touristy but it is for a reason, the whole place is stunning! We stopped by a place called Kelly's cafe, won over by the review that says believe it when they say they have the best veggie burgers in town! We bought some dumplings to share, but then we decided that we couldn't resist the veggie burgers so had them as well! They were very good burgers! The rest of the day we just completely chilled out until the evening, the World Cup Final was going to be on at 2.30am so a long night ahead!

In the evening we went down bustling West Street to find a restaurant, we ended up going down a quieter street nearby where a restaurant caught our eye where only Chinese people were in. Downstairs there were Chinese people in massive groups laughing playing drinking games, we went upstairs which had quite comfy chairs to sit on and quite a nice view from the window. We ordered orange duck, chicken with chilli and peanuts and some boiled rice. The duck and chicken were amazing! We were very impressed and the food was very cheap as well. Again, probably could have just shared one meat dish as the portions are really big! Hard though when there are so many nice things to try!

We went back to the hostel and sat on the rooftop bar and bought a few beers. It was around 10ish so still quite a while until the game. The rooftop bar had great views, but at night the mozzies and bugs really did come out so the deet came out too! We played a few games of Pool and then decided to go and sit in our room for an hour before the game started.

At 2ish we went up again to watch the game, it wasn't as busy as before. Natalie bought a red bull to keep her more awake! It was 5.30am when it finished and we were shattered! A guy from Holland wasn't very happy that Spain won and said goodnight earlier as he couldn't bear to watch Spain lift the cup at the end. Toe wanted to watch it til the very end, then we collapsed into bed and slept until 1 in the afternoon, putting an end to our original plan of 'lets get up at 6.30am and rent a bike out into the countryside!'

Dazily waking up, we went to get some food from Kellys Cafe again. We bought a salad which was chicken, ham, tomatoes, salad leaves and burger cheese which sounds nasty but was awesome!! We then went down to the river side, and wandered around there and then headed down to the other side. We came to a point that to get across one part of the pavement to the other you had to step over some stepping stones on the river. Looked simple and quick enough to get across, until Toe fell in when we realised half way how slippy it was!! Nat then got scared that she was going to fall in as well and overall it took us ages to cross the stepping stones, whilst a Chinese couple behind us found it quite amusing. Then when they tried to get across, it ended up with the Chinese guy walking through the river and helping his girlfriend get across the slippy stones!

After spending a few hours by the river, we went to look for an internet cafe but were told to go away as they were closed, even though all the staff were obviously just pissing about on the computers and had the front door open! Toe bought some cool sketchbooks and some postcards from a notebook shop which sold only hand bound books. Natalie bought a bracelet which had small green pendants hanging off from a nearby stall. She was also especially pleased that she could buy another of those pearl tea drinks, which is milk tea with ice and jellys shaped as pearls at the bottom!

We had an earlyish night as we wanted to get up early the next day so we could rent a bike. We rented a bike from the hostel and left around 8.30 after having the free breakfast of toast on the rooftop bar. We were heading for Moon Hill, it took us a while cycling around to find our way. We just wanted to get out of the main town! We went down some leafy countryside surrounded by mountains which was the wrong direction but the views were lovely. We headed back and got onto the main road, and went a different direction. A chinese man stopped and helped us when we looked a bit lost and pointed where we should go. We cycled for about 5ish hours before we got stopped off to see the Banyan Tree. There were people getting bamboo rafts over parts of the lake for 2 yuan and the place was very busy with side street sellers etc. The tree is popular as it's over 600 years old! The whole place was very scenic. Next stop was Moon Hill, which was a kilometre down the road. Moon Hill is a huge limestone hill with a moon shaped hole in the middle from which it gets the name. We started to walk up, and the steps up were very steeps and were slightly disintegrating and some a bit slanted so was a very good work out...we were both getting VERY tired! A kid said as he came down '2 minutes to the top!' and we were like phew! The kid lied lol. It was more like another half an hour to the top and by the time we got up there we were sweating and huffing and puffing like anything!! But the views when we got to the top was absolutely worth it, the view was of the whole of Yangshou and it was magnificent! Some people could go rock climbing up even further up the hill but we were so tired we decided not to! When we climbed back down and being quite hungry and going to the Moon Hill Cafe, the kid came running up to us laughing saying '2 minutes!!' What we didn't read also before we started to go up also is that Moon Hill is at least 800 steps to the top! But it was so scenic and we'd definitely recommend it to anyone who goes to Yangshou! It's a must see.

We cycled back the rest of the way back to the hostel and got back about half 5/6 and just completely crashed! We then went out for an awesome dinner at a restaurant which was very close to the hostel. Natalie got lemon chicken and boiled rice, and Toe got baked beef and vegetable noodle in a claypot which was so good! For the rest of the evening we just relaxed and read. Toe read One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest and Nat finished The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

We checked out of our hostel at 12 and headed towards the bus station where regular buses went to Guilin so we didn't have to book before hand. You can't get a train from Yangshou so that's why it was necessary to go back. The bus was only just over an hour so that was fine, and the train was at 4.56pm. We bought a hard sleeper and the train was going to take approx 19 hours to get to our next destination, Kunming. We got to Yangshou at around 1.30 so we just went to a KFC and sat in there for a few hours before getting to the train station to board our train.

On the train, the hard sleepers have 6 bunks, 3 side by side and we got the middle bunk. Normally the bottom bunk is the best but everyone sits on it during the day, and the top bunk you get less headroom. This train though the top bunk seemed to have the same headroom except you had more space to put your bag by your feet unlike the other two bunks so we may get the top bunk from now on. However the hard sleeper was actually quite comfy despite the lack of headspace when you sit up, and you get a pillow and duvet cover. We shared the hard sleeper bunk with a chinese family with a few young children, and there was a spanish guy in the top bunk. The chinese children were quite cheeky, trying to grab toe's feet and legs and also Natalie's legs when she had to get down from the bunk. They were also very noisy! There were a lot of children generally in the bunks that were located next door also. We woke up at 6am to children running up and down the carriage screaming!

We arrived in Kunming and were supposed to get the number 3 bus to the hostel. Unfortunately we could not find the bus we wanted so we decided to walk there. Sods law though that half way through walking about 4 number 3 buses started driving past! We checked into the hostel and got some lunch, we bought some chicken burritos which were actually really healthy tasting. Chicken with apple, walnuts and some mayo with hot salsa on the side! At the hostel we were given a free coffee and beer voucher which was good! Kunming is just a pretty normal city and it's a stop off from the next place you go to, so we only booked a night. There isn't loads to see but it's a pretty chilled place. So mostly we just lazed about in the hostel. Kunming is in the province of Yunnan and the first thing we notice was how cool it was there, we found out the temp was only 27 degrees! Now when you've been used to always being in 31-38 degrees then that is very cool! So sitting outside in the garden was really nice!

In the evening we got dinner in the hostel as well, Yunnan is known for it's goat cheese so we both decided to get a dish with real cheese in as everywhere else we've been when they've said 'cheese' its just burger cheese! Toe got a pasta dish of basil and goats cheese and Natalie got a goats cheese and vegetable salad and we shared some dumplings. The goats cheese was yum but much more subtle than the goats cheese we've had in the UK. Later on in the eve, a couple we met on the train who were from England aswell asked to join us so we had some beers with them for the rest of the evening before bed. They had been to Northern China and worked way down to the South of China before heading to Laos.

Before bed we forgot to book a hostel so asked the receptionist if we could use the computers. We weren't able to so she let us book it on her computer. As Toe sat there to book it, other travellers thought he was the receptionist and were asking him to book bus tickets! After booking the hostel, we packed to get ready for Dali the next day, which was a 7 hour bus journey.

We're blogging from Dali and we're going to Lijiang tomorrow morning! So next one after this will be soon! Til next time, lots of love, Natalie & Toe xxx

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Comments

[mum]

Excellent...
I think I want to go to China! big hugs xx