Blogs from Guangxi, China, Asia - page 124

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin October 22nd 2005

We landed in Guilin all nice and refreshed, so as usual it was time to play the tout lottery. This is much the same as the bus lottery only you pick a tout who "find you nice good room" and see what happens. We couldn't be arsed playin that morning so we decided to get out the lonely planet bible (which is much like the real bible in that its a miracle if it does you any good) and to play the taxi lottery instead. We went to the town centre and amazingly couldn't find anywhere. Then one of the touts who jumped in a taxi to follow us said he could sort us a room, DFR. Quick shit, shower and shave and we were out again, hood tried to get some money out of an ... read more

Biking in Yangshao

Asia » China » Guangxi » Yangshuo October 8th 2005

Moon Hill

Sean

Lucky to get a ticket out of Shanghai to ... anywhere. Lucky to end up where I did. Guilin and Yangshao is the undisputed area of backpackers in China, a touch of S.E.A. Back again; banana pancakes, cheap knockoff Cd's, lame slogan t-shirts, movie bars and dazed out looks. I'll take it, I have a dazed out look too. This area is crying for you to get on a mountain bike (they actually rent good ones) and take off in any direction you please. River trails to follow, hikes to find, villages to visit, its all within a few hours ride, unless you're in horrible shape. In four days I must have put over 250 ks on the bike, good weather, no people just what I needed. Living in a place as beautiful has to rub ... read more

Introduction to China

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin October 4th 2005

Yangshou souveniers

longwayhome

I parted ways with the crazy German guy I was with and finally found Gerry. These past few days we have been taking it easy...walking from restaurant to restaurant...sleeping in, talking to other travelers over copious amounts of coffee and Liquan. After a nice walk around the surrounding streets yesterday I talked Gerry into ditching his idea about renting the stupid looking electric scooters that seem rather popular with the Chinese tourists in town and grabbing 2 cheap mountain bikes. "Just for a short spin around town." UmmmHmmm...No map and 3 hours later we found ourselves biking further and further outside of Yangshuo. Encouraged by the Chinese tourists we kept passing on tandem bicycles and the like we kept on. Through a long polluted tunnel, through lush green lush fields, over seemingly hundreds of hills and ... read more

Starting out on a bike ride through the countryside

EXTRAEXTRA - THE SWEDISH CROWN PRINCESS ON VACATION... WITH ME!!!

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin October 4th 2005

Me, Victoria, Rikard on the Moonhill

Rasmus S

Up and jump! Ignore any such thing as a hangover! Today it was time for our so called "full day bike ride" that is in all three hours cycling. But now afterwards i'm still quit satisfied with it. We started off cycling an hour on small roads, countryside looking, but around the corners were poor farmers hidding equipped with repetative noises ("HELLO POSTCARD(!!!)" blended with friendly smiles. Still the countryside was beautiful and after Donna crashing twice (!) plus all the photostops we arrived to the Moonhill, where we were to walk to the top. Beautiful sights whatever uninteresting, beacause here she came! I immidiately recognized her face, as she was looking down to beeing seen... AAAAh. First i was too shy, not to talk about Rikard. We were already on our way back, but with ... read more

Chinese farmers posing for money (taken with hidden camera)

I made it to China!

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin October 2nd 2005

Riding the Friendship Train

longwayhome

This is just a little post letting you all know I made it here safe and sound yesterday afternoon. I took the overnight train through "friendship pass" from Hanoi to Guilin. Everthing went smoothly at customs and I made some nice friends on the train. (Boy, the Chinese certainly know how to travel by rail...like a hotel on wheels!) Unfortunately, however - I arrived on the first day of China's biggest national holiday. Aaack! Chinese tourists are out swarming all over the sights here and hotel/guest house prices are through the roof! Guilin and the surrounding area is fantasticly beautiful, though. I have plans to meet Gerry today. I am excited about finally having a travel buddy again. More to come... ... read more

2005 Yangshuo Fall Triathalon

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin September 30th 2005

Unibrow

Greetings all. Today Sherry and I did our own little Yangshuo Triathalon and we are wiped! LEG ONE (bike) Departing at 6:30 AM having consumed some Chinese donuts (hey! that doesn’t _look_ like cinnamon), Coke (for the caffeine), and a bottle of Orange-ate, we set out with our guide Robert. It was butt-early, meaning no tourists, just people biking to school/work. The scenery is absolutely phenomenal around here. The hills are just amazing, tall, thin crags, the ‘classic’ view of China that you see sometimes in their art pieces. We were both riding fully-suspended mt. Bikes. Mine had a kick-stand that kept coming down while I was riding. Along the way we saw rice fields, water buffalo, and got a fair mix of hellos/ni hao's/blank stares. LEG TWO (hike) Our biking destination was Moon Hill, a ... read more

aaaAA

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin September 29th 2005

Bridge to Heaven

Unibrow

It’s my turn to write a spot now. Sorry about not writing more but I have already mentioned my horrible writing skills. First I would like to put everyone at ease about our experiences here in China. Cory and I feel that we have misled everyone to thinking that we are miserable. This is not true. I think that we have our ups and downs and we stress the downs much more than the ups. We both know that this will most likely be the most memorable country on our 3 month tour. Last night I think we ended up having the most memorable event since we left the U.S. We had left our hotel to roam the streets and think about what to do for food when 3 chinese students about 17 years old came ... read more

The Chinese Must have Invented Stairs

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin September 28th 2005

Unibrow

The Chinese Must have Invented Stairs...At least on our Yangtze River cruise we climbed so so many of the darn things it was amazing! Up from the boat, up to the pagoda/temple. It seemed never ending. Anyway, 'Ni Hao', that’s hello in Chinese if you haven’t figured that out already. Where to start, we both have a lot to say about our time here in China. This is the most ‘foreign’ place that I have ever visited. Here they have a different language and of course they use a different alphabet than English. Fforget about reading anything in Chinese characters except maybe city names on a train schedule or man/woman on a toilet, or entrance/exit… hey, we are learning something! On top of that, the culture here is so different! I’ll update you briefly on the ... read more

Guilin/Yangshuo - Day 2

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin August 24th 2005

7 Star Park - Camel Hill

JDupe

Free morning Another free morning, and another chance to get some of my thoughts written down for the blog. My other tour members decided to do some more shopping in town and also rented a couple of mini ATV’s, which they enjoyed immensely. We all left right before lunch to take a ride back to Guilin. We stopped a couple of times to take in some more of the magnificent scenery of the area, now with the benefit of a nice sunny day. Seven Star Park Travel China Guide Information A fairly forgettable excursion. It contained the Camel Hill...whose name is self explanatory. It also contained a rock garden and museum…which we were given a “free” tour of. Coincidentally enough, it ended in the gift shop, where we could get some souvenir rocks. Some of the ... read more

Guilin/Yangshuo - Day 1

Asia » China » Guangxi » Guilin August 23rd 2005

Bicycle Ride 17

JDupe

Here is some information on Guilin from Wikipedia and Travel China Guide. Li (Lijiang) River Cruise Wikipedia Information Travel China Guide Information Even though it was overcast and raining, the scenery during the cruise was still magnificent. The whole route is line with jagged hills (called Karst peaks), which is the signature feature of Guilin, and farmers working the land. It is like nothing I have every seen before. When we were boarding the boat, I notice a large jar with what looked like a snake in it. Later during the cruise, a gentleman came to our table with the jar in his hand, saying that it was snak... read more

Brief history of China

For centuries China stood as a leading civilization, outpacing the rest of the world in the arts and sciences, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the country was beset by civil unrest, major famines, military defeats, and foreign occupation. A...more history

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