Arrived in to Guilin station - had asked our hotel in Yangshuo to arrange collection and transfer rather than faffing around on more public transport. Yangshuo Mountain Retreat, otherwise known as a little bit of heaven. So incredibly peaceful and greeted with the most beautiful sun setting behind the karsts.
Behaved as expected whilst we were here - walked round Yangshuo old town (can be missed!), best part was the 20 min walk up to the pavilion in Yangshuo Park. We hired bikes and cycled along the (river name???) river, made the mistake of paying silly money to visit some giant banyan tree, awful tourist trap. Sad little dressed up monkeys posing for tourist photos, not the parts of China we were here to see. New Year’s Eve and we were in bed by 10(!) after some delicious food at the hotel. Still v ill and now Rob getting it too. Day 2: Visited old village called Xingping despite it being an hours drive from Yangshuo - we had a driver take us but there are buses you can take. The village is described as being the way Yangshuo was fifteen years ago, quite cute streets but still very touristy and we were left with a moment of wondering why we’d come. We had to decide between taking a boat to Fish Village (mostly made famous by Bill Clinton visiting years ago and presumably still making the most out of this little claim to fame) or climbing up Lao Zhai Shan - we decided on the latter - a fairly strenuous forty minute hike but oh so worth it for the spectacular views at the top. As usual, I was grumbling en route but as is always the way, getting that perfect Insta shot as the clouds parted up top seemed to make it all worthwhile. Realised we had left the expensive Nikon camera on the train on day 1. Traveller’s fail. Thank god for insurance and better early in the trip than later when full of photos. Day 3: Finally in recovery. Bamboo raft down the river whilst getting mentally prepared for the dreaded overnight train from Guilin to Hangzhou… Days most essential travel item: Lemsip, Berocca and Nivea (for my hurt nose) Getting there (cue Rob): All hotels rent cheap bikes and electric mopeds for the day (of varying quality/battery life). Petrol mopeds can be hired from a number of places in Yangshuo, especially around the ‘old’ street. There are regular buses to Xingping from Yangshuo (and probably possible to flag them down along the main road) but a taxi to pick you up from your hotel and wait a couple of hours for you to do your thing before driving back to your hotel is inexpensive. Similar with getting to Yangshuo itself, just make sure it’s always on the meter (which incidentally our taxi back to Guilin station was, and only cost CNY20 less than when organised upfront by the hotel). After what seems like weeks of endless packing, goodbyes and a fairly unpleasant week of one of our more strained periods of time as a couple, the time has come to leave Hong Kong! We left our shoebox apartment in Sai Ying Pun and embarked on making our way to leg one of our journey: China! More specifically, Yangshuo.
My bag weighs a tonne. Rob looks like he’s going away for a long weekend. Standard. We had ummed and ahhed about whether to fly to Guilin but in the end, decided on the train. China is very different to Honkers. Five mins in to arriving in Shenzhen and I had already seen a baby with the bum cut out of his trousers. Lots of outdoor voices, lots of spitting, lots of people. Took us an hour to collect our train ticket at Shenzhen station, good job we allowed more than ample time. Ample time - a rarity for us as we are usually dashing around last minute. Start as we mean to go on! Getting more and more delirious as time passes, have a seriously heavy cold and left my voice back in Potato Head in Honkers with that final, final farewell drink. Getting there (cue Rob): MTR to Lok Ma Chau border crossing (easier connection to the correct Shenzhen MTR red line than Lo Wu). Train straight to Shenzhen North (Shenzhen Bei). Booked tickets in advance with Ctrip (probably the best English language travel website in China for booking trains and flights). Three hour bullet train Shenzhen North > Guilin North (Guilin Bei), then CNY 350 taxi down to Yangshuo. Probably easiest to get your hotel to arrange pickup to avoid aggressive haggling with all the touts outside the station. Avoid Guilin entirely, and definitely don’t consider staying there. Days most essential travel item: Bose noise-cancelling headphones |
AuthorsRob & Charlie's travelling adventures on their long journey back to London after living in Hong Kong. Four continents, twelve countries, lots of experiences. Archives
July 2017
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Robert Ware & Charlotte Nunn |