I finally made use my my multi-entry Chinese visa last weekend! Three adventurous friends and I left Hong Kong last Thursday night for an overnight train from Shenzhen to Guilin 桂林 (in Guangxi province). We only had three days to enjoy and experience Guilin and two of its neighboring cities, Yangshuo and Longji. Guilin is known to be one of the most naturally beautiful places on Earth. And I must say, the scenery did not fall short of my expectations. No postcard photo or Chinese calligraphy paintings can fully capture the serene and silent beauty of the massive peaks when experienced in person.
It is quite a different experience to travel with a small group of friends. It was "real" travel. I really put my mandarin skills to the test (it turned out to be very useful when trying not to get completely ripped off, espeically since a guy in our group was obviously a 外國人, a foreigner). Unlike the bus tour around China I went on with my parents, I didn't always feel safe. Actually, it was kind of stressful! Everything was so unorganized and unclear, and people are not so helpful. For example, we were not told that the trip from Guilin to Yangshuo would take 3 hours by boat, plus an hour by bus! That was half of our valuable day gone (but of course, the boat ride was spectacular)! Another instance was when we booked to see a lightshow in Yanghuo through our hostel. We were told to meet someone at some hotel in Yangshuo at 6:30pm who will bring us to the theater. Outside the hotel was packed with tourists and locals, and we had no idea who we were waiting for... and the worst part was that that "someone" had our pre-paid tickets and our ride home to our Guilin. It was quite an experience. But somehow, every time, things turned out okay! Maybe we had beginners' luck?
I definitely learned a lot in those short three days. But I cannot imagine
living in China. Don't get me wrong, I didn't take history, culture, sights and cheap food for granted! But unfortunately, along with breathing in the scents of freshly steamed beer-battered fish and sweet yams from a local street vendor, we breathed in a highly unhealthy dose of China Air. Second-hand smoking for three full days! Oh my goodness. I could feel my throat clogging up and my voice became raspy. And not so surprisingly, I got sick on the train ride back to Shenzhen. :(
Thinking back, this trip was such a bargain! For less than 2,000 yuan total, I came back to Hong Kong feeling so fortunate to have everything that I have - a place (several places, in fact) to call home, people who love me, a good education, and a
future. Wow. It's a blessing in itself to be labeled a "tourist" in China, haha. I remember when our boat docked after the 3-hour ride on the river, the cutest little girl came up to us and introduced herself as TanTan. She was maybe 5-years-old. She was dirty from playing on the unpaved dirt ground with a yo-yo. I thought of the many abandoned baby girls in China. I imagined myself when I was her age: holding a present, a big smile on my face, next to our Christmas tree in the living room (hehe), dinner table already set, parents by my side. What different lives we live!
I had a similar feeling in a restaurant in Guilin. Near the end of our dinner in a seafood restaurant, a little girl (maybe 6-years-old?) came up to us with bundles of roses in her arms. You should have heard her recite her lines. She first went up to Bruno (an easy target) and tried to sell him roses in English. He eventually gave in and bought one for me and one for Penny. The little girl then turned to Andrew and said in Chinese something along the lines of "Handsome brother, I am from a poor village, won't you buy some flowers from me?" He bought two, and the little girl gave us 好人 two more for free. So Penny and I left the restaurant with satisfied tummies, friends by our side, and each with three fresh roses. I will never forget the look on her face as we exchanged glances: "We are so lucky".
Day 1:
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| Our travel group of four! The first landmark we visited was the Elephant Trunk Hill. We got really hungry after walking up the hill and back down, so we didn't take the boat out to see the hill from a different perspective. Supposedly, from the water, the rocks on the hill form the shape of an elephant! |
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| We taught Andrew how to play Ninja... |
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| Still full of energy on our way back down the hill! |
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| Haha, this caused quite a scene... This guy was selling sugar cane by the road, so we stopped to tell Bruno and Andrew what it is and how to eat it. So of course he tried to sell it to us (at an inflated price), and insisted we buy the entire 8-foot-long stalk. When we tried to get out of it, at least 6 other local street vendors and tricycle drivers formed a circle around us and supported the the guy! They said "it's so cheap, you have to buy it!" and "he already cut it, are you not going to buy it?!" and "come one, don't make such a scene, just buy it!" So, we bought it (like 10 lbs of it). Bruno ended up giving half of it away to ladies who tried to sell us travel packages... they blushed, accepted gratefully, and continued promoting their travel deals... |
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| Nevertheless, we enjoyed the succulent juices of our sugar cane snacks happily :) |
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| Ahh! Wallpaper-worthy photo! These were taken in the Reed Flute Cave in Guilin. It was a funny story how we got there... the tricycle driver was super duper nice! He had no idea where he was going (haha!) so charged us a total of 6 RMB to get to this "Reed Flute Cave" when we hopped on. Little did he know it would be like a 30 minute ride. He said he's never been there before. He drove us to buy our tickets and walked us right up to the entrance so that he could see for himself why so many tourists come to Guilin. He left happily after admiring the entrance to the cave, exclaiming that he would not pay 90 RMB to enter, but that the surrounding landscapes are indeed gorgeous. I'm glad we allowed a local to appreciate the city in which he lives for just a few minutes :) |
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| Maybe you've been in one of these caves, but this was my first time, and it was stunning! |
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| The artificial lighting is definitely eye-candy... o.o |
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| As we were getting ready to leave the Cave, a guy rolled a huge cart by us and stopped to sell freshly baked Chinese breads and pastries! These chocolate bread things are to die for! Thanks to Penny for the recommendation :) |
Day 2:
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(Andrew, Me, Penny, and Bruno)
An hour plus bus ride from our hostel (near the Guilin train station) brought us here to a dock on the Li Jiang (Li River). The four of us, along with 6 other people from our hostel, were dropped off without a word of instruction on what to do from there. Everything in China was a little iffy. So we just hopped on two boats, and headed out! We learned to take our chances (we usually turned out okay, just a little panicked). |
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| Penny and I on the Li River, with the infamous Guilin mountains as our backdrop. |
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Guilin is renown for its mountains and unique landscapes - you can see why! They are beautiful.
Oh! Did I mention that I finally found a replacement for my broken camera? Haha, I realized that I stopped blogging when I stopped using my camera! Good thing I got my Sony Nex-3 just in time for Guilin :) |
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| Breathtaking, isn't it? Too bad I only took two pan-shots. You just have to go see it in person! |
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| It's us again! Why we were told to put on life-jackets an hour and a half into the boat ride? No idea. |
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| Sit back, relax, and breathe in the scenic beauty |
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After the 3-hour boat ride and lunch at a random restaurant we pulled off to in the middle of nowhere, we were told to take a bus that would take us to Yangshuo. When we docked our bamboo boats, this cutie greeted us.
“我叫TanTan！” was all she said. |
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| That expression is straight out of a Korean drama. Priceless :) |
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| Taking pictures while a super shady cart-thing with wheels can be a difficult task... it was like a roller-coaster ride, but with a better view than the person's head in front of you. |
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| The best way to see Yangshuo is by bike! We rented two tandem bikes for 20 RMB each. This was a lot of fun! I could bike around the city all day if our schedule allowed :) |
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| Our bikes are moving, if you can't tell. CHEESE! |
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| We had to try to infamous local specialty in Yangshuo: beer fish! Didn't taste any beer, but the fish was delish! |
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| Waiting to see the night show in Yangshuo: Impressions Sanjie Lie (directed by Zhang Yimou!) |
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| Can you tell that the mountains in the back are REAL? The show is on a natural set, from the river to the trees to the mountains in the background. Amazing! |
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| I got goosebumps. You should be there to hear the hundreds of people in costume singing in front of the Yangshuo mountains. I could feel how enriched China is with history and culture. It made me feel hopeless for a minute: there are so many people in China that they have to compete and strive to make a living everyday, even if it means being one of the thousands of performers in this show or eagerly selling postcards to tourists for 5 RMB per pack. While I get to look forward to college graduation and a promising career, they can only look forward to the next day, the same routine, not wishing for more. :( |
Day 3:
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| I was told you need a strong stomach to handle the street food in China. I'm glad I took my chances this time - these noodles were yummy! And perfect for our bus ride to Ping An (平安）in Longji. |
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| The bus ride up was beautiful, and totally worth the 35 RMB we paid to reach Ping An! |
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| The view of the rice fields in Ping An were impressive! But it's another funny story how we only got to stay there for 30 minutes... |
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| On the bus again! For only 19 RMB, we get a bumpy 2.5-hour ride back to our hostel. Downfall? There were no seats left, so the four of us lined up along the walkway and sat on stools the bus driver kindly provided. Car sick, much? Oh yes... |
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| Mmmm, not sure what this is called, but it was huge and delicious, and fed all four of us for dinner. Spicy duck with water-chestnuts and veggies in a sizzling hot wok... :d |
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| We started to get sore throats on the 13-hour train ride back to Shenzhen, so Penny and I bought some congee for breakfast. I got sick anyways, but I don't regret the congee ;) |
All in all, I would recommend Guilin and Yangshuo to anyone who wants to see what China is all about. Go backpacking for a few days and crash at a cheap hostel like we did (40 RMB per person, per night - Wada Hostel!) Bring a camera, but don't forget to take a break from being a tourist, and just absorb in the beauty of your surroundings. It's really quite spectacular. Talk to the people and ask many questions... you won't regret it in the long run. It's better to look stupid and ask the locals, even if they roll their eyes at you and tease you in Mandarin, than to be completely lost, late, and helpless in the end. ;)
Love,
Teresa
