To be a little more economical with our budget we decided to take the train from Shanghai to Guilin, a mere 21 hour journey, which is nothing for us hardened TranSib’ers. The train was pretty much the same as the Trans Sib, just with a lot more Chinese people on it. We shared our cabin with an elderly couple and their grandson, which was interesting as the cabins only sleep 4! Dan and me had our usual train food of pot noodles, while our fellow cabin mates tucked into a feast of chicken feet and rice – nice!
After arriving in Guilin and securing our onward train tickets to Hong Kong, we had an hour bus ride to our destination – Yangshuo. The write up of Yansgou in Lonely Planet is really attractive, it’s the “kind of place where people go for a few days but end up staying for weeks”, there lots to do in the countryside etc etc; so we were really looking forward to spending some time here. Off the bus and on foot to the hostel, we were somewhat surprised to discover we had turned up in China’s equivalent of Benidorm, or so it felt! The place was completely overran with tourists.
Having thundered and lightened during the night, the first day in Yangshuo was a bit disappointing as it continued to rain all day, however we took advantage by having a lazy day and I spent the time productively by rewriting my CV and applying for a few jobs in Sydney (well done me!). The following morning it looked a little brighter so the bamboo rafting trip we had organized for the first day was on. Just as we set off on our bikes to the river it started to pour it down so we got a little wet, however this didn’t matter too much as we discovered on the raft when we got soaked from the first mini-waterfall!
That afternoon we decided to make full use of our bike rental and go for a ride in the countryside – the map had plotted out a route along the river so we (actually was my idea!) thought we would just follow that. Hmmm 4 hours later, after thinking I was going to have to camp in the middle of the China countryside as after countless corners we seemed to be no nearer civilization (Dan was pleased the route wasn’t his suggestion!!!), with a sore bum, we made it back into town. As a treat for making it back, we went for pizza, had a proper glass of vino, ow and I had a pedicure!
The weather was a little better on day 3 so we decided to go drifting (a miniature version of white water rafting) however as we were booking we were told the bus was full so we couldn’t. Instead we hired bikes again and set off to see the Big Banyan Tree (1,500 years old) and Moon Hill.
That evening we met up with Matt & Nicole (who we’d met in Chengdu), went for a fair few drinks and played table football / pool – it was a fun night! It was fab to meet up with friends again! Whilst at dinner a young lad approached us and asked: “Can I speak with you to practice my English?” – how could anyone refuse – especially when you see the photo…
On our last day, the weather picked up from the previous rainy day so we took the bus up to Xingping to take a boat trip up to Yangdi Town, or that’s what we thought. As you do in China we bartered with the woman and got her down from 150 Yuan to 50 (a pound!) for the trip, however when we got so far up the river, the guy on the boat turned round. When we explained where we were supposed to go he got his wallet out indicating more money, not falling for that one we turned round and headed back. Although we only got half way up the river, the bit we did see was fab and we got to see the view that is on the back of the 20 Yuan note.
