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DAY 1 – GUILIN
We arrived around noon on a train that was coming from Shanghai. We took a bus from the station to our hostel, located in the lake area, close to all the touristic places.
After checking in our hostel and having a quick lunch in a McDonald’s close-by (not very local but we were really really hungry and in a rush to go sightseeing), we went out for a stroll.
This part of Guilin is full of cute little bridges and quiet pathways by the rivers and lakes. One of the most typical views of Guilin is the Sun and Moon Pagodas that watch over one of the lakes.
After that we walked to another one of the most popular touristic activities in Guilin, Elephant Trunk Hill, and this was one of the big fiascos we had in China.
What we thought was a natural beauty was actually a private garden with a very overpriced entrance fee. Since we were already there, we decided to buy the ticket and see what it was all about. It was not a big deal and the rock formation that was supposed to look like an elephant didn’t really.
We walked around the park, decorated with weird-looking elephants all around it, and we climbed the hill to get a decent view of the city and the Li River.
At night we went out for dinner and visited the pagodas, which were lit up.
Our thoughts of Guilin: it is the gate to this natural region, but it is not worth staying there. It is a normal city with not much to see. We recommend not to waste your time here and head straight to Yangshuo.
DAY 2 – YANGSHUO
We checked out of our hostel in the morning and went straight to the bus station. After getting lost and walking in circles for half hour, we finally made it to the real station and bought a ticket to Yangshuo. The trip took a couple of hours through a road under maintenance, but we finally got to a bus station in the middle of the countryside, or so it appeared.
Somehow (can’t remember how though) we knew which other bus we had to take to go downtown, where our hostel was located.
That day we explored the area, walked the popular West Street and went all the way to the Li riverside.
We loved Yangshuo from the beginning: it is a ver picturesque town sorrounded by mountains and with a very cool vibe. In the evening we had a few drinks in West Street, which is full of bars and restaurants. For some reason this town is full of Western tourists, unlike other parts of China.
DAY 3 – AROUND YANGSHUO
We dedicated this day to go around Yangshuo to enjoy its many natural spots. Our first try was to rent an electric motorbike, the preferred mode of transport in this area, but it was too hard to drive. None of us has any experience riding motorbikes; in fact, we hate them. Instead we grabbed normal bicycles.
With only a paper map and our water bottles we started riding towards the Yulong river. The first part of the road is not the best, as you have to share it with other cars and motorbikes, and let’s be honest, Chinese are not the best drivers in the world.
We finally made it to the Yulong River scenic area, tired and hot, but the views from the bridge were very gratifying. We wanted to continue, but this area wasn’t properly signaled and we weren’t sure where to go next.
After getting lost once (yes just once), we continued for another hour following the riverbed, going through small towns scattered in this rural area in the mountains. At first we were a bit wary about being in the middle of the countryside, without a phone or GPS, but we got to the Dragon Bridge, an old stone bridge that crosses over the Yulong river. From there you can get a bamboo raft to cruise the river.
Too tired and too hot to continue, we found a little restaurant where we sat and had something to eat before heading back.
Two more hours or so and we were back in Yangshuo returning our bikes. We went straight to our room for a rest as we were a bit sunburt, and then out for some drinks in West Street.
DAY 4 – XINGPING
This day we went to Xingping, a small town on the shores of the Li River that seems to be stuck in time, sorrounded by the most beautiful landscape. This town is very popular in China since it’s home to the landscape from the 20-yuan bill.
It is very easy to get to Xingping from Yangshuo. Our hostel staff wrote the name of the bus we had to take (in Chinese, of course), and with that piece of paper we went straight to the bust terminal. We had not trouble finding the corret bus and after aproximately an hour we were in Xingping.
The touristic areas in Xingping are well signaled in English, so we just had to follow the signs to the famous view of the 20 Yuans bill.
Later we walked across Old Street, an stone alleway framed by preserved houses, where we had lunch. It seems to be quite prepared for Western tourism since a lot of things are in English. The Old Street is very picturesque.
To continue enjoying the beautiful landscapes, we went on a short Li River Cruise. The boat ride took an hour and a half and it supposedly went by the 20 Yuans bill view, which we realised was actually a lie since that spot was to the other side. We didn’t really care as we had already seen the iconic view, but we noticed that all the other tourists, all chinese, were being deceived.
The funniest part of the ride was that we became the main attraction on the boat. Every Chinese tourist lined up to take a picture with us. We now think we should have charged a fee, hahaha!
We returned to Yangshuo by bus and repeated our beer and dinner routine in West Street.
Our thoughts on Yangshuo: it’s beautiful and it’s got loads of things to see. We would have liked to see more than what we did, but we feel we didn’t find the proper way to do it. Cycling is very tirying and the distances are very long. The motorbike option is not a lot better, since they are electric and their batteries only last for two hours at the most.
We generally are anti-tour and we like to do everything on our own, but in this region we recommend hiring tours to make the most of your time.
DAY 5 – GUANGZHOU
We had a super-early train to Guangzhou that morning. Hostel staff had booked a taxi to drive us to the Yangshuo train station.
Important tip: the station is called Yangshuo but it is very far from town and you can only get there by taxi. It is almost more convenient to go back to Guilin and take a train from there.
The taxi to the station from West Street lasted around an hour. There was a moment when we were scared, since we were in the middle of nowhere, driving up the mountain. The driver didn’t speak English (nor Spanish) so we couldn’t really ask him anything.
All of a sudden we got to a big and modern train station on top of a mountain. The train was on time, we boarded and enjoyed the ride. The landscape at the beginning of the trip was very pretty.
After around two and a half hours we arrived to the Guangzhou Railway Station. The place was so big and chaotic that we had trouble finding the entrance to the undergrown, and we didn’t find a lot of people willing to help us either.
We finally found the subway station and went to our hotel, which was quite well located. We had a quick lunch and dedicated the afternoon to do some sightseeing.
We went to the Dr Sun Yat-sen memorial, the leader of the republican revolution of China at the beginning of the 20th Century. From there we went to Yuexiu Park with its bizarre Five Rams statue, icon of the city.
We took the subway to the Pearl River with the idea to maybe hop on a cruise, but they were all very fancy and expensive, so we started walking by the riverside. The area was not particularly nice. The city looked grey and most of the restaurants or bars were abandoned.
We walked for a very long time and suddenly found ourselves in Ershadao island, a residential area with nothing to see. As the night fell, it became dark and it was pretty hard to get out of that island, but we finally did and our tired legs took us to the Guangzhou financial district.
The skyline is not at all impressive, specially if you compare them to Shanghai. The most popular building is the Canton Tower, that gets colourful lighting at night.
We had dinner in the tower and went back to our hotel to sleep, since the following morning we had an early flight to Kuala Lumpur.
Our thoughts of Guangzhou: it’s a grey city with very little to see. We don’t recommend it at all. We only visited because our flight was from there.
Have you been in Southern China? Any other places to visit in the region? Or are you planning a tip there? Leave us your comments.
Planning to visit China? do not miss the rest of our posts about the Asian giant here