Yangshuo
I spent a couple of days in Guilin when I arrived but as soon as I got to Yangshuo I realised it was time wasted. Yangshuo has some of the loveliest scenery I have come across in China.
Avoiding the excessively priced boat from Guilin I hopped on a bus and then spent 3 days cycling and walking around the Yangshuo countryside while chewing on sugar cane.
Since I didn't take the boat from Guilin along the Li river I decided to walk some of the way. Using local buses (as I almost always do) I made my way to Yangdi and then walked the 24kms to Xingping. Along the way I had to brush off lots of "Bamboo, Xingping?" but otherwise it was peaceful and gorgeous. At the last ferry crossing there were a couple of Frenchmen that decided it would be better to swim across than to pay the 4 Yuan fee (the first two crossings were included in the park fee but not the last).
In the evenings I ate at the wonderful no-frills pick and mix stir-fry canteens along the main road. Cost: 10 Yuan per plate of stir fry heaped on top of a large clay pot of rice.
After two days of sunshine it started to rain. Since the new bag that I bought in Beijing was already falling apart I decided to get that fixed. I found a guy at the side of the road and he sorted it out in 15 minutes - it did cost one fifth of the price of the bag though.
The following 2 days were wet and rainy, that was my que for going to Hong Kong. On my last day I saw a scorpion in the main tourist street early in the morning, thinking it was plastic I tapped it with my foot and it moved away. So did I.
Hong Kong
I took an overnight sleeper bus from Yangshuo to Guangzhou and it was smelly, dirty and packed with people. Luckily I took one of the last beds but the 20 or so people that got on after me didn't have anywhere to sleep, they ended up sleeping in the aisles in a sitting position with their backs severely arched. Despite the no-smoking signs and their being no windows to open, people still smoked.
In comparison getting the bus to Hong Kong from Guangzhou was a breeze, within a couple of hours I was in TST ready to find somewhere to stay. The previous time that I went to Hong Kong I stayed here.
This time I stayed here. Cosmic.
...in this building.
I didn't actually do very much in Hong Kong except get a new visa for China and buy a new camera. I did wander around the seaside towns of Stanley and Aberdeen but otherwise just rode the trams and ferries and traipsed the streets. However, I was never bored.
Having spent so much time in China it was very easy for me to see how sophisticated and westernised Hong Kong is. If only it were not quite so expensive.
Guangzhou
My last day in Hong Kong was a bit of a disaster. I hopped on the wrong ferry followed by the wrong tram and then when I wanted to leave for Guangzhou I forgot to take my coat to the bus station. In the end I arrived in Guangzhou so late that I had to stay the night. The next day I bumped into an English guy, Dave, whom I offered to help buy a train ticket. He declined but when I bumped into him later he said he regretted it so we both went back to get one for him. Apparently he went earlier and asked for his ticket but couldn't understand the ticket salesperson!
After that we wandered around taking in the sights - Sun-Yat-Sen memorial hall and the Shamian Island. Around the memorial hall a tour guide showed us the way. I was certain it was going to cost us dearly but it ended up being free. Strangely the memorial hall had lots of information about the building but almost nothing about Sun-Yat-Sen.
Returning to Yangshuo
After the last overnight bus experience I took the train and headed back to Yangshuo. I met up with Jossianne, the Maltese lady that I met at the other end of the country in Harbin. We spent 5 days cycling and walking amongst the karst peaks.
We did more of the same as before except this time I managed to walk up Moon hill and visit another small village in the area called Fuli, famous for its fans.
Surprisingly we got lots of things for free in Yangshuo.
- A few Chinese independent travelers gave us food to try (tasty packets of sticky rice and stuff wrapped in corn leaves).
- Free breakfast every morning because the hostel was being rearranged (but really it was no hassle).
- A free lift (probably the one and only in China) to Guilin by the hostel owner.
Next stop on the agenda was the Longji rice terraces.
