2023 - China (Part 2 - Guilin and the Li River to Yangzhuo)

Saturday 22 July

We arrived in Guilin on time at 12:30. The train was reasonably comfortable, but the mattress was a bit thin. The restaurant food onboard was nothing to write home about.

A random Chinese town.

Chinese scenery.

Chinese countryside.

A Chinese town.

Random Chinese scenery.

Crossing a major river on the way to Guilin.

After a bit of a drama with our taxi driver (we are sure he charged us twice) we arrived at out central hotel. This is an issue with no one really wanting to take cash anymore in China and the near universal use of QR codes for paying anything. Even though I use WeChat at home for my messaging, I cannot set up the payment options.

Lunch was in the mall next door and was good. It was very hot so we had a rest and then walked across the main square towards the multiple rivers and lakes that Guilin is situated on.

There is a very scenic lake with the Sun and Moon Pagodas situated on them.. The path around the lake takes about 40 minutes if you are not in a hurry. As the sun sets, the two pagodas are attractively lit up.

The Sun and Moon Pagodas.

The Sun and Moon Pagodas.

The Sun and Moon Pagodas.

The Sun and Moon Pagodas.

The Sun and Moon Pagodas.

Dinner was at a randomly selected restaurant and was very good. It had cooled down a lot by then and the crowds had come into the city centre for the lights and food.

Sunday 23 July

The flights that our cousins were on were seriously delayed by floods in Shanghai and so they did not arrive in Guilin until well after midnight. So after a quick breakfast the four of us caught two taxis to the river cruise terminal a few kilometres out of town. I had originally booked this trip and paid the Western price but once we found that our cousins were coming with us, I cancelled my trip and they booked it, paying the Chinese price, thus saving a fair bit of money.

The Li River is very scenic indeed, with vast amounts of karst scenery all the way to Yangshuo. There were at least 15 river boats in the flotilla. The lunch on board was okay, rice vegetables and mystery meat. Being the only Western tourist for miles, I seemed to break all the rules and I stood up on the top deck as we left port, the cruise manager being unable to tell me to come downstairs.

Each of the peaks and cliffs are named and the most famous view is printed on the back of the 20 yuan bank note. People were lining up to get a photo of themselves with the same view.

The Li River.

A waterfall coming down into the Li River.

River boats leaving the port near Guilin.

A river side temple.

The Li River.

More karst scenery.

Karst scenery.

Hung on the river boat.

A flotilla of river boats.

River boats.

A terminal for small river boats.

The Li River.

River boats.

We arrived in Yangzhuo at about 2pm and walked to the hotel. Do not believe the photos on the booking sites as the photo of the pool area looked like it was a decent sized pool. In reality it was not much larger than a bath. None too clean either.

The Chinese can be very superstitious. The rooms we were allocated were opposite each other at the end of the corridor, facing the road. As soon as this was discovered, it was straight back down to reception asking for them to be changed to a pair in the middle of the corridor. It appears that end rooms are very unlucky. No idea why, they just are.

The town is very busy. Dinner was okay. Goblin Hazy beer is quite tasty and we stopped for another at a bar on the way back to the hotel.