Guilin: Carry on up the rice paddies

Thursday

Our flight from Tokyo was an early one (I don't know why I bother to write that anymore, it always is early) so our alarm woke us at 5 o'clock and we were heading out the door by half past. It was a 10 minute walk to the metro station to get our direct train to Narita Airport but we still had to sit around for 40 minutes before our train arrived. We got a seat and we were at the airport in no time. Upon checking in to our flight, we were asked to sign a waiver, saying that we wouldn't hold the airline responsible if we are refused entry into China, which didn't exactly fill us with confidence. The flight was smooth as anything and we landed at Shanghai on time. There were no problems getting back into China, which was a relief, we didn't fancy being deported. We hopped on the direct bus to Shanghai South Railway Station and enjoyed the return to the permanent fog of Shanghai out the window. We got out into the pouring rain and through a mixture of luck and judgement we found our hotel. We just found any hotel and asked them if they knew where ours was, low and behold, it was the one we were in. This is when our problems started. We knew we had paid for this room but they still charged us an extra ¥500 when we checked in. We just went with it until we got into our room and we had a rummage through our emails to check we were right. We were, so we went down to reception to attempt to sort out the situation. It was easier said than done bearing in mind the 2 receptionists behind the counter hardly spoke a word of English (or so they let on). Anyway, after getting the manager (it wasn't, just the closest member of staff at the time), 2 phone calls to someone from Expedia, who we weren't convinced actually was as a receptionist kept disappearing when they were on the phone and about an hour later we finished. We were informed that the way the Chinese book hotels, is to pay a booking deposit, then pay another deposit twice the price of the room upon arrival, then when you check out the hotel will refund you the deposit minus the room charge and the booking agent (Expedia) will refund you the initial deposit. But we'll just have to wait and see what our bank account says in a few days time, see how genuine all that was.

Friday

We did nothing in Shanghai, having already briefly visited 3 weeks earlier. So all there is to say is we caught our overnight sleeper train to the southern Chinese city of Guilin. We weren't really looking forward to it for, let's say, hygiene reasons but it wasn't that bad compared to the Xi'an to Shanghai from earlier in the trip. We just kept ourselves to ourselves reading our books and eating our noodles.

Saturday

Again, with our previous Chinese sleeper arriving almost an hour late, we weren't getting our hopes up but we were pleasantly surprised when we pulled into Gulin North station early. We made our way past all the tours and then crammed our way on to the bus to take us to the centre of the city. After taking a few locals out with our large backpacks as we disembarked, we hunted down our hostel. It was a fairly easy find but we were slightly disappointed as we made our way through the city. We had both expected a quiet, almost rural town but it was just like any other Chinese city, busy, noisy and dirty. We weren't too downhearted just yet though. Wanting to be keen, we checked in, dropped our bags and headed straight out, in the direction of the Li River. Guilin is a popular place for domestic tourists as well as international ones, due to its location on 2 rivers and nestles in between sharp pointed Karst mountains that seem to spring up out of the ground with no warning. The land around is completely flat, then all of a sudden, there's a mountain. We went to the river and took a walk along the banks. We were going in the direction of a park north of the city centre but when we arrived it was closed, which was a bit of a disappointment. So we headed back along the banks of the river and enjoyed the views of the mountains in the centre of town as well as the ones in the distance. After a tiring overnight train journey, we went back to our hostel to relax in the common area and enjoy a beer. After it had got dark, we decided to go out and have a look around the night market but we got there too early and they were still setting up. We did a quick circuit but it was mainly cheap jewelry, combs and clothing, nothing we were in desperate need of. On the way home, we stopped for dinner. Having been absolutely, positively riced out for the last 4 days in Tokyo, we decided to go for something a bit more Western. We picked out an American diner just down the road from our hostel and plumped for a burger and chips each. It wasn't great but it filled our bellies.

Sunday

Today was excursion day. The reason we had decided to stay in Guilin was because of its close proximity to an area of China called Longshen. Longshen is famous for its steep sided rice terraces, which cling to the side of the mountains and have become known as the Dragon's Backbone rice terraces as they look like the backbone of a dragon, curving with mountains. We got up bright and early and enjoyed a nice big fried breakfast before our long journey. We were joined on the trip by 4 other people from a different hostel, 2 From Ireland, 1 from Germany and 1 from Singapore. They are all nice, although one (I won't name and shame) just couldn't refrain from talking the entire way there and back. It took a good 3 hours to drive there but the views from the vehicle alone were worth it. We crested the top of a mountain in cloud so thick, we couldn't see the hazard lights of the car infront of us. The sheer drop to the side of us provided amazing views of the valleys below but also provided a few heart in mouth moments when a car would come hurtling round the corner in the opposite direction. There was also the roads through the valley floors, winding alongside a river with the occasional waterfall engulfing the car. Upon arrival we all clambered out the car and were told we had a hefty 4 and a half hours to explore the terraces. The other pairs were all dawdling at the entrance, so Charlotte and I decided to go it alone and followed a route to the top of the highest viewing area. It was a tiring and very sweaty trek up but it was worth every drop. Possibly only our second WOW!! moment of the trip. The views were stunning, rice paddies as far as the eye could see, clinging to the side of the mountains. There's not a lot I can really say about it to do it justice, so I'll let Charlotte publish a few photos to show how good it was.

We sat and ate lunch at a rest area then started on our way down, choosing a different way to the one we had come up by. When we started down there were plenty of people following us and we were confident we were heading in the right direction. After a while though, we started to doubt ourselves. We didn't pass anyone for a good hour, apart from a little old lady who tried to sell us some dried out potatoes and the odd chicken. When we passed the sign saying "not a tourist route, dangerous" our confidence had disappeared completely. We stuck with it though, not really wanting to climb all the way back up to the top. Eventually, we stumbled across a town, which looked like it was halfway through being built. It turned out to be the village of Dazhai, which was situated right next to where we were parked. We followed the path out and into the parking lot, relieved as we were expecting a long hike along a twisty turns road as we thought we were miles off course. We were the first ones back to the car and had a little wait for the others before they got back. It turned out they had all gone together, they obviously didn't like us! The drive home dragged and our ears were worn out from the constant talking but it was a great trip and well worth seeing as we were in the area.

Before we left for the trip we were promised dumplings when we arrived home but they never materialised so we had to hunt down our own dinner. There aren't a great selection of restaurants in Guilin but we came across one situated upstairs on the main pedestrian street. A man we had met in Beijing had said how China got cheaper the further you moved south but after this meal we had to disagree. We only had 2 dishes, a plate of fried rice and a can of drink but it came to more than double for a similar meal we had in Beijing. It wasn't even very good! We ate it anyway as there wasn't much else we could have and headed home for a good night sleep.

Monday

We had planned to be up bright and early again but it didn't turn out that way as we slept through our alarm. We got up for breakfast an hour later than planned and then headed to Gulin Train Station to pick up our train tickets for the next day. It was a 40 minute walk away, so good to see what we were in for the following day. On our way back we had planned to see what is called Elephant Trunk Hill. A mountain that looks like an Elephant sticking its trunk in the river and having a drink. We hadn't expected viewing a mountain to cost any money but in China, it does. We were running rather low on Chinese ¥uan, so we had to decided on seeing that or climbing a mountain and getting views of the whole of Guilin. We plumped for the mountain climb, as it gave us a view of the Elephant Trunk anyway.   So we headed for Dashai Mountain to finish our time in Guiling. Again, we weren't disappointed with the views. After a short, sweaty climb up he stairs carved into the mountain, we were rewarded with great views across the city, towards the surrounding mountains and rivers. Again, we were taken aback by just how sprawling Guilin was but that seems to be the case in any Chinese city.

That was our time in Guilin done, apart from our late night visit to the Sun and Moon Pagodas in the centre of the city, which are located right in the middle of a lake. They are lit up at night in Gold and Silver lighting and look pretty impressive. A nice change from the endless neon lighting you get in Chinese cities. We had dinner at our hostel on our last night and upon the food arriving, instantly regretted not eating there every night before hand. It was possibly the best Chinese food we'd had during our entire time in the country. Really tasty, not too spicy and a good sized portion. It was also incredibly cheap but there was nothing we could do about it then.

Our next stop would be Vietnam and its capital city, Hanoi.

James and Charlotte