From Kuala Lumpur to Yangshuo, Guangxi

Day 1 (23rd Mar 2011)

Having arrived at LCCT on 22nd March, I decided to spend the night at LCCT since the flight to Guilin would be at 0635 hours (not 0640 hours) the next morning. The day before, I had done the web check-in and have decided to check into the departure hall as early as possible this morning.

The plane finally took off, slightly later than scheduled. The captain announced that the flight would take four hours and five minutes. Just before landing, the captain announced that the temperature in Guilin was 9 degrees Celcius, much colder than I had expected and as it landed, almost everyone took out their wind breaker and wore them. As I stepped out of the plane, I could feel the cold. Immigration was slow, at least as far as the line I was in was concerned. On stepping out into the open air, I shivered. This was my first experience being in this kind of weather.

I was determined to do things the backpacker way, i.e. to take the airport bus. There were not many people milling around. At the far end, there were a few buses, both big and small. No one spoke English, but a man in neat uniform indicated to me the small bus with Guilin Liangjiang International Airport painted on the side that would be shuttling the passengers to the city. It did not leave immediately, until it was fully occupied. The trip would take 35 minutes.

My plan was to go to the bus station in Guilin and to take an express bus to Yangshuo immediately. However, the airport bus did not stop at the bus station but instead stopped in front of a hotel, which if I recalled correctly was Swan Hotel.

It was already 11:55 a.m. A taxi driver/ tout approached me. I did not want to take her taxi as I was thinking of asking around to get to the bus station. Earlier, someone said that the bus station was somewhere nearby. I thought of going there on foot. However, this taxi driver/ tout said that the station was some distant away and that I have to take a bus to get there. I was advised to take her taxi to the bus station, for RMB5.

That was cheap and I agreed, only realising on disembarking that I have been scammed. She did not stop at the bus station but at a bus stop which was probably less than 200 metres away. There were indeed buses to Guilin passing through but they were ordinary public buses, not express buses. After getting on one, it went in a circle to pick up more passengers. I scurried off the bus when it returned and stopped at an earlier bus stop.

To cut a long story short, I managed to find my way on foot to Guilin bus terminal by asking the people around. With their help, I was pointed the direction, which was actually the Zhongsan Nan Lu (Zhongsan South Road) train station cum bus terminal. 

It was only a short distant away. From there, I managed to get on a bus to Yangshuo, after asking my way around. The bus left at 12:45 p.m. and the fare was RMB20. It reached Yangshuo bus station at about 2 p.m.

 
On arrival at the bus station, touts from the hostels rushed forward to solicit for business. A female (they were all females) tout made an offer and suggested that I went to see the room first before making a decision. I agreed, knowing that there were many hostels around the place which I could go to if I didn’t like her place. No English was spoken. Sons of West Street Hotel was clean, with hot water. The rate was RMB70 and if I stayed for two nights, I could have the room for RMB65 per night. The deal was done.

That afternoon, time was spent strolling along West Street and Binjiang Road. There were many spots for photo-taking, especially the river-front at Binjiang Road.