Rafting on Yulong River and Exploring Xingping

Day 2 (24 March 2011)

This morning, I woke up early as usual. I wanted to take breakfast and explore the town before the start of my planned rafting trip on the Yulong River. As I made my way down to the hostel lobby, I realised the light had still not been switched on. There was no one, but another Chinese guest who was waiting to get out of the hostel too. It was almost 7 a.m. already. The door of the hostel remained locked. With all the commotion created in the lobby, one of the staff appeared and opened the door to let us out. I found out later in the day that businesses only opened at 8 a.m.

The program for today was rafting at Yulong River. The day before, the hotel tout who happened to be a staff of the hostel offered a rafting package, which would take guests to Fuli and back. I was not keen on this but made it known to her I was interested in the Yulong River raft cruise. I discussed with her in my limited Mandarin my plan in taking public transportation to Dragon Bridge via Baisha and asking her how I would be able to return to Yangshuo.  She mentioned that she could help to organise the trip. However, the package from the hotel to Dragon Bridge and back was too dear for me at RMB200 and the trip duration too long, i.e. four hours. After hearing out other options, I decided to wait until this morning to make a decision.

This morning, I again have a few questions to be answered. The lady was there patiently explaining things to me. Finally, I decided to start the journey mid-way between Dragon Bridge and Gongnong Bridge on the Yulong River and ending at Gongnong Bridge. At Gongnong Bridge, I would need to hail a public transport vehicle to come back to Yangshuo. In the meantime, she would arrange for a guide to bring me to the departure point.

What a shock! The guide (or rather a motorcycle taxi driver) arrived at 9 a.m. The weather at this early hour was so cold and I was expected to ride on a motorbike. What the heck! So be it. With the numbing cold air biting on my hands, they felt painful. The ride was through some village roads and in less than 20 minutes, we arrived at the destination. I handed RMB10 to the motorcycle driver for his service and RMB120 for the raft. At the same time, I was besieged by the usual horde of aggressive peddlers selling plastic bags, rain coats and flowers. They were ignored.

The cruise on Yulong River passed through 6 – 7 weirs and a bridge before reaching Gongnong Bridge. It was over after about 1 hour 15 minutes. It cost RMY3 to get a ride on a mini-bus/ van (mian bao che) into town.

That afternoon, my plan was to go to Xingping for a night before returning to Yangshuo the next afternoon. From Xingping, I would be taking a raft along the Li River between Xingping and Yangdi to see what was considered the best part of the karst landscape.

After checking out from the hostel and stepping onto Pantao Road to go to the bus station, a bus slowed down in front of me with the conductor calling, “Xingping! Xingping!”. Hearing that, I stopped and boarded the bus. The fare was RMB7.

On reaching the bus station at Xingping, a crowd of touts rushed forward, jostling for business,  with one still holding her bowl of noodles that she was eating. One persistent tout followed me around, even though I told her I was not going anywhere that afternoon. My plan was to take the raft only the next morning. She was saying it could be raining the next day and that there was sufficient time to go and come back that afternoon, etc, etc. I just ignored her and said that I was looking for This Old Place hostel for the night. Instead, she suggested that I stayed overnight at her place not far from Xingping.

As I walked around with her following all the time, she eventually suggested that I stayed at another hostel, making negative comments about This Old Place hostel. I let her led me to the hostel she mentioned, just to check out the place. It was clean but there was some problem with the hot water plumbing. By then, it was too late since the deposit has been made. The rate was RMB60 per night.

Even after I have checked into the hostel, she was still there hoping to conclude her business for the afternoon. Again, I told her I would only be going the next day. By that time, I have raised my voice already. She even dared to suggest that I made a deposit to guarantee that I would take her service the next morning. If I knew how to say “fuck off” in Chinese, I would have done so. How dare she ask for the deposit when I was not even considering her service! My language handicap saved her the day. I just said no. I told her that her price was too steep. She was offering a package of RMB130, including transportation for a two way cruise, i.e. Xingping-Yangdi-Xingping. I told her I did not need the land transportation and she offered RMB120. I finally agreed, knowing the price is reasonable, and told her to be at the hostel by 8 a.m. the next morning.

After she left, I spent the afternoon exploring Xingping town instead of the planned hike to Laocai Mountain. As I walked around, I realised that many parts of the town had been left behind by time. The old section of the town was still intact and lovely. Across the bridge, there were a few clusters of bamboo grove. Walking along the road across the bridge would lead one to the spot for the best view of the hills depicted in the RMB20 note. However, for the many day trippers, they zoomed past all these in the tuk tuk, never realising what they missed.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Guilin and Yangshuo Trip - Prologue

The trip to Guilin was planned in 2008. That year, I failed to purchase my Airasia ticket to Guilin because in the FAQ, it mentioned that the name in the ticket must be the same as those in the passport. Not knowing how to put my name in the flight booking, I missed the dateline in the Airasia almost-free ticket to Guilin promotion.

In August 2009, I finally booked my tickets for the trip in May 2010. However, due to my overseas posting, I did not make it.

And in 2010, I made another booking for Guilin for my recent trip. There was some major doubt as to whether I would be able to make it this time or not, because as the date approached, there was a major event that could have put a stop to my trip again. There was the possibility that my leave could not be approved. I kept my fingers crossed and because of a slight twist of event, I submitted my leave application and it was approved with no question asked. There was still the fear that the approval might be withdrawn at the last minute, and I was never 100% sure whether I could make it this time until the last moment.

When the date of departure from Sibu to Kuala Lumpur came, and onward to Guilin, I knew I made it this time.

I must be thankful to Jam of lifeislikethat (http://lifeislikethat.com/) and Am of sayingtheunsaid (http://sayingtheunsaid.blogspot.com/) who through their blogs influenced me to go to Dazhai and Huangyao respectively.

Dazhai could have been more spectacular if it was June (as told to me by the hostel owner/ tout, i.e. when the villagers started planting rice then). Huangyao is a very lovely place, a discovery of a real gem, with ancient buildings, waterways and bridges. As mentioned by the tour guides, it is occupied by Cantonese and indeed, the language is spoken there.