Guilin, July 3, 2004
You can see my photos of Guilin here: http://tinyurl.com/4j2bs
I’ve taken sleeper buses before in China. There are no seats, just beds with cramped leg room for a tall westerner. The ride was pleasant though, 12 hours to Guilin. I was there in the morning and with a compass and Lonely Planet Guide map easily found the Huali Hotel, 110 Yuan a night, about $15, which seemed cheap at the time but now seems a tad expensive for China, but average for a three star hotel. I guess it’s about what I paid for luxury accommodation in Xishuanbanna now that I think of it. In any event the room was marvelously a/c’d and comfortable and after shower I decided to check the bed and ended up sleeping off my bus ride till about noon Guilin time, though it still seemed to me like 8 in Abu Dhabi.
I then went out to explore the town. The town seemed a bit busy and frenetic, though I discovered it had its calmer aspects in its many parks around the Li Jiling River flowing from there down to Yangsuo and beyond. I walked along a tributary to the river, particularly charmed by one spot where people picked their way along a shallow weir, with rickshaws also attempting the trip in the ankle deep water, while boats ferried those willing to pay to stay dry.
I ended up in Seven Star Park and followed paths meandering around and over the tall limestone formations and climbed to a high pagoda. It was hard work in the hot sun. I got drenched with sweat. There was a cool cave in the park where a lot of people gathered to play card games in the natural airconditioning. I went there to avoid heatstroke. My money belt and its contents had become drenched.
I decided this was not the time to explore outdoors and I went in search of cybercafes. This too was hot work, especially as the cybercafes mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide had all disappeared, and I succeeded only because my LPG had written the Chinese for Internet Café on the map and I was able to point to the characters and get shopkeepers to give me gestured directions. The cybercafes were massive, hundreds of computers with teenaged kids smoking cigarettes and playing interactive shoot’em-ups. They were open past midnight and still crowded even then.
When it got dark and cool(er) out I went foraging for food. The streets were teeming with people and there was some kind of song and dance street show on both opposite corners of one of the intersections, where the road was lined with night markets. It suddenly started pouring rain and I took refuge in a cramped shopping mall. When the rain let up I went walking around the small lake in the middle of town but the drizzle sent me on a fast march for the nearest neon. Here I found pedestrian streets with restaurants. I had a great point and order dinner at a curry house. I pointed to oysters and other shellfish on the bbq and to pictures of curried rice and beef on the menu, and it was excellent, washed down with fine local beer. During the meal, one of the waiters came over to talk with me. He seemed enthusiastic about meeting a foreigner, like it didn't happen every day, perhaps even never before. At the end of the meal I got a bill for about $3.
After dinner I resumed walking and ended up in the cybercafe over the cinema which I'd had trouble finding earlier. This happened to me occasionally in China. The cyber cafes are not at street level where they can be obviously seen. This one was up a stairway starting inside Heart to Hear (sic) movie theater. When I was first directed there I thought I had been misdirected through an error in translation, but somehow I got pointed upstairs.
I decided it was too hot to look around Guilin another day. In the morning I checked out of the hotel and went on to Yangsuo, an hour away by bus.
I’ve taken sleeper buses before in China. There are no seats, just beds with cramped leg room for a tall westerner. The ride was pleasant though, 12 hours to Guilin. I was there in the morning and with a compass and Lonely Planet Guide map easily found the Huali Hotel, 110 Yuan a night, about $15, which seemed cheap at the time but now seems a tad expensive for China, but average for a three star hotel. I guess it’s about what I paid for luxury accommodation in Xishuanbanna now that I think of it. In any event the room was marvelously a/c’d and comfortable and after shower I decided to check the bed and ended up sleeping off my bus ride till about noon Guilin time, though it still seemed to me like 8 in Abu Dhabi.
I then went out to explore the town. The town seemed a bit busy and frenetic, though I discovered it had its calmer aspects in its many parks around the Li Jiling River flowing from there down to Yangsuo and beyond. I walked along a tributary to the river, particularly charmed by one spot where people picked their way along a shallow weir, with rickshaws also attempting the trip in the ankle deep water, while boats ferried those willing to pay to stay dry.
I ended up in Seven Star Park and followed paths meandering around and over the tall limestone formations and climbed to a high pagoda. It was hard work in the hot sun. I got drenched with sweat. There was a cool cave in the park where a lot of people gathered to play card games in the natural airconditioning. I went there to avoid heatstroke. My money belt and its contents had become drenched.
I decided this was not the time to explore outdoors and I went in search of cybercafes. This too was hot work, especially as the cybercafes mentioned in the Lonely Planet Guide had all disappeared, and I succeeded only because my LPG had written the Chinese for Internet Café on the map and I was able to point to the characters and get shopkeepers to give me gestured directions. The cybercafes were massive, hundreds of computers with teenaged kids smoking cigarettes and playing interactive shoot’em-ups. They were open past midnight and still crowded even then.
When it got dark and cool(er) out I went foraging for food. The streets were teeming with people and there was some kind of song and dance street show on both opposite corners of one of the intersections, where the road was lined with night markets. It suddenly started pouring rain and I took refuge in a cramped shopping mall. When the rain let up I went walking around the small lake in the middle of town but the drizzle sent me on a fast march for the nearest neon. Here I found pedestrian streets with restaurants. I had a great point and order dinner at a curry house. I pointed to oysters and other shellfish on the bbq and to pictures of curried rice and beef on the menu, and it was excellent, washed down with fine local beer. During the meal, one of the waiters came over to talk with me. He seemed enthusiastic about meeting a foreigner, like it didn't happen every day, perhaps even never before. At the end of the meal I got a bill for about $3.
After dinner I resumed walking and ended up in the cybercafe over the cinema which I'd had trouble finding earlier. This happened to me occasionally in China. The cyber cafes are not at street level where they can be obviously seen. This one was up a stairway starting inside Heart to Hear (sic) movie theater. When I was first directed there I thought I had been misdirected through an error in translation, but somehow I got pointed upstairs.
I decided it was too hot to look around Guilin another day. In the morning I checked out of the hotel and went on to Yangsuo, an hour away by bus.
I happened to find out only two days that I have anther student in my class,who is from Yangshuo.Next time when u come with yur family,she may be yur guide there. Her name is Melissa. You can see her smiling at you at http://chenyaodong.buzznet.com