We move to mainland China
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
17
349
Trip End
May 14, 2009
Yangshuo,
Guangxi Zhuang,
China
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
This was via taxi, 2 hour Hydrofoil actoss the South China Sea, Overnight Train from Guangshuo to Guilin and then a 1 hour bus ride to Yangshuo. Arriving at the hotel for about 9am on the 17th.
The Hydrofoil trip was wicked. Within 30 seconds of setting off, Claire, Jilly and even out tour guide Chan all nearly through up! Brilliant! We had to stay inside the whole journey, just looking through windows, because only First Class were allowed upstairs - Lorna was not amused!!
The sleeper train journey was an excellent new type of journey for us......
When we arrived in Guangzhuo it was about 7am
On Chinese Mainland - Ferry Station
. We then jumped on a bus for about 45mins to the hotel. The bus had a tv screen in it and was blasting out Chinese Techno music....at 7am!!! I threw a few shapes for 5 minutes then collapsed back into my seat. We then arrived in our destination for two nights - Yangshuo. The hotel we are stopping at as part of this tour is the Hotel Explorer (Jimmys) which is right in the centre of town. The hotel is pretty smart actually and importantly clean. We have a hot shower as well!! There is a bar attached to the hotel called MC Blues bar. They do 630ml bottles of beer for 10 Yuan (about 70p) - Get in!! They also do full English breakfasts for about 1.80GBP!
We grabbed some of the said breakfast and then took a wander around town. This place has definitely been set up for tourists, although it has kept some of it's own original charm. It is a really nice place actually and there are loads of bars and restaurants.
In the afternoon we jumped on an old barge type boat and went for a 2 hour cruise up and down the Li River. The views were spoiled slightly due to the misty rain over the hills but it was still an enjoyable experience. You got to see some real China out here where there were locals up to their everyday antics, fishing, washing, doing things to animals etc.
After the cruise we came back to the hotel to have a beer and a burger before crashing early due to the constant lack of sleep we are currently getting. We have a 30km Bike ride and a Tai Chi lesson tomorrow as well...
