Leavin' on that Midnight Train to Yangshuo

We had a few days off in the beginning of May, so we decided to take a trip. Like Gladys Knight said, Zhuhai became too much for the Dan (and Liz), so we went back on a train (bus) to a simpler place and time. We went on that midnight bus to Yangshuo. Photos come at the end of the post.

Yangshuo is a small but well known county capital in Guangxi Province, located immediately to our west. We caught a sleeper bus out of Gongbei that left at about 7pm and arrived about 12 hours later. This variety of sleeper bus was new to me: rather than having little cubicle beds lining the sides, there were three rows of two-foot bunkbeds with no storage space. Of course one can safely put their possessions in the luggage compartment under the bus; however, I stupidly didn't realize how little space we would have at out seats and brought my huge shoulder bag (which doubles as my camera bag), big water bottle, and jacket. The bed was already about six inches too short, so I ended up in the fetal position, spooning my bag and water bottle all damn night.

Yangshuo is a lovely little town (no skyscrapers) set next to the Li River, surrounded by verdant mountains and limestone karsts. It was a little overrun with both foreign and Chinese tourists, so we tended to spend most non-eating and sleeping time outside of the city. Local food was fantastic: beer fish (river fish braised in beer with tomatoes, green onions, and garlic), spicy snails (cooked in soy sauce, leeks, and hot peppers), and Guilin noodles (rice noodles in a salty broth with various pickled vegetables, greens and hot sauce).

We stayed our first few nights in the Yangshuo Xijie Youth Hostel, thankfully located a good distance from overcrowded, loud Xijie Street but still within easy walking distance. YXYH was adequate, safe, and reasonably priced, although the hostel owner (who speaks pretty good English) was constantly trying to sell us trips and tickets. I always got the feeling he was angling to take advantage of us, coming into our room at one point half-drunk and trying to convince us to go to the Longsheng rice terraces. It was annoying, so we avoided him as much as possible. If your Chinese is adequate, you are in general better off going someplace on your own and negotiating your way into sights and onto buses, rather than letting some booking agent or hotel owner do it for you.

We were pretty wiped out on our first day after the bus-a-thon, so we booked a trip through our hostel to take a bamboo raft up the Li River (I was tired so I didn't take my own advice). The Li River is perhaps most famous for being on the back of the 20 RMB note. It was also overrun with tourists, but we were tired and not looking for anything too strenuous. The Li River rafting seems like something one must do when they go to Yangshuo, thus I think we were happy to do it first and get it over with. The village from which the rafts leave, Xingping, was also a cool old place to walk around in for a little bit.

On our second day, we made our way north of the city to Shi Tou Cheng (a.k.a. shitoucheng, the Old Stone Village) to see the countryside, some very old hamlets, and some ancient Chinese stone gates. After busing up to Putao Town, we arranged for a couple of motorcycle taxis to bring us up into the mountains where we were fortunate to meet a man who gave us a two-hour hiking tour of the area for 100 RMB. Our guide - an elderly teacher at the village school - spoke no English. He was very patient however, talking very slowly and writing down the names of the sights in Chinese so that we could follow along as best we could. This hike, enencumbered by other tourists, was without a doubt one of the highlights of not only our trip, but my time in China as well. Pastoral orchards and rice paddies set against the craggy, towering karsts; friendly villagers and their not so friendly dogs; and the remoteness of the place, practically untouched by time; near perfect weather. I was so satisfied that I wrote down a little recommendation note in English for our guide that he could show to any other foreigners who came his way.

Day three involved renting bikes and, once again, escaping the throngs of tourists. At first we biked along the Yulong River's eastern side. After an hour or so, we forded the river (with bikes) via a hired bamboo raft (shades of Oregon Trail...no joke, we ran into some other bikers who chose to drag their bikes across the river themselves, and probably ended up getting typhoid). This was when this bike trip really came into its own: once again, there was almost no one else around; the weather was beautiful; the karsts, mountains, and lush valley were radiant; and there were lots of birds for Liz. We biked along the Yulong for quite a while, eventually crossing back to the river's east bank and making it into Baisha Town for a lunch of delicious Guilin noodles at a corner restaurant. After lunch, we backtracked to the Yulong River Bridge – an old-to-ancient arching bridge that offered a wonderful panoramic view of the Yulong River Valley. Following that, the noodles started to sit on us so we made our way back to Baisha and then home via the main road.

The next morning (day four, a Monday), we left our hostel in Yangshuo and went to the Farmer’s Holiday Inn. The FHI in located about halfway between Moon Hill and the Big Banyan Tree, pretty well off the main road and situated, as the name suggests, on a farm. This place was wonderful. I can’t recommend it highly enough. The proprietor was a lovely woman (with great English). She didn’t try to sell us anything, was very helpful and funny, and even showed us how to get into one of the local sights without having to pay an entrance fee (shhhhh…). I wish we had stayed at the FHI for our entire trip, rather than in stupid Yangshuo town. Also, their food was delicious and very fresh.

After checking in, we walked over to Moon Hill, a mountain famous for having a giant hole all the way through it. We were smart to wait until after the holiday weekend, because Moon Hill was not at all crowded (though it was very hot). We were accompanied by two oldish ladies who talked to us in broken English (and we to them in broken Chinese), fanned us when we got overheated, and offered to sell us wickedly overpriced water once we got to the top. It was a really beautiful hike; my biggest problem was that rather than hiking up a nice dirt trail, the majority of the hike is on the granite steps that are so customary in Chinese parks. I guess it was easier coming back down. The peak offered some really stunning views of the surrounding area.

After Moon Hill, we looped back around and saw the Big Banyan Tree. It was supposedly 2,000 years old. It was supposedly very interesting. It was actually very lame and touristy.

Following that, we crossed the road and checked out the Jianshan temple, reputedly the oldest Buddhist temple in Guangxi. It was fine, if a little unremarkable. One day I’ll learn that huge Buddhist Monasteries are cool and that small Buddhist Temples are boring (at least for me).

On our fifth and final day, we rented bikes through the FHI and decided we were going to try and make it all the way to Fuli Town, a picturesque village located to the east of Yangshuo. It was hot. Really hot. And we got lost. Really lost. We were using this cutesy hand-drawn map we got in Yangshuo, and it was less accurate than a drunk in the men’s room at Fenway. Roads, towns, and villages weren’t in the right places. None of the distances were right. Crucial landmarks were either in the wrong places or completely non-existent. Lingnan Art Publishing House did a real shoddy job on this map.

Nonetheless, it was still a very enjoyable day. Most of it was spent riding around in rice paddies or stopping to ask for directions (a challenge unto itself, since most of the locals spoke a heavily-accented Mandarin or a local dialect unintelligible to me). Finally, we got to the southern arm of the Li River exhausted, and decided that we should just turn around and go back to the FHI, lest we miss our midnight bus. Our midnight bus to Zhuhai.



Gonna board…gonna board…