Two Backpacks One Couple

After a lovely week in Hong Kong it was time to make our way to mainland China. After taking 3 local trains we made it to the high speed railway station from which we would enter China. It was much like an airport process, but went smoothly. Lunch before our train was a little extravagant because we didn’t think we’d be getting a good deal to exchange our extra Hong Kong Dollars for Chinese Yuan. I had broccoli spinach cheese pie, pistachio cheesecake, and a salted caramel pistachio frappe. Nick had a smoked salmon brioche and blueberry cheesecake.

Our train ride was 3 hours long and went past duck farms, rice fields, towns, cities, and rolling mountains with lots of green forests. When we arrived at our Guilin hostel for check in they had no idea who we were even though we had booked ahead of time. Luckily they had rooms available, but the process was super amusing. We were using translation apps, but it takes a long time to write in Chinese so we had to wait a long time to communicate. For our first dinner we had some simple chicken burgers and I tried a drink that was poplar nectar flavored.

The next morning we got a taxi to the Reed Flute Cave. There we explored the cave and the ‘dragon garden’, which turned out to be a section of the cave they’ve turned into an instagram spot. The caves had many interesting formations and were lit up in many colors. There were some areas with water features that reflected the rock formations. The dragon garden had some twinkling lights, a dragon on a projection, and a dragon egg. A staff member followed us around and took our photo at each of the spots.

After about 1 hour exploring the caves we walked along a nice path that took us to some villages along the nearby river. It was called the Riverside Walkway. We saw the Reed Flute Tri- Village and the Lujia Village. There were many people out for a run, walk or bicycle along the path. Occasionally there would be a car, too, which didn’t seem like it was allowed.

Keeping with the logistics theme for the afternoon we made our way to the hairdressers. As usual it did not disappoint. It is always so fun to see how different the experience will be for Nick. His hairdresser refused to cut much of his hair saying long was good. Nick ended up with a classic Chinese hair style we’ve seen on plenty of men around. The hairdresser kept saying she loved him and his blue eyes. She used the translation app to communicate most things, though. Nick got sung to in Chinese while she washed his hair, she took many photos and videos with him, and his face got wiped down with a dish sponge.

The next morning we took the train to Yangshuo station. As it turns out the area is very large so we still had a 1 hour taxi ride to our hostel. The hostel in Yangshuo knew we were coming which made the check in process much smoother than in Guilin. The hostel was great, right by the main area of the town with lots of restaurants. We were on the 4th floor with a shared terrace space and our own tiny balcony. They even had a free laundry area to use, which was fantastic. The view from the terrace was very nice.

We enjoyed some egg noodles and sweet and sour chicken for dinner. The restaurant was over a small bridge from our hostel in a quiet area. Past the restaurant there was an area that got much busier, which was fun to walk through at night. There was a small stage where two women danced, many lanterns, and many shops. A small hot dog and ice cream stand had an AI image of Trump as their poster, which we were surprised to see.

At 7pm we were picked up by a guide to take us to the Impression Liu Sanjie show. This was an hour long show where the stage was on the river with the mountains in the background. There were solos, group numbers, boat acts, dancing, and more. We enjoyed it a lot, but wished we knew the story.

Yangshuo was beautiful with a few rivers running through and surrounded by mountains. We spent our first day exploring a park which had a staircase leading up to a cave and then a viewpoint of the town. The park also had a pond with many large fake flowers in it. It was probably more beautiful at night when the fake flowers were lit up. For lunch we had some fried dumplings.

We did a day trip to XingPing, which has an ancient village area near the river. It was about 1 hour away from Yangshuo. We walked around the quaint ancient village first. I had Guilin Japanese tea and Nick had Jasmine tea flavored soft serve ice cream in bamboo cups. They were so delicious. After that we walked along the river where we saw many women having bamboo raft photo shoots.

Nick and I got a ‘bamboo’ raft (or plastic raft that looks like bamboo) up to the Nine Horses Painting Mountain viewpoint and back. It was about 1 hour long and the views were incredible. It did not photograph as well as it looked, but that’s okay. We also saw the area that looks like the scene on the 20 yuan note. There were two Chinese girls on our boat who were excited to take some photos together; they were very nice.

After our raft trip we walked along the river back the way we come from to the ancient town area. Near there we had some fried noodles with vegetables and egg for dinner before doing an easy hike. We hiked up Laozhai Hill, which is made of steep slippery wet rocks. It was worth it in the end, though, because we had nearly 360 views of XingPing and the rivers. It was amazing. We tried to go up there for sunset but we could tell it was too cloudy to be able to see one so we headed back down while it was still light.

We had hiked up with a Swiss couple and ended up getting ice cream with them at the bottom and sharing a taxi back to Yangshuo. The four of us also walked the ancient village section of town one more time. XingPing was a wonderful day trip.

In the morning back in Yangshuo we walked around an area of town we had not been before. We shared some steam pork buns for our breakfast, which were so good. After loads of adventure we had a more relaxed day. In the evening we met our new Swiss friends for dinner. Since it was a Saturday, it was busy in the main streets but beautiful with all the lanterns. We shared spicy tofu, cucumber salad, rice, crayfish, and braised eggplant. Everything was so delicious. I tried my best to take crayfish breaks so that Nick could keep up and eat some too. It is not great for him that I am a speed shellfish peeler. We ended the evening with candied strawberries.

We woke up early to catch our 45 minute Didi to the train station. After the quick 20 min train to Guilin we checked in to our original hostel and left our bags. We had seen a few posters for a beautiful rice terrace so we looked it up. It was a 1.5 hour drive away so we ate a quick lunch then headed there with a taxi. There were several villages with rice terraces in a small area. We wondered if the villages were in competition with each other, though, because there didn’t seem to be a way to get between them. It would also be an 8 hour hike to walk in between two of the villages, Ping’An and Dazhai. We ended up only exploring in Ping’An because of this and since the shuttles stopped running at 5pm with no taxis available.

The Longji Rice Terraces were amazing, Nick and I were lucky, too, as we were there during the season when they flood the fields, so they were extra beautiful. We started by visiting the Nine Dragons and Five Tigers viewing platform. This one was my favorite with the rice terraces looking like the back of a dragon. It was an image often used in the posters we had seen.

Nick and I strolled along the path above the rice terraces between Nine Dragons and the next viewing platform called Seven Stars Accompany the Moon. We saw many rice terraces with the village nestled in between, with mountains all around with thick green forest. The path was wet from a fresh rain and there were many flower blossoms that had just fallen down from the thunderstorm the night before. 

The pagoda with the view of the 7 stars was nice. It was 3 levels with varying views. The highlight, however, may have been the popsicles there. Nick got the passion fruit one molded as a person picking rice from the terraces and I got a mango one. They were both delicious. 

We walked a path from there down to the village itself. There were many homes and hotels and restaurants in wooden buildings on layered stone foundations. They had bamboo for their fire food and the outsides had very detailed engraved wood. The windows had views of the fields and mountains. Then we walked back to the first viewing platform (after the first attempt failed with a path that was under construction). This time we walked the lower level path option through the terraces, which was amazing. 

For dinner in Guilin Nick finally (after many requests) got some food cooked in bamboo. We got very soft braised pork belly and cucumber salad. It was a great spontaneous activity day. We typically have things more planned out, but it all worked out in the end and we felt like the rice terraces were incredibly worth the effort.