Last Stop: Guilin & Yangshuo

Sun and Moon Pagoda, Guilin

It has to be said, for any traveller in China, Guilin is a must on any travel list. Famous for it's beautiful rice terraces and countryside lifestyle, I'd been told to head to Guilin way before I'd even arrived to China. It seemed only apt then that I made it one of my last stops during Spring Festival. Here, Beth and I were reunited again with Tom and we'd met some really lovely people at our hostel, who we ended up spending the rest of our time with until we returned to Tianjin - marking the end of our Spring Festival travels.

一。Reed Flute Caves

It was pretty cold and rainy when we got to Guilin. We arrived on Valentines Day. It's not something I've ever actively celebrated but Beth and I decided to 'celebrate' by grabbing some western food and later met up with Tom for a little explore of the nearby town area - making our first day there pretty chilled out. The following day, we took a little bus trip to check out the Reed Flute Caves, an impressive tourist attraction consisting of caves over a thousand years old filled with stalactites. Although it's artificial, the stone formations are lit up with rainbow coloured lights, making the whole experience quite trippy but beautiful.

Each formation is named after something it resembles. For example, 'The Mosquito Net', 'The Fairyland' or 'The Snowman'. It might takes some relaxing of the eyes or some squinting, but it makes for a fun, if not abstract, game to play whilst you're there.

After finishing the cave tour, we bumped into a few people who happened to be staying at the same hostel as us. As a group of foreign tourists, equally indecisive but up for anything, we all decided to spend the rest of the day (and in the end, the rest of our time in Guilin and Yangshuo) together.

One of the best things I found about Guilin was how incredibly friendly everyone was. There were many occasions where we were stopped in the street for photos. Especially sweet were the little kids that approached us to welcome us to their hometown and practise their English (which was impressively good for their age if you ask me). 

二。Blame it on the River Li

We'd had such a nice day exploring Guilin together, we managed to convince our new friends to change up their plans and come to Yangshuo with us the next day. We took a bamboo reed boat up the famous River Li where you are surrounded by amazing karst mountains and are able to really take in just how beautiful China can be.

Even better is that you can compare the surroundings with the scenery presented on the 20元 note.

Living the actual 20元 life

It's a slow and easy ride along the river which serves as a better way to get to and from Guilin to Yangshuo as opposed to a bus you can take. When we arrived in Yangshuo, we got stuck straight in by trying out the locally renowned dish of beer fish. It's genuinely delicious and I think that if we had known each other longer, we'd probably have been less polite and ravaged the entire plate much quicker than we did. Beer fish is a must try if you're in Yangshuo!

三。Countryside Cycle

So I hinted back when I first started writing this Spring Festival series that during my travels, I'd come away with approximately 10 bruises and crashed into 2 people. It shouldn't come as a surprise then that both were the result of me taking to the streets on a bicycle, despite the fact that I'm absolutely terrible on a bike. By this point, I hadn't ridden a bike for any extended amount of time since I'd been to Xi'an in November - and even then, it was pretty touch and go. But when one of the 'must-do' things in Yangshuo is to take a relaxing and scenic bike ride out to the countryside, you gotta do what you gotta do...

Despite my terrible cycling ability which left me with quite a few bruises, scrapes, a bit of a dodgy shin and some ripped jeans, I did genuinely enjoy the ride (when I wasn't almost riding into canals... or other people). It was the first time we'd had genuinely lovely weather so we definitely picked a good day to go and although this is a 'touristy' things to do, the cycling routes aren't over crowded and you can really enjoy the unique Yangshuo landscape in the sun. My only tip would be to rent a mountain bike rather than the basic ones on offer. It only costs a little more to rent the bike for the day, and it's worth it if you're planning to go a long distance.

四。Fuli Village

On our last full day in Yangshuo, Beth and I decided to explore one of the nearby villages which is famed for the creation of hand painted silk fans. We took a very rogue looking 'bus', arriving in what seems like 'real China'. People lazing around in the shade on a sunny day, people visiting the local market to buy whatever vegetables and meat they needed for their dinners, people getting their haircut at outdoor barber shops. In Fuli Village, you'd never guess you were a mere 45 minutes away from the more tourist-y Yangshuo.

We strolled around the winding backstreets, peering into the open doors of people's homes to find families crowded around a TV or drinking tea. We also came across a few shops displaying and selling silk fans and were lucky enough to watch a craftsman at work.

He was happy to just let us observe so we stood for a while as he added small details to his paintwork.

六。Not quite done yet...

Although I haven't mentioned in detail every little thing we did during our days in Guilin and Yangshuo (amongst other things, we went to a trapsed up and down the busy and bustling West Street, tried our hand at dumpling making for our own dinner at the hostel, watched the impressive Yangshuo Sanjie Lui Impressions show and had a great last few nights at some of the local bars, complete with beers, dice games and a hilarious few rounds of Cards Against Humanity), I don't feel like I'm quite done with either of these places. After my first few days in Guilin, I'd already felt like it wouldn't be the last time I'd visit. There's so much to do and see in both places so it certainly won't be my last time to visit.

The plane back to Tianjin was bittersweet. I was ready to get back to Tianjin and rest up before I had to start teaching again, but we'd also had a really great few days making new friends and ending our Spring Festival travels in some of China's most popular spots. But there we have it, 37 days and lots of places in China ticked off my list! As exhausting as it was at points, given the chance, I'd do it all over again...

Hello Guangzhou

After what was a really great, yet slightly intense few days spent with newly discovered family in Shenzhen, I headed to Guangzhou for a few days to meet back up with my fellow Tianjin ELA corridor mate Beth to chill out and celebrate her birthday. Maybe it was the fact that I was super glad to be back in China, or maybe there was just some kind of innate subconscious love of Guangzhou in me considering my family are from Southern China - but I really like Guangzhou because there was some sense of familiarity with it. We spent around 4 days there, and this is what we got up to...

一。Birthday Beth

When it comes to birthdays I always like to put in effort, even with the smallest of gestures, to make someone feel special. Beth is such a happy go lucky person and luckily for me, it doesn't take much to please her. Having just done a few trips to Malaysia and the Philippines, she was glad to get some rest time in a comfortable bed and catch up with what I'd been up to in Vietnam. Along with being glad to be back in China, I was also secretly really glad to be reunited with Beth. It's great to have a travel companion who has similar tastes and is on the same page as you for most things. It makes making decisions about what to do or eat a great deal easier - I'm all about that fuss free life.

On the morning of Beth's birthday, I snuck out in the hope of not waking her (but there was no need to worry, she was dead to the world after an exhausting few days travelling) to source some birthday cake for her to wake up to. A scout around a local Tesco (yep, believe it or not, they exist here in China too) and all the nearby bakeries, I came back to the hotel with some cake and peach ring sweets, a favourite of ours since moving to Tianjin, knocking on the door much to Beth's surprise.

Happy wake up call

The rest of the day was really chilled out and easy going. We went shopping, had a modest meal of Korean food and later headed to The Four Seasons Hotel for a cheeky birthday cocktail at Tian Bar on the 99th floor. Tian bar would have given us an awesome view over Guangzhou, including the Canton Tower's rainbow light show were it not for the awful smog that engulfed the skies. No matter though, we were both highly content with our boozy cocktails and observing a number of awkward first dates which were going on around us.

Classy cocktails were later followed up with some more drinks in the 'classy' establishment, Perry's. We're talking student bar vibes here. No complaints though, we had a great night after being invited by some friendly local Guangzhou-ers to join their table and play dice with them all evening. They even put us in a taxi with a post night out yakult drink to ensure our health was tip top on the way home. They're friendly people in Guangzhou, very friendly indeed.

二。Van Gogh Age

The following day, Beth and I hit up the Van Gogh Age Exhibition at the Guangzhou Opera House. I'd been dying to catch a similar exhibition in Beijing back in November but failed to find the time to do so. I felt like it was great timing when I found out there would be one in Guangzhou when I was around too.

“没有比爱人更为真确的艺术”

“Nothing more true than the love of art"

The whole exhibition revolved around digital projections of Van Gogh's paintings in the most vibrant ways. Each painting was animated, making aspects like the painter's yellow flower fields sway in the breeze, or the winds in his starry starry night whirl around the sun. It was a peaceful way to spend an afternoon. We ended up spending quite some time in each room, watching the same animations over and over in case we missed something the first time.

Van Gogh has a special resonance with me. I'm by no means an artist, but if you hadn't guessed by now, I do enjoy heading to art galleries and catching up with the latest in contemporary art. I'm not sure where that side of me all began but I have a vivid memory of being in primary school and being asked to paint our own versions of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. Seeing them so animated at the Van Gogh Age exhibition brought little memories like that back to me, so I'm really happy I got to catch the exhibition in the end.

三。Canton Tower

After a relaxing evening soaking up some art culture, we stuck around nearby the Opera House as the evening drew closer to enjoy the Canton Tower lightshow. Unlike the night before, there was far less smog, so we could actually see the rainbow lasers light up the sky and turn everyone around us into selfie taking zombies. You do have to hand it to Guangzhou though - boy does the city know how to put on a light show from one of the world's tallest free standing towers...

四。Xiaozhou Village

Yep, I said it before - I love me some art. So when I read that there was an entire village within Guangzhou known for being the home to local artists, I knew I had to visit. Enter Xiaozhou.

Mao mural

We took an hour long bus ride out of the city centre to the village. Upon entering Xiazhou, you feel like you're in a completely different world and would never believe you were in such a cosmopolitan city. The fruit markets and local people teamed with the lived in vibe of the whole place contrasts completely with the high rise buildings and fancy hotels of the city centre. We took a walk around the little bridges, got lost down alley ways whilst stumbling across quaint little coffee houses and handmade goods shops.

Oyster House

There's a few cool places to tick off the list whilst at Xiaozhou, and luckily they're all well sign posted. One of the more peculiar places is the oyster shell house. Yep you guessed it, the entire outer walls of the house are covered in old oyster shells. Why? I can't be sure but it's definitely quirky, which speaks volumes about the village itself. There are temples and art studios. In one, I was able to peer through a small crack to see hundreds of statues, some of Mao busts too. I really felt like I was discovering the secrets of an abandoned town.

Getting lost in temples 

Upon another turn, you come across a street which is home to student artists who practise their sketching and painting skills in workshops. For those looking to stock up on art goods, Xiaozhou Village seemed to have everything you needed. I couldn't help but wonder what the place would have been like had it not been the holidays. For the most part, there weren't many people around but I liked the peacefulness of the village. If I'm ever back in Guangzhou, I'd certainly like to visit again and see what else there is to be discovered.


五。Baiyun Mountain

After a relaxing morning at Xiaozhou village, Beth and I decided to spend the afternoon of our last day in Guangzhou climbing to the top of Baiyun Mountain. The park itself was pretty huge and it takes a bit of a walk to get to the main stair route to the top. Getting to the top of the mountain wasn't quite as hard as both of us anticipated (it was still a struggle though). When you get to the top, you are given panoramic views of Guangzhou, making the tiring ascent pretty worth it.

Apparently there's opportunities for bungee jumping off the top of Baiyun Mountain, although we didn't stumble across it. It could have been cool to say that I'd done bungee jumping in China, but the fact I was wearing a dress probably meant it wouldn't be my brightest idea, even if we did find the place to do it. 

At the top of the mountain stands a sign pointing to Beijing, indicating it was 1900km away. It was moments like this that showed me how far away from 'home' I was and made me realise just how huge China really is. I was literally a thousand miles away!

Still, I was ready for the next adventure and the final few destinations on my Spring Festival travels. next stop: the ever popular Guilin and Yangshuo!