GUANGXI 4: GUILIN

The next morning the drizzle continues and the sky is still a uniform dull grey: I begin to feel depressed as I try to imagine what I'm going to do if this persists during the entire stay in Guangxi. I've brought some instant coffee with me as Chinese hotels tend to have only tea in the rooms so I make myself a cup while I set about unpacking a few clothes and setting up the internet connection on my PC. The connection is good and I can continue writing. I've slept well and feel refreshed after yesterday's long trip, and I have a couple of days to organise the last stage, the transfer to Xingping Village, where I'm staying until the journey back, so I hope to relax and explore the area. In search of breakfast I walk out of the hotel and soon find a roadside stall selling baozi so I buy 4  of these and some strawberries and apples, which I bring back to the room. I should by now however have learned not to buy strawberries in China except from a supermarket: they turn out to be in the turning stage, very soft and mushy so I can only eat a few and have to discard the rest. I spend the morning writing about my time in Beijing.

My plan today is to try and organise the journey to Xingping, within the Yangshuo valley. I hope to take a boat along the river so need to ask the hotel about this as they provide a few tours and river cruises. I feel it will give the voyage more of an expeditionary feel. Over lunchtime I go out to the area I visited last night: Guilin itself is a drab and dull town: a characteristic only enhanced by the dreary weather hanging over the area.

It's hard to believe that it's so popular with tourists, however no doubt the weather is affecting my mood. The outdoor market is closed and many of the restaurants with it, so an air of dreary mediocrity pervades the area and the pavement is slippery in the wet. I come close to falling over a number of times. At one stage I narrowly escape serious injury as while walking through the pedestrianised market area I pass a stationary van which suddenly backs up and collides with me nearly knocking me over! I shout “F**K!” as I'm pretty scared and fortunately the vehicle stops. A bemused Chinese driver gets out and I point to my eyes saying “Look!” before walking off: I guess they are relieved no-one was actually hurt. A traffic warden walks up and I hear some kind of heated exchange as I go on my way, promising myself to remember that I'm not in England.

I walk around the indoor food market and where one or two hawkers toutishly wave at me and try to cajole me into sitting in their stalls. I'm used to this kind of thing and just walk on however I do like the look of their food. Eventually after walking around for a few minutes I come back to the first hawker and sit down to a sizzling skillet of steak, chicken's feet (which I decline to taste) and prawns with rice and egg. It's good, wholesome and cheap.

Afterwards I hole up in the Irish pub with a pot of coffee and do some more writing before heading back to the hotel. I ask the barman in the pub about the weather and he tells me it will brighten soon.  

Once at the hotel I see the lady at reception who sewed my button back on for me and ask about the boat trip to Xingping: it returns to Yangshuo but I'm looking to skip this stage as I'm staying in Xingping: but this turns out to be unworkable as it's a bamboo raft trip and I can't take my bags on board. So it's back to the drawing board. I look into the possibility of taxis, but realise that it's 64 km (about 40 miles or so) from Guilin and is likely to cost me a fortune. The lady at the hotel has offered to send me on the tour and ask the bus driver to let me off in Xingping so I consider this and think about going on the boat trip the next day however on looking at the weather forecast it still looks gloomy, predicting rain until Saturday.

I book my return ticket to Baoding online and look into other ways to reach Xingping, there being a few options: boat and taxi (expensive but fun) bus (cheap but inconvenient) and taxi (convenient but expensive.) It looks as if I will have to take the bus so I plan to visit the bus station the next day and look at the logistics of this: also collect my train ticket from Beijing back to Baoding at the railway station. I look at my map as it appears I can walk there.  Later I decide to unwind with a curry at the small restaurant Simon visited the previous night. I think the wet weather has seeped into my bones a bit and is making me long for something hot and comforting. 

Before doing this I take the Nikon out to photograph the illuminated Moon and Sun pagodas in one of Guilin's parks around a central lake. They are much more attractive at night, during the day they seem dilapidated and uninspiring in the all-pervading gloom.

The other park is called Elephant Trunk park because it has a huge rock in the centre of the lake with an arch at one end which you can travel though in a boat. I imagine this made someone think of an elephant with its snout in the water. However it seems you have to pay to enter and in this weather I don't think it's worth my while.I walk past a number of shops with tanks of live fish, turtles, clams and snails and rather naively think they are pet shops until I look a little closer and realise they are fish restaurants. I don't think I'll eat in one of these as I'm too squeamish: I feel a sadness as I pass by. There are also caged chickens and ducks, and it makes me sad and angry to see these poor things sitting in cages unaware of the fate that awaits them.

On my way I drop into a trendy-looking bar that does a variety of Chinese and American dishes: it also serves Belgian beer on draught so I treat myself to a glass and get talking to the owner about ways to reach Xingping. I mention the train and he seems to think there is only one a week so recommends the boat. There are many tour agencies in Guilin offering boat trips and visits to various scenic locations. I call the hostel in Xingping to check that they offer the river raft tour, which they do as they have a tour desk. Actually everyone seems to have one. Back at the hotel some young people in the room opposite mine are having a boisterous night and spend a lot of time shouting. At about 11.20 pm I try to ask for some quiet with partial success. I tend to rely on earplugs as China is a noisy country and privacy is not really known to the modern Chinese.

I wake the following morning and doze until about 9am. The rain has stopped but the gloom persists under a gunmetal sky and I feel I may have to modify my plans somewhat. Checking online I find that there are regular fast trains to Yangshuo, so I decide to take the train then get to Xingping by taxi. My Lonely Planet from 2015 states that there is no railway station in Yangshuo so this shows you the pace of change in China. This stage of the journey seems to have been the most difficult to organise nad being a nervous traveller I tend to like having everything pre-arranged. So I have some coffee and fruit for breakfast and book the train to Yangshuo online then walk to the railway station to collect my tickets; this is fairly straightforward although a young Chinese man, probably a student, keeps going back to the ticket window and asking questions while looking at his phone, clearly he has made a mistake about something. Finally the ticket attendant waves him away, either because his problem has been solved or she can't help him. I walk up and give her my booking reference and passport so obtain my tickets to Yangshuo and from Beijing back to Baoding in February. She speaks a little English and smiles at me as I say thank you in pidgin Chinese: I have the impression I've made a welcome small change to her routine. Feeling better for having overcome another obstacle I walk back to the hotel, store my valuables away and go out for lunch. Returning to the food market I find a little stall that sells some good-looking cheap Chinese food so I have this plate of rice and beef with egg plus a bottle of beer.

It may seem so far as if I've done little except take photos, write blog entries, ride trains, eat and drink: which is more or less all there is to do at this stage as Guilin doesn't seem to have all that much to offer in the way of entertainment. Back at the hotel I spend some time online researching some options for the coming weeks. Unfortunately my back is aching, possibly from bad posture, so I have a hot shower, put some muscle ointment on it and do some physiotherapy exercises that Sarah taught me so it eases off a bit. I move my PC into the bay window so I can work while overlooking the street and the river.

 That evening I walk out and return to the bar I went to last night near to the hotel for a couple of Belgian beers and a plate of seafood fried rice, which is rather disappointing for the price as it only seems to contain a few crabsticks and squid tentacles, not particularly good value for money.

However the bar is pleasant and I don't feel like walking to the Irish pub which never seems to have more than about 3 customers: the Indian restaurant is the same and I wonder if they can survive. A Chinese couple walk in and animatedly discuss the menu before one of them goes outside and chatters on his phone, so I wisely order my food straight away as I suspect he is about to bring a number of others with him. This turns out to be exactly the case and about 7 or 8 people walk in, so I'm glad I ordered when I could. I have one more beer and talk to the owner again who seems to be a beer enthusiast and knows some of the brews I'm familiar with. Before returning to the hotel at 10: tomorrow is the last stage of the journey, the trip to Yangshuo and Xingping.