Guilin
by Sean on Oct.04, 2009, under China
The worst way to start off a trip is to not look ahead to the future. Due to my lack of judgment, I forgot it was traveling season in China and bought our train tickets two days in advance. This resulted in us sitting on a hard seat for 15 hours, and me sleeping for maybe an hour. To make matters worse, babies were crying almost the entire time, and people were talking, smoking and trying to grab seats from people who PAID for them the moment they stood up. The most disgusting thing I’ve seen in this situation is standing tickets being sold. That means you’d have to STAND (or sit on the floor, which is a huge nuisance) for the entire 15 hours. I hated sitting in a seat and I couldn’t imagine the hell of standing, could you?
Shortly after we left the Wuhan train station, I pushed passed 3 cars of people to reach the 8th car to try to switch my tickets for a sleeper. Unfortunately for us, at this time of the year everyone and their mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and baby are traveling. My only worry is we’ll be repeating the sitting business on other trains around China.
Guilin Train Station
We arrived at Guilin at 5:30am, our nerves shot from having slept barely a wink. We were instantly bombarded by touts and hawkers, so shot right past them and walked the distance to the hostel, which turned out to only be 10 minutes. The hostel we stayed at is called the Xiao Yang Lou International Youth Hostel, and for 35rmb a night, the place is great! The beds were big and comfortable, and the atmosphere was friendly, lively, yet quiet at night. All the staff spoke good English as well! To book a room, call them at 0773-2158398. They are located on Zhong Shan Nan Lu, a straight 10 minute walk from the train station if you turn left as you leave the station. The address is guang xi gui lin zhong shan nan lu 110-25 hao (广西桂林中山南路边110-25号).
Die Cai Mountain
As for activities, we only really had a day and a half before my friends arrived from Hong Kong and then we moved on to Yangshuo, so we relaxed and walked around. The biggest thing we did was take the tourist bus for 1rmb to the Die Cai Mountain. 10rmb to enter, this scenic area of the city provides a nice hike and shelter from the sun. If you’re lucky, you might meet up with an elderly man sporting a wife beater at the top, who will gladly take pictures of you!
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October 15th, 2009 on 8:30 am
I read a few topics. I respect your work and added blog to favorites.
October 18th, 2009 on 4:23 am
Very interesting and amusing subject. I read with great pleasure.