A friendly welcome in China

Welcome to my Blog about my first cycle trip in China

in October 2013

I was so pleased to be guided by my friend, Sherman Kwok, who made everything so easy for us. We are thinking of doing guided tours ourselves if anyone is interested!

You can see links to my other Blogs on the right hand side of the page

Day 4: Visit to Longji Rice Terraces

This was a sightseeing day before catching the night train back to Hong Kong.  Sherman recommended we went to visit the Longji rice terraces near Longsheng, about 80 Kms north west of Guilin.  We did think about taking our bikes on the bus to Longsheng and attempting the 13 kms climb up to the terraces.  In the end we decided against, and we discovered that the road to the terraces is very twisty and the tour buses sound their horns as they round each blind bend at speed.  As cyclists, we would be able to hear them, but they would not hear us and see us very late!  Hopefully, if we were able to cycle this road, the bus company could warn all the drivers to watch out for us on the road. Anyway it will have to await another visit.

This was the last day of our short trip to the Guilin area.  We had some very good and interesting cycling.  I think I preferred Yangshuo to Guilin for the cycling, where we found plenty of nice smooth concrete country and farm roads to cycle on beside the Li and Yulong rivers.  Guilin is a big city and not as neat and picturesque as Yangshuo, but was still interesting to visit and explore.

For travelling to Guilin from Hong Kong, I definitely preferred the train to the bus, even though the bus had bunk beds to sleep on.  The main advantage of the bus is it goes directly to Yangshuo. 

After returning to Guilin after the rice terraces tour, we went back to our hotel to collect our bikes, cycled to the station, and boarded the sleeper train to Shenzen, leaving at 9.15pm.  We arrived at Shenzen at 12.30 the next day, a trip of 15 hours.  I did wonder why it took some much longer than the bus which took 12 hours.  I discovered that there isn't a direct rail line to Guangzhuo and Shenzen (although one is being built), and the train had to take a 350 kilometres detour northeast to Hengyang before it could turn south for Guangzhuo and Shenzen. A total of 1000 kms compared to the direct road route of 600 Kms.  Nevertheless the train was comfortable and afforded a full night sleep and had a buffet car in the next carriage.  

Map of the Area: Yangshuo in the south, and the rice terraces to the northwest

The rice terraces above Ping'An village - the rice had just been harvested so not as spectacular now as in the Spring (covered in water), or wind (covered in snow)

Ping'An Village

A way to visit the terraces without walking

There are a lot more than 15 people on this bridge

The show by the long haired ladies
of Huangluo Yao Village

The short haired visitors
to the Long haired ladies' show

Food cooked inside bamboo wood

The rest of our tour bus went to the 'recommended' restaurant, and we had this restaurant to mostly to ourselves.

Friendly faces - and good food and service

The objective is to push on-coming traffic nearly off the road; no one seems to get angry - just a case of maximising the usage of the road space

The night train from Guilin to Shenzen

Me and Brompton all ready for the long night's sleep

Sherman and Birdy likewise

Dining Car - quite grand (Russian built?)

It was a long night!

Day 3: Circuit around Guilin

Day 3: 35 Kms.  We had breakfast in Yangshuo, and then took the local bus to Guilin.  We found our hotel, left our bags, and headed out for a cycling tour of the city.  Guilin is a large bustling city so very different from the small picture perfect town of Yangshuo.  It was interesting to explore different parts where there were parks, pergodas  temples, hills, and of course the Li river. Our hotel was on the main thoroughfare (Zhongshan South Road) and we headed north, past the Railway Station, until we crossed a smaller river then turned right along the South Ring Road (not a big road), around to the main river. We visited the Riyue Shaungta Park but were turned away as there was no cycling allowed.  Then we went past the entrance to Diecai Mountain, and then the Jingjiang Palace which was the official residence of Prince Jingjiang in the Ming Dynasty from 1368-1644, and houses the tombs of 11 kings.  We did think about a visit, and with hindsight it would have been good, but we were keen to carry on with the cycling (as always).  We then headed out of the city centre out to the Ludi Caves. We finished with a trip along both banks of the Li River.    

 

GPS not quite working accurately - shift the route to the right so it follows the river

Last Breakfast in Yangshuo - A fritter and tasty sauces rolled up in a pancake - delicious!

Bus to Guilin - No standing it seems - but the bus conductor gave these passengers
a small stool each to sit on

The Pergodas in Riyue Shaungta Park - no cycling here; The guidebook says: The octagonal, seven storey Moon Pagoda is connected by an underwater tunnel to the 40 metres high Sun Pagoda, the world's tallest copper pagoda and one of the few pagodas anywhere in the world with a lift.

Sherman finds more new young admirers

These tasted like grapefruit but had a hard skin

Our taxi driver to dinner on an electric motorbike trishaw - if you know what I mean!

Sherman negotiates the food, as usual - we ate well.  All we needed was a fishing rod (or the nice man to pick out our fish for supper); 

Ah, here he is!

Buns (steamed and deep fried) with carnation milk - sweet and tasty;

Day 2: North of Yangshuo along Li River

Day 2: was actually 82 Kms in all, excluding two segments where we took to the river. This was a great days' cycling following the beautiful Li River.

Liugong cafe (Km 15);  Boat to Fuli Town (Km 25); road to Xiangping (Km 42); Ferry to west bank (Km 46); 2nd Ferry ride of the day (Km 55) to Yangdi (Yangdixiang on map); steep hill out of  Yangdi; main Guilin-Yangshou G321 road from Km 70.

Another tasty Breakfast in West Street, Yangshuo

Nearly gone - all good cycling food, I am sure

We set off from Yangshuo heading again southwards on the G321.  Before we left the town however, we took a left fork to the S305 by the Li River.  We followed the river for a short while along a smooth concrete road and then out into the countryside away from the river.  One of the crops we identified were water chestnuts that grew in paddy fields.  Sherman had cycled this once before which was useful because at around the 16 Kms mark we made a left turn down an unmade road to a village called Liugong.  We made our way through the village down narrow passageways and then came out to the Li River.  There was a little cafe there, and so we stopped to rest and enjoy the lovely view across the river.  

Sight of the Li River just leaving Yangshuo

Smooth road to Liugong,
with water chestnut crops behind

View from cafe of the the Li River at Liugong

The clothes would be cleaner afterwards, as the water was very clear

More new friends - cafe owner and staff

Over coffee, Sherman had a discussion about where to go next.  We could get a ride across the river and pick up a road/track on the other side.  Or we could hire the boat and go up river to another drop off point further up on the east bank.  We chose the boat ride on a modern version of the bamboo boats, one with plastics tubes.

Leaving Liugong Old Village

Typical Brompton pose - going upstream on our private hire boat.

A boat collecting river weed

Nice comfortable way to travel

Arriving at Fuli Town on the east bank of the Li River

Fuli Town to Xianping - 17 Kms - at various points this lovely new road surface became rough unmade road (work in progress)

We stopped for lunch at Xiangping, which is a centre for river cruises.  We then carried on along the east bank until we came to a ferry and crossed over to the other side.

Ferry from east to west bank - didn't prove to be a good move

On the west bank, there was just a farm track and the traffic was just terrible!  Please mooooove over!

We got lost and climbed up a long steep hill only to come all the way back down as we thought it was the wrong route.  Back by the river we found a very narrow path which followed the river but there were steps and this was not much fun.  We came to a beach where we spotted a bamboo boat, and Sherman arranged for another boat ride to Yangdi where we knew the road started again.

Back on the river again
- much higher Karsts on this section

This section had spectacular scenery and river traffic was much busier than the morning's tranquil boat ride

Back on the road again at Yangdi to take the road westwards away from the river.  We were greeted by a nice hill for the first 3 Kms, a climb of 120 vertical metres (not too bad)

We cycled hard from Yangdi to the main road, a distance of 15Kms, where we would turn left to get back to Yangshuo - nice early evening light, warm temperature, and still surrounded by karst peaks.  Once on the main road we had another 25 Kms to go to reach Yangshuo. Fortunately there was a side lane for motor cycles and bicycles so it wasn't too bad. It was getting dark by the time we reached Yangshuo, and we again went straight to eat in a local restaurant opposite a British pub - which looked sad because it was empty. I didn't fancy fish and chips!