Independent Travel: Pioneering My Way to Guilin

From October 9th-17th we were given a week off to work on our independent projects, and if we had time we were also allowed to travel independently. Our projects vary from topics on the Chinese stock market, Chinese traditional medicine practices, to English learning in China. After sending out my survey on how Chinese Traditional Medicine plays a role in Post-partum maternity care, I packed my bags and headed to the southern province of Guangxi! Below are two reflections from my trip written during my trip. 

Part I

October 12th 2015

About a month ago I found out that I would have time to travel independently in China. I decided to travel by myself to Guilin, a city located in the southern province, Guangxi. My parents tried to dissuade me from traveling alone, and although I was initially excited, I became increasingly nervous….

The trip started last Friday when I boarded the bullet train. I would strongly recommend traveling by train to anyone who visits China. I had a window seat and I was impressed by the seemingly endless farmland pass by. I also loved watching the subtle changes in terrain while traveling south. I felt really grateful to be able to observe such vast amounts of land of a single country. The train ride only had a couple very minor hiccups. In the middle of the ride a bunch of people gathered in the middle aisle between the seats. I thought they were getting ready to get off at the next station, but soon the person who had been sitting next to me motioned for me to get up too. I got a little nervous wondering what would cause everyone to get out of their seats. In a joint effort, everyone rotated the seats around to face the other direction. That was definitely one of my ‘lost in translation’ experiences. We soon made a loop at the next train station so were facing forward again. Another ‘lost in translation’ moments on the train ride, was accidentally ordering a somewhat expensive fish….head, eyes and all…

I arrived at the Guilin train station at about 8pm feeling a little nervous and hungry. Upon exiting I  was greeted by several  bicycle taxis. I tried to look for a normal taxi but none were in sight.  I chose one and he strapped my suitcase on the back and I climbed on. It was surreal and exciting maneuvering through the traffic at night on the back of the bike but I felt pretty relieved when I saw the sign for the hostel.

The hostel, where I am currently writing this is nicely decorated and has a youthful, and fun atmosphere. Most travelers are around my age and from the Americas, or Europe. Everyone I’ve met speaks English. It’s been really nice meeting people my age who are curious and adventurous. On Saturday I explored Guilin with 4 other independent travelers, two from the United States, one from the UK, and one from Switzerland. We found a beautiful park with nice hikes. Saturday, we joined 6 other travelers from Germany, and Israel and went searching for a Karaoke bar. Karaoke in China is really popular. It was different than I expected though. I thought that Karaoke was done in a bar setting, but you actually have to rent a private room and just do the Karaoke with your friends. It was surprisingly really fun. They also provided us with a fridge full of beer, watermelon, and bread.

The next day, Sunday, I dragged myself out of bed at 8am for the Longji Rice Tour! This was yesterday, and it was probably my favorite day in China so far. It was a 6.5 mile hike through the lovely rice terraces. There was beautiful views at every turn. It was also nice  to see the rural lifestyle. There were chickens running around, chickens in very small cages (probably dinner for the night), pigs in the back of small trucks, horses carrying cargo up the hills, local woman carrying suitcases on their back for lazy tourists, workers harvesting  rice while their young son sat by their side under the shade of an umbrella, ten men attempting to pull a truck out of a ditch, and many other things you don’t see too often in the U.S.. Once we reached the top we all sat there silently for about 20 minutes. The view gave me a sense of peacefulness similar to that of watching and listening to ocean’s waves. Below us we could see the paths we walked up, observe the fluent lines and beautiful formations the terraces formed, and watch the rice plants wave and ripple in the wind. The weather was also perfect; blue skies, 75 degrees, with a cool breeze.

Today I am taking a rest and hanging out in the hostel, writing this blog, calling my parents, and making plans for the next few days. Tonight is my last night in Guilin. Tomorrow I will travel 40 minutes to the much smaller city of Yangshuo. Yangshuo is supposed to be a little quieter, and even more beautiful than Guilin. I’m really excited.

Part II

October 16th 2015

To get to Yangshuo from Guilin I signed up for what I thought was a river tour that shuttled you from one city to the next. The transportation was actually by bus, but you got dropped off at the river to do a loop in a bamboo raft. Upon arriving at the river, we got off the bus and divided into groups of four with whom we then carefully loaded a bamboo raft, paddled by a local farmer. I was paired with three Chinese tourists. At one point we passed by a larger boat with about 60 people onboard. Everyone on the boat seemed to be taking a selfy with their selfy sticks. It seemed they weren’t even taking time to admire the scenery. Before arriving, I don’t think I had expected to find the stereotypical millennial in China. 

The Li River was absolutely gorgeous, and the Karst rocks were majestic. The area is the inspiration of the mountains you often seen painted on ancient Chinese scrolls. However, I don’t think the Li River trip was my favorite part of my week, maybe because of the countless distracting selfy sticks, or maybe because it was a sunny day and I’d forgotten my sunglasses on the bus.

Upon arriving in Yangshuo, I was dropped off at what seemed to be, some random street. Luckily, I’d planned ahead and brought the address of the hostel written in Chinese. I found a  taxi and off we went. Yangshuo is a fairly small city, maybe comparable to Chico. My hostel was about a mile and a half from the city center. The rooms were very clean, and mine had post-card like view of Karst Mountains. 

The first night of my stay I wandered a quarter mile down the road, and settled for some mediocre looking Chinese restaurant for dinner. I regret this. I ordered a pork dish, and what I got did not taste like pork. I ignored warnings about ordering meat other than chicken in China. Rumors at the hostel had it that sometimes what is advertised as pork or beef is actually horse or some other mystery meat… (Note from 10/26/15: I’m not sure how true this rumor is, I’ve never heard of this problem in Jinan. It is possible that what I was served was pig skin.)

The next day I met up with a friend, Harlene, whom I met at the hostel in Guilin, to hike one of the Karst rocks. The hike was a lot steeper than I expected and upon arriving at the top I was pretty sweaty. We also encountered an unpleasant surprise at the top. A gate, and at the gate a local Chinese woman asking for 10 yuan to see the view. As we shook our heads, some local Chinese approached and she lowered her price to 5. We were really mad that we hiked all the way to the top to be charged with some unofficial fee. The woman was also fairly pushy, so we decided we didn’t want to give her our money. She wasn’t the only pushy local woman I met in Guilin. Saying no, avoiding eye contact, or shaking your head doesn’t always deter them, even if you are enjoying a meal at a sit down restaurant. (Note from 10/26/2015: The pushy women who approached me while I was eating was asking me to look at her review book. I ignored her, but I learned later that one of my friends from the hostel listened to her. The woman was selling  a trip to her house in the country with a meal provided. After hearing that I regretted ignoring the woman, it sounds like a unique opportunity.)

After the hike I explored the downtown of Guilin, two main pedestrian streets with lots of smaller intersecting streets between. The downtown is very touristy. They sell lots of jewelry, souvenirs, and scarves, most of which supposedly are made in factories and can be found cheaper in other parts of China. However, the touristy center did have some perks. A lot of their restaurants are aimed at westerners, and are very appealing to westerners, including me. I’ve started to enjoy the Chinese food, but it was a nice break. My favorite meals in Yangshuo were buttered chicken and garlic naan at an Indian restaurant, and a vegetable sandwich from a vegetarian restaurant.

Today I again made plans with Harlene this time to go rock climbing. We had a rough idea of the place we were going to, and what should’ve been a ten minute bike ride turned into three hours of back tracking on dirt roads. However, I don’t regret it at all. I saw the countryside of Yangshuo and got a glimpse of rural life in China. At one point we were on a dirt trail no more than two feet wide, and we got stuck behind  a man and his two cows. Us and the man were probably the only people within a mile radius.

Eventually we found the basecamp. However, the basecamp was a sign next to some Karst rocks that gave the number and email to the climbing company. But we walked around and found a hike with a beautiful view.  After we finished our hike we got back on the bike and went to  a spot Harlene had visited with another friend, it was a small pedestrian bridge under which hundreds of bamboo rafts pass daily. The view of the river, the bamboo rafts, and the mountains was beautiful.

Tomorrow I go home, or to my home of 3 months, Jinan. I’m really happy I was able to make this trip, it was a great break from the overwhelmingly huge city of Jinan (6 million). I’m happy to go back to see my classmates, visit some of my go to restaurants and favorite street food carts, and learn more about Chinese culture and history from our guest lecturers.