We took a 9pm flight off Beijing on Dec 24 to Guilin. The adult fare was heavily discounted at 40% (60% off). Kids fare was roughly the same as they paid 50% of normal fare anyway. We arrived in Guilin airport at 11pm, met by a small van arranged by hotel downtown of Guilin. The hotel cost us RMB238 for one night. I couldnt figure out how they could throw a free airport transfer in at that price, normally RMB70 pp. The pickup came with personalised tour guide, one per family, with the objective of selling the guests various tour packages during the 40 mins ride into Guilin. Maybe the airport transfer is a tour company service to hotels, so they could lock in customers early, upon arrival. We didnt buy any of the tours introduced by the guide.
The hotel is small but cozy, facing a nice lake but we didnt hv much chance to soak that scenery in as we arrived late and left early. Breakfast was Guilin mifen (similar to laksa beehoon, rice round noodle). RMB2.5 a bowl. Noodle was the same and soup stock (on tap, self service) was the same, but the condiments made the difference for the persons in front and behind the the serving counter. I left the talking to Grace.
I did have a feast of rambutans (火龙果）later from a street vendor, 1.5kg for RMb15. Plus same amount of mangostines at 3x the cost. Good quality. That was our snack while cruising Li River flowing through Guilin。 The river cruise was not in our plan, but Grace was 'hijacked' by a woman on the street touting the cruise. The whole region is full of tour guides. Everyone has something to sell. To foreign visitors, tour of Guilin and surrounding is often arrnaged as a packaged, but for local individual travellers, the streets are full of 'guides' peddling tour packages. They usually get a discount from the operators, and most pass on the discounts to their customers. The woman who sold the cruise package to Grace was some disctance away from the boat jetty, but she showed us to a car which took us to the jetty. We paid RMB40 to the driver for each RMB50 ticket. I dont know how else they get rewarded for bringing customers in, but that seems to be the customs on the strrets: selling, transporting and operating the tours are different faces.
The cruise was boring in hindsight but it was okay for day 1. It gets better later.
1. at entrance to hotel #1 of 4nights
2. Pure sugar cane juice for RMB2 per big cup.
3. Elephant Trunk Hill, from top of cruise boat. chairs in mid river are for lunch customers.
This tree is supposed to be 1400 yrs old, about 30mins bike ride outside of Yangshuo. Our bike rentals cost RMB15 for 3. Kimberley sat behind Grace, Kristine was my co rider behind and our tour guide (RMB20 for half a day's work) on her own. One photo shows Kimberley needing to walk as she was falling asleep and about to fall over. Another interesting photo shows Kimberley refusing to take photo with us in front of the ancient tree.
While most tourists would cruise the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo by boat as seen in background of a photo posted, Grace decided she wanted us to cruise the river by bamboo raft. That was day 3 of our travel. We paid RMB120 to hire a small van taking us from Guilin to this remote village where our raft owner met us. A farmer by birth, but taking tourists down the river in his raft has been his main line of income for the past 6 years. As a farmer he is allocated roughly 600sqm of land by the river but the land could provide just 3-4 months of livelihood for his family of three per year, planting Lychee and other fruits. Before he started his rafting business, he and wife had to collect firewood and herbs for sale to survive the winter months. Now he is able to make RMB3000 per month catering to adventurous tourists like Grace. We saw his house when he stopped by to dropped some grocery and fuel. Very simple abode, spartan in amenities, rather untidy too. The cruise cost us another RMB120 for 90mins, but one could easily drag the adventure out by stopping at various bends and scenic spots. He and many others operated without a proper permit, and thus could show their customers just the mid section of Guilin to Yangshuo cruise. Local police keep a blind eye, but police from Guilin and Yangshuo would confiscate their rafts (RMB7500 with engine). They are deemed as illegal competitors to state owned cruise boats which ploughs the river for many tourists at much higher prices. At the dropoff point, we have to take a motorised tricycle for RMB10 to another remote village to catch a local mini bus to Yangshuo. Bus ride cost RMB5.50 each. It didnt take long for the bus condutor to try sell us various tour packages.....
