Day 17: Transfer from Fenghuang to Guilin: Fenghuang - Huaihua - Changsa - Guilin
It's 6 in the morning and we're already on the floor since today we have the transfer from Fenghuang to Guilin which we will do the first part, from Fenghuang to Huaihua, where we will take the first train of the day with a car that got us yesterday when we arrived at the hotel after enjoying Fenghuang and that will come to look for us between 8 and 8:30 a.m. the morning.
We looked out the window and a soft rain reminds us that yesterday when we looked at the weather, we saw how the rain seemed to be chasing us, although not reaching us, behind every destination in which we have been on this trip to China for free.
A few minutes before 8 in the morning we go down to the reception of the Fenghuang Melody Inn, where they have behaved exceptionally with us, check out and have a coffee that feels great. At 8.15, punctual as a clock, the car warns the hotel that we can leave and get underway to Huaihua.
And so we started today, with the transfer from Fenghuang to Guilin.
Today we leave for another of the areas that we most want to know about China, Guilin and his Dragon Spine rice paddies.
It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get to the southern station of Huaihua and then pay our 120RMB, in the end it cost us cheaper than the Bus from Fenghuang to Huaihua, counting that we would have had to pay a couple of taxis plus the bus, and we passed the station controls.
We meet again with the same as in the rest of train stations in China, there are no coffee shops, only a small store where they sell vacuum packed Chinese snacks, which we do not know how to identify a McDonald's that weighs well on the top floor not having McCafé and not having sweets, they do have coffee, so we took the opportunity to have another for 10RMB and Roger a fish burger for 20RMB, which starts the morning with energy 😉
Today we travel in first class. From our experience these days traveling by train from Pingyao to Xi'an in second, because as we said there were no first class tickets, we believe that first class is not necessary at all. With a second class ticket it is perfect to make journeys of several hours. Taking out first class is only necessary for night trains, since the compartments are 4 berths and are closed (in second they are 6 berths and open).
Although we did not know this before booking, we were sure that we would have booked all the trips in second class.
At 10:40 in the morning they open the steps to access the platforms and once accommodated in our first class seats, we confirm that although the seats have more space with each other and the footrest is more comfortable, the price difference It is not justifiable.
Even so, and since we have them, we will enjoy the first class. 😉 From the side we see Bussines Class, right next door and we see that it is like ours, changing only that the seats are made of leather instead of fabric like ours.
Punctual as always since we started our trip to China for free, at 11:00 we leave for Changsa, where we will arrive at 12:39 in the morning and we will have to wait to catch a new train at 14:09 towards Guilin, where at 3:29 we will arrive at the next destination of our trip.
Time is gray and sparkles. The landscape has changed completely in this area of the country and we cover mountains full of landscapes with green tones that seem to be taken from any movie.
Punctual at 12.29 we arrived in Changsa and after showing the tickets, which luckily we picked up the second day we spent in Beijing and so we did not have to worry anymore, why else in each station we should have passed through the collection ticket booths of bills, with what that means knowing they don't speak any English.
To catch the train from Changsa to Guilin They tell us that we have to leave the station and climb to the high part that is where these trains leave.
The magnitude of the city is already perceived at the Changsa train station and it is huge.
More practical information to prepare your trip to China
- 10 essential places to visit in China
- 10 essential tips for traveling to China
How could it be otherwise and telling that our train arrived in Guilin at 17:30 in the afternoon, we took the opportunity to eat something fast and we hope that our platform leaves on the screens. Keep in mind that the names do not appear on the screens in English, but the train and walk numbers do, so it is not difficult to deduce which is ours. And if there is not always some police and station personnel who will try to help you in the best way.
A few minutes before departure they announce our platform and there we will spend a few hours in our first class seats.
We go back on time and spend the next hours between readings and movies that we have on the Ipad and at 17:15 in the afternoon we arrive in the city ending the transfer from Fenghuang to Guilin, fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, and surrounded by an impressive mountain profile. This is the place where we will stay the next 2 nights, to discover the Rice Spine rice paddies before going to Yangshuo on a cruise on the Li River the day after tomorrow.
We left the train and the sensation of heat and humidity invades us, reminding us a year ago when we arrived in Iquitos on our trip to Peru and the heat accompanied us until the end of the trip.
We look at the CityMaps2Go and see that our hotel, the Guilin Riverside Hostel, is only 900 meters away, so we pull our bags and there we go.
The environment we are seeing is liking us and everything here seems more fluid. Or maybe we are getting used to China?
We arrive at our hotel guided by a Chinese who kindly helps us find it and once we have checked in, the first thing we do is look at the excursion we want to do tomorrow at Rice Spine rice fields from Guilin.
When we booked the hotel we asked by email and they told us that the organized tour, with guide in English, visits the long-haired women, food and trekking plus entrance to the rice fields was 310RMB per person. But we want to ask for a private vehicle to go quieter and leave sooner than the organized excursion and also spend more time in the rice fields.
Tomorrow is a holiday, so it is a little more expensive, 50RMB more than the total price, but the normal price is 800RMB with the tickets included to the rice fields that are 100RMB per person. The car / driver is 600RMB to go from Guilin to the Dragon Spine Rice, and wait for us there about 4-5 hours and then return back to the hotel.
We do not weigh it too much and we hire it for tomorrow at 7 in the morning, also deciding that we will go to the Dazhai area, a less visited and tourist town than Longshen, which is where all tourists usually go.
With this already closed, we went up to the room to take a shower and get dressed in summer and especially to put on our sandals and remove the hiking boots that were giving us these last hours and we went to the streets of Guilin towards the Pagodas of the Moon and the Sun, symbol of Guilin, which are only 500 meters from the hotel.
Pagodas of the Sun and the Moon in Guilin
At this time they are already illuminated and as in other places we are struck by the colorful kitch that give these Chinese monuments 😉
Pagodas of the Sun and the Moon in Guilin
The streets of Guilin are very lively and when we return to the hotel again we stop at the Night Market, which is only a couple of streets away, where we take the opportunity to dine in a restaurant Guilin-fried noodles, dumplins more water and coca Queue for 90RMB.
Guilin Night Market
Dining in Guilin
And from good to first, as who does not want the thing, a universal flood begins to fall !!!
We have to wait a long time under some improvised awnings that the waiters put and that each time they are giving more and more, giving the sensation that they will not endure the storm that is falling.
After 30 minutes and seeing that for a bit, we decided to take a run and arrive at our hotel that is only 300 meters away and not wait any longer.
And just when we are entering the room, we begin to hear how the rain falls again as if there was no tomorrow.
And with the sound of rain rattling on the crystals, rendered as we are, we fall into a deep sleep.
Day 18: Guilin: Fenghuang - Longshen Rice Terraces (Jinkeng) - Guilin
