In April Joanna played tour guide to
friends from England, and in May it was my turn. Justin, whom I’d met on my university
internship in Canada, was invited to a wedding in Shanghai on the 20
th,
and he decided to make it a two and a half week trip. Justin is a PhD student
at Columbia, which means he has lots of flexibility over the summer. We’d
talked about meeting up ever since our trip to Asia in 2015, and now it was
finally becoming a reality.
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| An ancient canal in Suzhou |
Sunday, May 21
st, the day after
the wedding, I met Justin in Suzhou. Suzhou is less than an hour from Shanghai
and about 2 hours by high speed train from Hangzhou. It’s known as the “Venice
of China” for its numerous canals. Although it doesn’t quite live up to the
name, Suzhou is worth a visit nonetheless. The city feels more historical than
most in China, and with over 5 million residents, it also has the comforts of a
modern, developed city (in China 5 million people means it’s just a
medium-sized city!).
Justin and I spent Sunday and Monday night
there; on Tuesday morning we caught a train back to Hangzhou—I had to get back
to work (Joanna covered one of my classes Monday…thanks!). Joanna and I already
visited last year, and even though our time was limited Justin and I saw a good
deal of the city. We went to two pagodas, several rock gardens and city parks,
rode a boat along an historic canal, explored Jinji Lake, and visited the
Suzhou National Museum.
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| Jinji Lake at sunset |
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| One of the rock gardens we visited in Suzhou |
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| Tiger Hill Pagoda |
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| The view from our canal boat ride. |
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| Tea fields near West Lake |
On Wednesday Justin actually went back to
Shanghai to meet with a friend and see more of the city, since he’d only been
for a day and a half during the wedding. He spent one night in Shanghai, and on
Thursday afternoon Joanna and I met him at the Grand Canal. We had dinner at
Grandma’s Kitchen, a local chain which serves Hangzhou specialties at affordable prices.
Friday I took him to the tea fields near West Lake, where we hiked the
surrounding hills and then bused it to Baochu Pagoda downtown. Later we met
Joanna for another local dinner, and it was early to bed for me—I had a 7:40
class on Saturday!
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| View from the summit of our hike |
We had to work Saturday because of the
Dragon Boat Festival, which was Monday and Tuesday. As I’ve mentioned before,
often in China you will have a holiday break but then work extra days on the
weekend to make up for it…not much of a holiday then, huh?
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| Li River near Guilin |
For the three day weekend (May 28-30) Joanna
and I booked flights to Guilin, a touristy town in China’s southern Guangxi
province. The timing worked out so that Justin came along as well, and from
there he flew to Thailand, where he got some R&R on the beach for a few
days.
I would have preferred more time in Guilin
and Yangshuo, which are famous in China for the surrounding karst topogrophy
and idyllic countryside. On the back of the 20 RMB note is the Li River
surrounded by rocky peaks, a scene familiar to many Chinese. Aside from river
tours (the Li runs from Guilin south through Yangshuo), there are also numerous
caves, ancient villages, hiking trails, and rock climbing spots to check out.
As we only had one night in Guilin and two in Yangshuo, we were rushed, but
better rushed than not going at all!
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| Pagodas along the central lake in Guilin |
On the afternoon of the 27
th we
flew from Hangzhou to Guilin, which was about 2 hours direct. That evening we
explored the town center, which was manageable by foot—Guilin has a million
people and is far smaller than most Chinese cities I’ve visited. We walked
along a lake and stumbled upon the main pedestrian street with a night market.
I passed on the typical touristy trinkets for the food section, where we tried
lamb on a stick, fried oysters, mushrooms wrapped in ham, fish, and mango for
desert. This kind of food is available at most night markets in China, but it
hasn’t gotten old yet!
The next morning we cabbed it to Reed Flute
Cave, 5 kms outside the center. The cave was impressive for its size and
decoration—every direction I turned neon lights illuminated the stalagtites and
stalagmites, which supposedly resembled everything from monkeys to the skyline
of Guilin. Back in town we stopped at the Moon and Sun Pagoda and grabbed lunch
before heading to the bus station. There were no available tickets to Yangshuo
for another hour and a half, but as luck would have it a lady standing outside
motioned for us to hop on a waiting bus, and save for a couple stops to pick up
new passangers, we were off!
On Sunday night we got our bearings around town,
checking out the Li River and wading through the throng of tourists along West
Street, the main walking street in Yangshuo. That evening we also booked a boat
trip along the Li River for the following morning, so we had an early night to rest
up.
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| Justin and I posing in Yangshuo by the Li River |
Monday morning the owner directed us to a
waiting minivan along the main road outside our hostel. The minivan didn’t take
us to the river, of course; we had to transfer to a larger bus and wait for it
to fill up before setting off. After the 45 minute drive to a spot upriver,
where we would board our boat, a clusterfuck unfolded before us. We were on a
bus of Chinese tourists, all of whom seemed as confused as we were. Our guide
tried to navigate through hundreds of people and distribute tickets for the
boats, which fit four people each. Justin, Joanna, and I learned that we’d need
to find a fourth person for our boat. Anyone want to ride with the foreigners?!
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| Line for the boats |
The line to board the boats seemed to be
growing by the minute, but there were several large groups crowded around tour
guides with flags. Well, when in Rome, I thought, as we cut past them toward
the front of the line. Things moved quickly enough—there must have been 500
boats waiting for us—and as we sat down on one a random Chinese guy parked up
in the seat next to Justin. Great, ready to go!
Out boat journey downriver lasted nearly an
hour. The surrounding landscape was beautiful, but the sound of boat engines
kinda ruined the peace and tranquility. Oh well, that’s what I should expect on
a Chinese holiday. At least each boat had only four people, instead of a ship
where they packed way too many people in one small space; I'm actually surprised they haven't done that yet!
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| Justin posing just after we disembarked |
Where we disembarked there was a long que
for a ride to Xingping, where visitors could catch a bus back to Yangshuo. The
hostel owner told us it was 10 kms to Xingping, so we decided to walk instead.
It was actually more like 6 kms, which went by quickly, but was one of the most
enjoyable parts, as we got away from the people and could go at our own pace.
Once we arrived at Xingping it was time for lunch, and after a short stroll
through town we headed back to Yangshuo.
When we booked out tickets, the employee at
the hostel estimated we’d be back in town around 4-5 pm. We got back by 2pm
though, so we decided to rent bicycles for a few hours. We rode outside of town
to Moon Hill, which is a giant rock with a hole in the shape of a half moon. To
reach the rock we had to hike up over 800 steps, and the 90+ degree heat made
it more challenging than I’d expected. About halfway I just gave up on trying
not to sweat; by the top I was soaked. The views were worth the trek though;
you could see miles of the surrounding countryside and karst mountains.
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| View from Moon Hill |
Along the ride back we stopped for a quick
game of archery (hence the opening photo) and then made our way to the hotel. We showered, changed, and
walked down to the main pedestrian street for dinner. This time we picked a
Western restaurant, which was a nice break from Chinese. Understandably Justin wanted
to try as much local food as possible, but Joanna and I were ready for
something different. After dinner Justin got a taste of the Chinese bar scene—obnoxiously
loud club music and subpar mixed drinks—until we settled on a quieter rooftop spot where we chilled until midnight.
The next evening we flew out of Guilin
airport, so in the morning we tried booking a bus there, which was harder than
expected. We were directed to a station that was actually just for buses to the
railway station outside Yangshuo. After an hour of faffing about we just booked
the airport bus transfer from our hotel; it departed at 3 pm and supposedly
took 1.5 hours. Our flight didn’t leave until nearly 8, but the next bus was at 6, so we didn't have much choice.
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| Countryside outside Yangshuo |
By the time we checked out and got the tickets
sorted, it was nearly 11 am. The plan was to rent bicycles again, this time to
drive to a town called Liugong, 15 kms south of Yangshuo. Along the way we took
a few wrong turns, and by 12:50 we still hadn’t reached Liugong, so we gave up
and headed back. It wasn’t all a loss though, since the ride through the
country was a much needed respite from the hordes of tourists. I was surprised
just how quiet the roads were even a few kms outside Yangshuo. The beautiful
scenery was a plus too!
We got back just after 2 pm, ate a quick
lunch, and hopped on a minivan at 2:45, which took us to the airport bus. The
road to the airport was an empty highway, and we made it within an hour.
That meant we had four hours to mill about before departure time. Justin hung
out with us and we walked outside the airport; there wasn’t much to see, but
better than sitting around and doing nothing.
At 6 pm we said goodbye to Justin—he was
flying to Thailand the following morning. Joanna and I got through security
quickly, with plenty of time for dinner and a stroll around the massive Guilin
airport (hint: this is sarcastic). At 10 pm we arrived in Hangzhou, ready for
another week of school!
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