China trip report
Apr 20th, 2005 | 07:38 AM
#1
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China trip report
My friends and I have returned from 2 glorious weeks in the Gangxi and Yunnan Provinces in China. There were 9 of us on this trip. 3 of us had been to China at least once before, so we did not include Beijing, Shanghai, Xian and the Yangtze River this time. We plan to go again in 2009 and include these spots for those who missed them.
The trip was planned by my sister. She booked everything thru an agency in Beijing that we had used twice before. We did not have a national guide but were met in each location by a local guide. This was a VERY BUSY trip. We will plan more down time next time.
Day one:the group assembles in Hong Kong and takes an early train to Guangzho. Once there, our guide Ben takes us to visit Liu Rong Temple, Chen Family Home and the 5 Ram Statues at Yue Xin Park. We catch an evening flight to GUilin. Nobody thinks very much about Guangzho. It is dirty and crowded, but they have a fantastic new airport. We arrive in GUilin and are met by Sherry. We check into the Guilin Plaza Hotel and crash for the night.
Day 2: Sherry takes us on a whirlwind tour of the caverns and parks in Guilin. It is raining lightly all day, but we all love the city. Guilin parks are lush, impeccably maintained and highly scenic. We loved Fo Bo Hill with it's camel shaped rocks and the waterfalls.
Day 3: We are up early for the Li River cruise to Yangshou. The scenery is breathtaking. It reminds some of us of the Yangtze River cruise 3 years ago, but with a clean river. The boat ride itself is a blast. The food is actually pretty good and you can order fried river crabs or tiny fried fish to accompany your included lunch.
Arriving in Yangshou is hectic. The river is at a very high level and we overshoot the landing. Once we alight, there are postcard and souvenier hawkers surrounding us. We make our way up West Street admiring the goods for sale, and check into the New Century Hotel. By now it is 2 p.m. and we are free to roam until 7 p.m.
Elaine and I take a long walk along the river, followed by some serious haggeling for souveniers along West Street. We meet up with Dolores and Tom and enjoy a good cappuchino at a cafe. There we while away the rest of the afternoon before joining the rest of the gang for a wonderful meal at an indoor/outdoor cafe for dinner.
Day 4: We wake up to grey skies. This is our day to tour the countryside via bicycle. 4 members of the group opt out of the bikes and take the tour via electric car (big golf cart). The rest of us buy 5yuan rain ponchos and mount up. We don't regret it. The countryside is beautiful. It is spring, so farmers are plowing their fields, either by hand with shovels, or the lucky ones with water buffalo. They are happy to wave at us as we go by. 31/2 hours later, exhausted but exhilirated, we meet up with the electric car group at a farmers restaraunt. Everything is fresh and delicious. Before we eat, Sherry recommends that we rinse our dishes off in the boiling tea water.
Yangshou is special for us as one of our friends, Kim, will be returning here after the end of our trip to teach english for the summer. We are all interested in her new home, and are slightly envious of this adventure in such a beautiful, lush place.
From here, it is back to Guilin by bus (1 1/2 hrs) to the airport for a short flight to Kunming. We say a sad goodbye to Sherry, our favorite guide of the trip, and are off to Kunming.
to be continued...
The trip was planned by my sister. She booked everything thru an agency in Beijing that we had used twice before. We did not have a national guide but were met in each location by a local guide. This was a VERY BUSY trip. We will plan more down time next time.
Day one:the group assembles in Hong Kong and takes an early train to Guangzho. Once there, our guide Ben takes us to visit Liu Rong Temple, Chen Family Home and the 5 Ram Statues at Yue Xin Park. We catch an evening flight to GUilin. Nobody thinks very much about Guangzho. It is dirty and crowded, but they have a fantastic new airport. We arrive in GUilin and are met by Sherry. We check into the Guilin Plaza Hotel and crash for the night.
Day 2: Sherry takes us on a whirlwind tour of the caverns and parks in Guilin. It is raining lightly all day, but we all love the city. Guilin parks are lush, impeccably maintained and highly scenic. We loved Fo Bo Hill with it's camel shaped rocks and the waterfalls.
Day 3: We are up early for the Li River cruise to Yangshou. The scenery is breathtaking. It reminds some of us of the Yangtze River cruise 3 years ago, but with a clean river. The boat ride itself is a blast. The food is actually pretty good and you can order fried river crabs or tiny fried fish to accompany your included lunch.
Arriving in Yangshou is hectic. The river is at a very high level and we overshoot the landing. Once we alight, there are postcard and souvenier hawkers surrounding us. We make our way up West Street admiring the goods for sale, and check into the New Century Hotel. By now it is 2 p.m. and we are free to roam until 7 p.m.
Elaine and I take a long walk along the river, followed by some serious haggeling for souveniers along West Street. We meet up with Dolores and Tom and enjoy a good cappuchino at a cafe. There we while away the rest of the afternoon before joining the rest of the gang for a wonderful meal at an indoor/outdoor cafe for dinner.
Day 4: We wake up to grey skies. This is our day to tour the countryside via bicycle. 4 members of the group opt out of the bikes and take the tour via electric car (big golf cart). The rest of us buy 5yuan rain ponchos and mount up. We don't regret it. The countryside is beautiful. It is spring, so farmers are plowing their fields, either by hand with shovels, or the lucky ones with water buffalo. They are happy to wave at us as we go by. 31/2 hours later, exhausted but exhilirated, we meet up with the electric car group at a farmers restaraunt. Everything is fresh and delicious. Before we eat, Sherry recommends that we rinse our dishes off in the boiling tea water.
Yangshou is special for us as one of our friends, Kim, will be returning here after the end of our trip to teach english for the summer. We are all interested in her new home, and are slightly envious of this adventure in such a beautiful, lush place.
From here, it is back to Guilin by bus (1 1/2 hrs) to the airport for a short flight to Kunming. We say a sad goodbye to Sherry, our favorite guide of the trip, and are off to Kunming.
to be continued...
Apr 21st, 2005 | 06:52 AM
#4
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Joined: Oct 2003
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Day 5:Kunming is a really big, busy city. The difference for me between this and Guangzhou is that Kunming is clean and doesn't seem to be as polluted.
Today we went to the Stone Forest. Our bus driver, Mr. Lee, was a frustraded Indy car driver. The ride to the Forest was frantic. Mr. Lee would pass other cars and trucks with no notion at all of oncoming traffic. Pretty scary on a 2 lane mountain road. The Stone Forest was incredible. The hike thru there was amazing, not only for the rock formations, but for the variety of people visiting. Many different minorities dressed in traditional costumes. It was a very colorful experience. We drove thru minority villages on the way back and although we all enjoyed this day, Kunming is just a big city.
Day 6: This morning we were up early for our flight to Lijiang. This segment of the trip was the best. Lijiang is a wonderful town. THe climate is exceptional, very moderate all year round. It is at the end of the Himalayan Mountain Range, and the scenery is breathtaking. Our hotel, Shiner Hotel, was located directly across the street from the locals market, filled with produce, a large butcher tent, fishmongers with fish swimming in buckets, and general merchandise. We skipped the hotel breakfest and bought baked goods, fried bread and dim sum from outdoor vendors.
The "Old TOwn" are of Lijiang is really terrific, loaded with shops, restaraunts, bars, etc. There is a big public square where senior citizens converge to do Tai Chi, folk dancing, and just milling around. Most were minority villiagers in traditional garb.
Alot of Lijiang was leveled in an earthquake in the early 90's. The rebuilding was done with the original architecture and is really beautiful. THere is alot of construction in the Old Town area, with new shops moving in. When we were there, an "OShKosh" store was just opening. This was the only western influence we saw in Lijiang. One sour note, I bought a cf card for my digital camera in old town and when I got back to the hotel late that night, the box was empty.
Day 7: Today we went to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We stopped along the way to have our picture taken with Yaks. THis cost 5 yuan plus 10 yuan for a digital photo. At the base of the cable (skilift) to get to 10,500 feet we encountered our favorite translation of the trip. The sign read:
"Honorific passenger, this stands the sincerity hints to you: For guaranteeing your embark the safety, please in embark put at morn chair." What they meant to say is anybody's guess.
Snow mountain is beautiful. Above the tree line there is snow year round, also a glacier. The lift gets you to 10,500 feet and you can hike up further if desired. 4 of us went on and were not sorry we did. I am unsure how much higher we ascended, but the air sure was thin up there.
We did many things with our 2 days in Lijiang. This is a town I could easily live in. Beautiful scenery, great food, vital old town area. I highly recommend Lijiang to anyone visiting China.
Day 8: The bus ride to Da Li took about 3 1/2 hours including the requisit stop at the government store. There we encountered the worst bathrooms of our trip, so noone gave the store even a glance as we ran for fresh air.
We met our guide, Shirley, on the outskirts of town at the Bai Nationalities Villiage. THere we took in a very hokey show that culminated with myself and some others from our group being pulled up on stage to dance with the performers. We all left with a smile on our faces.
The highlights of our stay in Dali were a cruise on Erhai lake to a fishing village and the Ancient Town section, which was similar to Lijiang Old Town. The hotel, Landscape Hotel, was our favorite of the trip. Very asian in every aspect. There were signs in the rooms apologizing for the dim lighting, Dali was experiencing an energy shortage and the hotel was running on generators. Those of us who wanted to read made use of the flashlights we had packed.
to be continued...
Today we went to the Stone Forest. Our bus driver, Mr. Lee, was a frustraded Indy car driver. The ride to the Forest was frantic. Mr. Lee would pass other cars and trucks with no notion at all of oncoming traffic. Pretty scary on a 2 lane mountain road. The Stone Forest was incredible. The hike thru there was amazing, not only for the rock formations, but for the variety of people visiting. Many different minorities dressed in traditional costumes. It was a very colorful experience. We drove thru minority villages on the way back and although we all enjoyed this day, Kunming is just a big city.
Day 6: This morning we were up early for our flight to Lijiang. This segment of the trip was the best. Lijiang is a wonderful town. THe climate is exceptional, very moderate all year round. It is at the end of the Himalayan Mountain Range, and the scenery is breathtaking. Our hotel, Shiner Hotel, was located directly across the street from the locals market, filled with produce, a large butcher tent, fishmongers with fish swimming in buckets, and general merchandise. We skipped the hotel breakfest and bought baked goods, fried bread and dim sum from outdoor vendors.
The "Old TOwn" are of Lijiang is really terrific, loaded with shops, restaraunts, bars, etc. There is a big public square where senior citizens converge to do Tai Chi, folk dancing, and just milling around. Most were minority villiagers in traditional garb.
Alot of Lijiang was leveled in an earthquake in the early 90's. The rebuilding was done with the original architecture and is really beautiful. THere is alot of construction in the Old Town area, with new shops moving in. When we were there, an "OShKosh" store was just opening. This was the only western influence we saw in Lijiang. One sour note, I bought a cf card for my digital camera in old town and when I got back to the hotel late that night, the box was empty.
Day 7: Today we went to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We stopped along the way to have our picture taken with Yaks. THis cost 5 yuan plus 10 yuan for a digital photo. At the base of the cable (skilift) to get to 10,500 feet we encountered our favorite translation of the trip. The sign read:
"Honorific passenger, this stands the sincerity hints to you: For guaranteeing your embark the safety, please in embark put at morn chair." What they meant to say is anybody's guess.
Snow mountain is beautiful. Above the tree line there is snow year round, also a glacier. The lift gets you to 10,500 feet and you can hike up further if desired. 4 of us went on and were not sorry we did. I am unsure how much higher we ascended, but the air sure was thin up there.
We did many things with our 2 days in Lijiang. This is a town I could easily live in. Beautiful scenery, great food, vital old town area. I highly recommend Lijiang to anyone visiting China.
Day 8: The bus ride to Da Li took about 3 1/2 hours including the requisit stop at the government store. There we encountered the worst bathrooms of our trip, so noone gave the store even a glance as we ran for fresh air.
We met our guide, Shirley, on the outskirts of town at the Bai Nationalities Villiage. THere we took in a very hokey show that culminated with myself and some others from our group being pulled up on stage to dance with the performers. We all left with a smile on our faces.
The highlights of our stay in Dali were a cruise on Erhai lake to a fishing village and the Ancient Town section, which was similar to Lijiang Old Town. The hotel, Landscape Hotel, was our favorite of the trip. Very asian in every aspect. There were signs in the rooms apologizing for the dim lighting, Dali was experiencing an energy shortage and the hotel was running on generators. Those of us who wanted to read made use of the flashlights we had packed.
to be continued...
Apr 23rd, 2005 | 07:46 AM
#6
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Joined: Oct 2003
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Day 9: Our morning in Dali was spent at the 3 pagodas temple followed by a leisurly stroll thru wonderful old town Dali. We got hung up at a tea shop for a while and then had lunch at an outdoor cafe where the owner's dog begged at the table. Some of our group fed the dog, much to the dismay of my sister, a veterinarian. We said good bye to Shirley and flew to Xishuanbana.
Xishuanbana is another wonderful town. We got in in late afternoon and David greeted us at the airport. He hustled us off to The Nationalities Custom Park and Water Splashing simulated festival, which was a riot. Xishuanbana is in the sub-tropical region of China and the water splashing looked like a great way to cool off. The White Pagoda Temple was beautiful.
Our hotel here was Tai Garden Hotel.
Day 10: collectively our favorite day of the entire trip. We took a long drive along the MeiKong River, stopping along the way at temples and minority villiages. David offered us an optional trip down the river on bamboo rafts. We all decided to opt in on this and I cannot recommend it enough.
THe bamboo rafts are basically about 10 pieces of large bamboo tied together. 4 persons per raft with 2 paddlers. Our paddler in front was a young man who had a lovely voice and he serenaded us down the river with the help of the lovely female paddler in the rear of the raft. We sat percariously balanced on bamboo benches. Along the way, we stopped at a minority villiage for a snack of grilled snails, pork, tofu, bananas and tamarind. We stopped further along the way for a sample of very potent rice wine, and later we saw bathing beauties in the river.
At the end of our river cruise we departed for the Menglun Botanical Garden. This is a wonderful sub-tropical garden, beautifully maintained. We had a few gardeners on our trip and were all delighted to see all of the plants which are houseplants in Michigan, growing wild and lush here. There were butterflies everywhere.
We departed the garden and headed back to the town for our flight back to Kunming.
Day 11:We are back in Kunming for 1 day to begin the downside of our trip back to Hong Kong. We had a nice day visiting Dragon Gate and Golden Temple at the top of the city. A long walk up alot of stairs, but worth the climb. The "birds-eye view" was worth the climb.
We fly back to Guangzhou today and are supposed to spend the next 2 days there, but our memories from the beginning of the trip have soured us on Guangzhou. It has been decided that we will fly back to Guangzhou, spend 1 night as we get in really late, and hie it out of town early the next morning on the 8:30 train for Hong Kong. Since I have already spent 3 days in Hong Kong at the beginning of the trip I am excited to get back there and spend more time walking aroung and shopping.
This is the end of the China trip. I have posted the Hong Kong segment seperatly. We are excitedly planning our next trip to China, but sadly that won't be for 4 years.
For anyone who wants to see a different side of CHina, I strongly recommend Lijiang, Dali, Xishuanbana followed by Guilin and Yangshou. I am dreaming of Lijiang and can't wait to return.
Lynnnie
Xishuanbana is another wonderful town. We got in in late afternoon and David greeted us at the airport. He hustled us off to The Nationalities Custom Park and Water Splashing simulated festival, which was a riot. Xishuanbana is in the sub-tropical region of China and the water splashing looked like a great way to cool off. The White Pagoda Temple was beautiful.
Our hotel here was Tai Garden Hotel.
Day 10: collectively our favorite day of the entire trip. We took a long drive along the MeiKong River, stopping along the way at temples and minority villiages. David offered us an optional trip down the river on bamboo rafts. We all decided to opt in on this and I cannot recommend it enough.
THe bamboo rafts are basically about 10 pieces of large bamboo tied together. 4 persons per raft with 2 paddlers. Our paddler in front was a young man who had a lovely voice and he serenaded us down the river with the help of the lovely female paddler in the rear of the raft. We sat percariously balanced on bamboo benches. Along the way, we stopped at a minority villiage for a snack of grilled snails, pork, tofu, bananas and tamarind. We stopped further along the way for a sample of very potent rice wine, and later we saw bathing beauties in the river.
At the end of our river cruise we departed for the Menglun Botanical Garden. This is a wonderful sub-tropical garden, beautifully maintained. We had a few gardeners on our trip and were all delighted to see all of the plants which are houseplants in Michigan, growing wild and lush here. There were butterflies everywhere.
We departed the garden and headed back to the town for our flight back to Kunming.
Day 11:We are back in Kunming for 1 day to begin the downside of our trip back to Hong Kong. We had a nice day visiting Dragon Gate and Golden Temple at the top of the city. A long walk up alot of stairs, but worth the climb. The "birds-eye view" was worth the climb.
We fly back to Guangzhou today and are supposed to spend the next 2 days there, but our memories from the beginning of the trip have soured us on Guangzhou. It has been decided that we will fly back to Guangzhou, spend 1 night as we get in really late, and hie it out of town early the next morning on the 8:30 train for Hong Kong. Since I have already spent 3 days in Hong Kong at the beginning of the trip I am excited to get back there and spend more time walking aroung and shopping.
This is the end of the China trip. I have posted the Hong Kong segment seperatly. We are excitedly planning our next trip to China, but sadly that won't be for 4 years.
For anyone who wants to see a different side of CHina, I strongly recommend Lijiang, Dali, Xishuanbana followed by Guilin and Yangshou. I am dreaming of Lijiang and can't wait to return.
Lynnnie
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Apr 26th, 2005 | 08:17 AM
#10
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Joined: Oct 2003
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The agency we used is DH Travel, aka CHina Supreme Harmony Travel. Their web site is ccits.net. The fellow we have used exclusivly (SP) on the 3 trips is Mr. Rush Zhou. No complaints at all, everything was as promised. Good Luck and have a wonderful trip.
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