Well, it's been a little warmer here than Beijing, but also very very wet!
Our arrival didn't go too well either. For the second time in two months, Tony's bag never made it. Thankfully the airline delivered it to our hostel the next afternoon. Hopefully this will be the last time our bags go missing!
Guilin doesn't really offer much, the sites it does have, an extortionate entry fee is charged. We walked along the river and as w approached a rock where a natural hole has formed and as such it resembles an elephant drinking from the water, our path ended and we were forced to leave the area. We found that hoarding had been erected so you couldn't see anything!! If you did want to, you pay a £6 entry!! Imagine that back home. A day in the Lakes or the Dales would cost you a fortune! It certainly makes you realise how lucky we are back home.
We were only using Guilin as our base to head to the Longji rice terraces. We arrived yesterday in absolutely pouring rain and even with waterproof trousers, jacket and rain poncho, we were still wet.
There is a walk you can do from Dazhai to Ping'an which takes around five hours, if you know the way! The map provided in LP, in the park and which we'd found on line, weren't detailed at all. As soon as we left the lookout points that Chinese tourists visit once they've stepped off the cable car- yes, another scenic spot that has a cable car to allow easy access, the signage stopped.
Where our map showed one path, there were four to choose from which would then lead to another split in the path. I'm useless at map reading and have little sense of direction so I blindly follow Tony, which never worries me as he always gets us to where we need to go. This time though I could tell he was losing patience and confidence, and we were heading further into rice terraces, mist coming in and darkness approaching. Data roaming was turned on and Google maps consulted. We looked too far north of the next village we were heading to, although the rice terraces could curve around which would lead us in the right direction. Still, even reaching that we had another two hour walk onto our final destination and we didn't know if the next village would have lodgings.
Soaked to the bone we had no option but to double back for a few miles or face an evening sheltering under a rock.
We headed back to the last village we had come through and seen a YHA. It turned out to be, without a doubt, the worst place we have stayed on our travels and probably in all my years of travelling. The room smelt of mould and sewage, it was a squat toilet, the bedding was damp, no soap or shower gel were provided, no clothes pegs to hang our wet clothes to dry, the staff unhelpful and the food had to be sent back. £12.50. It was marginally better than spending the night in the field.
On the plus side it had wifi which we used to great effect. We decided we definitely needed some R&R and sunshine and so changed our travel itinerary and booked a flight to Southern Thailand for five days cabbaging by a pool and beach. Some sunshine, a bit of luxury, a few Singha's or Chang's and some hot and spicy Thai food will revitalise us for Vietnam and the rest of our travels. We both are feeling exhausted after 19 weeks on the go.
We're now on a mini van heading back to Guilin to collect our luggage and catch another bus onto Yangshou. The weather forecast suggests sunshine and 9 degrees for the next few days so we plan to get out cycling and walking through the countryside. We have also booked somewhere to stay that looks great and it's the same price as the awful YHA.
The rain didn't stop at all last night and it's more torrential this morning than it was yesterday. Last night we made the decision after talking to the other hostel guest, not to continue to Ping'an. She'd also got lost during the day, met some people who walked from Ping'an who said it wasnt easy and the hostel said there were no direct buses back to Guilin and we would have to go to Longshen and change. This would have meant getting back to Guilin either late tonight or even tomorrow, reducing our time in Yangshou so, feeling slightly defeated, we booked our bus tickets for this morn, from the same spot we got dropped off yesterday lunch. Looking at the weather though, we definitely made the right decision.
The photos we have seen of the rice terraces in all four seasons are spectacular. Ours look a little dismal but I'm still really glad I've seen them and up until around 3pm yesterday when it became apparent that finding our way really was a challenge, I was enjoying being in the countryside, away from crowds of people, not breathing in pollution and just generally being surrounded by nature. Even though it was pouring down and we'd paid a tenner each entry fee!
Next stop, Yangshou and better weather, hopefully.