The Many Adventures of Ashley Rae: Holiday in Guilin

If you've ever been to China, you've likely heard of a lovely little place down south called Guilin. For our May Day holiday, we decided to venture to Guilin for a couple days. We were super excited because we had all wanted to go to Guilin and we were lucky enough to be placed in the city (of all the cities contracted with CH) closest to Guilin. You've already read about the adventure on the train to Guilin, so I'll begin my tale with the taxi.

When we exited the train station we were swarmed by bus drivers, taxi drivers, go kart drivers (okay, not really, but a ton of drivers nonetheless). We had already decided to go for the public bus because our hostel provided directions and we knew it was the cheapest option. But we stumbled upon an older-ish couple who were having trouble getting a taxi that didn't cost an arm, leg, and full head of hair. We started realized we were going to the same hostel, so we decided to just split the cost of a taxi and ride with them. What should have only been a 10 minute max drive took over 30 minutes, and the 12 yuan trip cost us 50 total. But, the couple is from New Zealand and we had quite a pleasant conversation covering topics as vast as the Spice Girls and Scottish food.

When we arrived at our hostel, Ming Palace International Youth Hostel, I fell in love instantly. It was filled with wood furniture, wood panels, wood floors...and it smelled like a forest. What I didn't love so much was that the ceiling in the lobby leaked and it took over 5 hours for our room to be ready. But, we were in Guilin, a dream vacation destination, so we really had no reason to complain. So we dropped off our bags in the luggage room and went out to explore. We quickly realized that our dream vacation would somewhat turn sour. The area had received a TON of rain the past few days and the river was overflowing and moving extremely fast. Some of the streets close to the river were also flooded, sidewalks were flooded. And most of the tourist attractions were flooded. But we were determined to not let any of this deter our fun.

We started walking through a mall like area that had quite a few fun looking shops. There were a ton of restaurants too. Then an extremely kind (cue red flag) man approached us and started asking us questions and talking to us and telling us all these wonderful stories. He was so grateful for us being English teachers and hoped we loved China and would tell our friends to come to China and all about his small village and tea farm and how he is teaching his whole village English and yada yada yada. When we told him we had to go buy our river raft tickets, he offered to show us to the closest ticket office. So we agreed. He then led us down an alley (cue second red flag) and then out into a pavilion and then into the office. In all honesty, I wasn't worried about his guy at all. I didn't think he was trying to scam us. The tickets were slightly less expensive than at our hostel so we decided to buy them. He then took us back to his tea shop, let us sample some very tasty tea, and wasn't even too mad or pushy when we wouldn't buy any.

Back to the hostel to finally check-in where we are informed all river rafts were cancelled due to the weather and the river being unsafe. Our dear tea farmer friend must have forgotten to mention that. Back to the ticket office, but no such luck on a refund, until we call our superhero liaison Daisy. She talked to the lady at the office and we finally learned that if in fact the river was still closed the next day, we would receive a refund. All was right in the world again.

And now a random interjection about our roommate Michael. Cate didn't come to Guilin and there was an empty bed in our 4 bed room at the hostel. Introducing Michael: a mid-20s year old European (I never did ask where he was from) who we rarely saw. He was always super nice though. We usually were in bed by the time he got back though I was still awake and he would joke with me how we sleep so early. Though I don't know much about Michael, I know he doesn't sleep much. Oh, and he wears cute, tight and white skivvies with cartoon characters. That's really all I wanted to share about Michael.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Guilin and walking around the endless pavilions, lakes, gardens, and along the river. As can be expected in a tourist location, everything was SO MUCH MORE expensive than Guiyang. We didn't end up paying to go into any of the major touristy spots because it was too much. But while we were exploring this time, we were approached by another very kind man (third red flag) who told us all about his small village and tea farming family and how he is trying to educate his small village. Been there, heard that, moving on.

The next morning, the ticket office lady came to our hostel and gave us our money back because the river was still unsafe. The river trip was supposed to take us to Yangshou, a town not too far from Guilin that is also very beautiful and touristy. Because we couldn't take the river, we decided to take a bus there. This was by far my favorite part of the trip. Yangshou was so beautiful and we were able to climb up some of the mountain/hills and could over look the city and river and surrounding mountains. It was extremely beautiful and peaceful and I felt so free. We decided to eat at a more "western" style restaurant since we were on vacation and you can only have rice so many times without wanting something different. So of course I got noodles. And a coffee milkshake!! I was so excited for my coffee milkshake. It was in an old fashioned style glass and everything and it was so deliciously hot. You heard me, hot. A hot milk shake. I guess they quite literally meant milk shake. Like coffee and milk....and then they shook it. Like shake shake shake, your booty. But not your booty...my coffee and milk. It was still good, just not exactly...well not at all what I wanted. There were also a ton of street stalls and shops and stores so I did a little shopping (yay scarves!) and then we settled on a bench to play cards before we took the bus back. Playing cards in public is one of my favorite things to do in China. You should see the crowds that gather around us while we play! Usually just the grandpas are out at the tables playing (or the younger guys gambling!) but it's so funny to see the questioning looks and the cameras come flying out whenever we play.

All in all, it was a nice vacation. It wasn't what I expected but I wouldn't change a thing. And beside, I now have an excuse to go back since I didn't get to go down the river. Guilin, until we meet again.