This year 2008 I had dive at Similan and Perhentian Island. I had climbed Mount Kinabalu for the second time with a bunch of adventure people and also try my first experience on gunung above 2000m call 'Gunung Batu Putih' at peninsula. It was a great adventure and exciting journey through 2008.
Before the year end, I guess my most interesting trip would be my backpacking trip at Guilin, China.
Time flies and age catching up BUT adventure still carry on through the new year 2009. I can't wait to welcome the new year as I have 2 planned trip to Manado and Chiangmai. It would be a very exciting backpacking trip as well with diving and adventure.
Stay tune.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Adventure Backpacking @ Guilin, China
We had planned this trip 4 months ago when Air Asia opens its new route to Guilin, China and it is also my first trip to China. I choose Guilin as my first destination to China is because Guilin has the most beautiful scenery that I love very much. We booked a 1 week backpacking trip for Guilin from 5th November to 12th November 2008. It was an exciting adventure with some trekking and cycling around Guilin.
Here is my Guilin Travelogue:
5th Nov – We took a early flight at 6:20am to guilin and reach Guilin at around 10am. It was not that cold at Guilin when we reach where the temperature is around 18 to 20 degree but the worst is the rain. Its rain the whole day since we reach Guilin and it was a wet day for our first day at Guilin. I didn’t have a umbrella and raincoat with me. The rain and wind chill make us cold and I brought a RMB5 umbrella for a little rain protection. Trust me!! A umbrella or raincoat are very handy during the rainy season for backpacking trips.
We stay at Guilin Riverside Hostel that cost us USD$9 per person per night and the room are clean and average but you can get cheaper room at Guilin easily. Our first day are just a Guilin city tour.
6th Nov – Second day at Guilin will be a adventure route as we will be heading to Yangshuo by local bus transport. Bus terminal are all in Chinese character and lucky I have 2 friends that can read and the others are English educated. So we brought a bus ticket that cost us RMB15 to reach Yangshuo. The journey took us about 1 hour to reach the beautiful town of Yangshuo that surrounded by hills and rivers. After struggling looking for hostel at Yangshuo with some sweats and research.
Finally we choose 7th Heaven hostel for a night stay for RMB100. I would rate this hostel a very good hospitality and also very friendly with clean room as well. Warning!! the balcony room might flood during the rainy season. We took our quick lunch without wasting time as we are rushing for some cycling adventure because it was a beautiful sunny day for our second day trip.
We cycle to Moon hill and visited Big Banyan tree. It was a very adventure cycling for our second day at Yangshuo. At night, we try a weird dish beer fish and also had a little shopping at West street. Overall food experience at Guilin are not that great.
7th Nov – It was raining in the morning on our third day. We can’t do any cycling for today and there will be some changes to our itinerary. We will be heading to visit Xingping town and try our first bamboo boat along the Li river. It suppose to be a beautiful cruise with beautiful scenery but the rain cause the whole mess. The best part of the adventure are cruising Li river with rain and cold wind chill without any beautiful scenery. Rainy day are really enough to end the day as we head home to Yangshuo. We change to a new hostel Ji Jing Ge Hostel that cost RMB60 per night and is was a good deal and I really like this hostel with basic and clean room.
8th Nov – We decided to visit Longsheng on our 4th day. We took a 3 hour LONG journey to Longsheng. We love Longsheng very much as it has a beautiful rice terrace scenery and also good food at Longsheng. We suppose to plan to stay a night a longsheng but there wasn’t any good information on the accommodation at Longsheng that make us worry.
After visiting Longsheng and there are plenty of backpackers hostel at Longsheng.
9th Nov – Our fifth day are the most exciting, adventure and beautiful highlight of the trips. There is no rain and it was a beautiful sunny day and it is really good for a whole day cycling trip down the country side of Yangshuo. We cycle toward the dragon bridge into the village and it was a really fascinating view and amazing scenery. Every stop ended with a “WOW”. We took a 2 hour bamboo rafting journey along Yulong river with our bicycle to enjoy the beautiful scenery at Yangshuo. We ended our Yongshuo trips with no regret as the last day was the most beautiful of the trip.
10th Nov – We head back to Guilin city and make our way to a cheap hotel for RMB80 for a night. We haven’t visit all the beautiful hill at Guilin. So we quickly took our lunch and visit Elephant Hill.
We spend the whole afternoon at elephant hill and enjoy the sunset and have a little snack at the river. Then we visited the beautiful pagoda at the river. As usual every night we will end up with night shopping and buying souvenir.
11th Nov – Final day of Guilin. We visited Fubo hill. We walk to Fubo hill for about 30 – 45 minutes through the morning park at Guilin. We saw many old folks dancing and doing tai chi at the park. Sometimes walking is also good to see something difference within the city. We climb to the peak of Fubo hill and finally we can see the whole Guilin city, Diecai hill and Solitary beauty peak.
After Fubo, we proceed to Red Flute Cave by little tuk tuk. The entrance to Red flute cave cost us RMB60 per person and it was not that beautiful after all except the brilliant use of lighting to light up the whole cave with different colors.
12th Nov – We reach back Kuala Lumpur at around 3:30pm.
Here is my Guilin Travelogue:
5th Nov – We took a early flight at 6:20am to guilin and reach Guilin at around 10am. It was not that cold at Guilin when we reach where the temperature is around 18 to 20 degree but the worst is the rain. Its rain the whole day since we reach Guilin and it was a wet day for our first day at Guilin. I didn’t have a umbrella and raincoat with me. The rain and wind chill make us cold and I brought a RMB5 umbrella for a little rain protection. Trust me!! A umbrella or raincoat are very handy during the rainy season for backpacking trips.
We stay at Guilin Riverside Hostel that cost us USD$9 per person per night and the room are clean and average but you can get cheaper room at Guilin easily. Our first day are just a Guilin city tour.
6th Nov – Second day at Guilin will be a adventure route as we will be heading to Yangshuo by local bus transport. Bus terminal are all in Chinese character and lucky I have 2 friends that can read and the others are English educated. So we brought a bus ticket that cost us RMB15 to reach Yangshuo. The journey took us about 1 hour to reach the beautiful town of Yangshuo that surrounded by hills and rivers. After struggling looking for hostel at Yangshuo with some sweats and research.
Finally we choose 7th Heaven hostel for a night stay for RMB100. I would rate this hostel a very good hospitality and also very friendly with clean room as well. Warning!! the balcony room might flood during the rainy season. We took our quick lunch without wasting time as we are rushing for some cycling adventure because it was a beautiful sunny day for our second day trip.
We cycle to Moon hill and visited Big Banyan tree. It was a very adventure cycling for our second day at Yangshuo. At night, we try a weird dish beer fish and also had a little shopping at West street. Overall food experience at Guilin are not that great.
7th Nov – It was raining in the morning on our third day. We can’t do any cycling for today and there will be some changes to our itinerary. We will be heading to visit Xingping town and try our first bamboo boat along the Li river. It suppose to be a beautiful cruise with beautiful scenery but the rain cause the whole mess. The best part of the adventure are cruising Li river with rain and cold wind chill without any beautiful scenery. Rainy day are really enough to end the day as we head home to Yangshuo. We change to a new hostel Ji Jing Ge Hostel that cost RMB60 per night and is was a good deal and I really like this hostel with basic and clean room.
8th Nov – We decided to visit Longsheng on our 4th day. We took a 3 hour LONG journey to Longsheng. We love Longsheng very much as it has a beautiful rice terrace scenery and also good food at Longsheng. We suppose to plan to stay a night a longsheng but there wasn’t any good information on the accommodation at Longsheng that make us worry.
After visiting Longsheng and there are plenty of backpackers hostel at Longsheng.
9th Nov – Our fifth day are the most exciting, adventure and beautiful highlight of the trips. There is no rain and it was a beautiful sunny day and it is really good for a whole day cycling trip down the country side of Yangshuo. We cycle toward the dragon bridge into the village and it was a really fascinating view and amazing scenery. Every stop ended with a “WOW”. We took a 2 hour bamboo rafting journey along Yulong river with our bicycle to enjoy the beautiful scenery at Yangshuo. We ended our Yongshuo trips with no regret as the last day was the most beautiful of the trip.
10th Nov – We head back to Guilin city and make our way to a cheap hotel for RMB80 for a night. We haven’t visit all the beautiful hill at Guilin. So we quickly took our lunch and visit Elephant Hill.
We spend the whole afternoon at elephant hill and enjoy the sunset and have a little snack at the river. Then we visited the beautiful pagoda at the river. As usual every night we will end up with night shopping and buying souvenir.
11th Nov – Final day of Guilin. We visited Fubo hill. We walk to Fubo hill for about 30 – 45 minutes through the morning park at Guilin. We saw many old folks dancing and doing tai chi at the park. Sometimes walking is also good to see something difference within the city. We climb to the peak of Fubo hill and finally we can see the whole Guilin city, Diecai hill and Solitary beauty peak.
After Fubo, we proceed to Red Flute Cave by little tuk tuk. The entrance to Red flute cave cost us RMB60 per person and it was not that beautiful after all except the brilliant use of lighting to light up the whole cave with different colors.
12th Nov – We reach back Kuala Lumpur at around 3:30pm.
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