Guilin … The city of hills :)

I look the clock in the railway station. The time at that time was 6:43AM.

This post is the continuation of my China trip post. Guilin was the next city that I visited after Guangzhou. I made the tagline of ‘The city of hills’ … You will find out why … 🙂

Good morning, Guilin!

The traffic in the morning …

Our hostel was located quite near the railway station. It’s still within the walking distance, so it’s a good exercise in the morning 😉 . Have I told you our hostel name? The name is WADA Hostel. Curious why the name is WADA? In the brochure they put a Bruce Lee picture, so I assumed it’s the sound of Bruce Lee when he’s in action: ‘WADAAAAAAAA!!!!’ 😀

The hostel is located inside a complex, was it a housing complex? I guess so …

It looks small if I just looked from the front side, but apparently it’s not!

Yes, the front part is small, but they are like a 2-storeys house.

The bar looks mini but attractive 😉

The receptionist area was simple but nice. Their lockers were unique. They painted  countries flag on the door of each lockers. Went further inside, there’s a bar and dining tables, billiard, and a small room to watch video.

We couldn’t check in as it’s still too early, so we just looked at their tour menu book. They works together with a tour provider, and they have some tours available. We actually wanted to take the ‘Li River Cruise tour,’ but it’s kinda too late for us, so we just took  the ‘Yang Di River Cruise.’ Yang Di River is a part of Li River.

Yesss … another river cruise … another brrrr moment 😀

So after we booked the tour, then the receptionist called the tour provider, and we just waited for them to pick us up in the hotel.

I can say that all the staff in Youth Hostel Association can speak English, so I suggest you to stay in this hotel chain so it’s easier for you if you need some information.

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The tour provider used a minibus car. Apparently he would pick up some guys to join the tour too. We picked up 4 more guys for the tour. In one of the stops, we stopped at the hostel in front of the famous elephant-trunk hill area. I told Firman that we should go there the next day, because it’s one of the icon of Guilin 🙂

The picture in the cigarette pack is from Yang Di River

The distance to Yang Di River was quite far … The tour guide, named himself KFC :D. He used the name ‘KFC’ because everyone knows it, and easier for the tourist to call him. He told us a lot about our next destination. We would see plenty of hills along the river, and sometimes the shape of the hill resembles of something. He also showed his cigarette pack with a picture that was taken from Yang Di River area.

He also promoted another river cruise that the tour provided. The river is called Yulong (Yu Long) River. He said that people like to use the river area for wedding photo shoot. And there’s a bridge in the village, where people like to jump-off from it just for fun, well in summer … not in winter haha! I guess, I wouldn’t see people jumping off from that bridge then …

On our way to Yang Di River, I was amazed with the scenery! There are sooooo many hillsss … On my left, and on my right! It’s sooo beautiful!! That’s why I called Guilin as ‘The City of Hills’ 😉

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Arrived in the village, that I supposed called Yang Di Village … There were already some bamboo boats, but it’s actually not a real bamboo, it was made from plastic because the boat used a motor engine (so it’s like a speed boat).

The plastic bamboo boat …

Imagine how cold could that be during this river cruise… haha … but luckily, there were 2 guests seating in front of us, so at least, the wind would hit them first then us (well they’re wearing a thick winter jacket anyway :D).
The tour guide was very active, first he was in our boat, then he asked the other boat driver to come closer and he jumped to the other boat. He also showed us the same scenery from the matchbox that he showed earlier. He also pointed a hill that looks like dolphin, and goat horn! He said that we need to use our imagination to interpret the hill shape (so it’s like interpreting the cloud shape :D).

Well try to guess …
1/ Look at the hill on the right … 😉

2/ How about this one … 🙂

KFC also showed us the view that is used in the cigarette pack

During our river cruise, we saw a few bigger boat passed through us. Firman said that the boat was for the Li River Cruise tour, but I found that using this bamboo boat (although made from plastic) is more fun rather than real boat haha!

We arrived at the end of the Yang Di River cruise.

We saw many tents on the land … I thought, we’re going to have lunch there 😀 … but apparently no … 😐

I thought they served buffet lunch here 😀

The cormorant birds

Then there’s a lady who talked to us in Chinese. The other guest of the tour who speaks Chinese and English helped us understand what she’s talking. She would take a picture of us while we’re holding a stick, and also wearing caping (farmer’s hat). Okay, not only a stick … There were two cormorant birds on each side of the stick.

After taking pictures, KFC pointed the hill that is called Nine Horses Fresco Hill. There are shapes of 9 horses on the hill, and if someone could see 9 of them, means they’re very smart … Hmm …

Try to spot the 9 horses from this picture 😉

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I thought our brrr moment was over already, but I forgot that we needed to go back to the place they dropped us in the beginning because the car was there. Aaakkk!!! 😀

Haha … The scenery in Yang Di River was beautiful … Can’t wait to see the scenery in Yulong river then … 😉

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Some info:
WADA HOSTEL
212 Huan Cheng Xi Yi Rd.
Guilin, Guangxi, China
541002
Tel: +86 773 215 4888
Website: http://www.wadahostel.com/en/

Yang Di River Cruise: CNY180

MY CHINA TRIP SERIES

• Hello Guangzhou … !! (Part 1)
• Hello Guangzhou … !! (Part 2)
• A River Cruise at Night in Guangzhou
• A Sleeper Train to Guilin
• Cruising on a bamboo boat in Yulong River, Guilin
• Last Night in Guilin
• One last river cruise in Guilin … 🙂
• Good bye, Guilin … 🙂

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• INSPIRED BY XINGPING (harindabama.com)