Day 13, 29 April Yangshuo
We had another early start and took the bus for the roughly two hour journey to Yangshuo. The scenery was really spectacular with the Karst hills all around. They are limestone hills formed by earthquakes in Prehistoric times and are only around 600 feet high. Since limestone is soft it has eroded into interesting shapes, mostly the conical hills seen in many Chinese paintings. As we drove, Heather told us about her life. She is a recent convert to Buddhism and spoke enthusiastically about that lifestyle. She also told us that Chinese don’t keep animals because they don’t believe that the country can support the huge population as well as non working animals. Water buffalo work in the rice paddies, so they are valuable, but we only saw a couple of dozen cows on all our travels. The main source of meat is chickens and ducks, but rice and vegetables provide the bulk of the Chinese diet.
Our next stop was lunch, then we went to a market for some free time to shop. It was pouring with rain by this time and we got very wet, but it was fun exploring the marke
Luckily we checked in to our hotel, the Jasper, before dinner so we could change our wet clothes. From dinner we headed to an outdoor theatre by the river where we watched a light show called Illusions. It was choreographed by the creator of the Beijing Olympic Games opening ceremonies. The surrounding mountains were illuminated at times to provide a backdrop for the almost 600 actors who moved around on boats, poled by local fishermen. The boats were in darkness while the actors were illuminated so it seemed they were floating. Local minority cultures were featured, in colourful costumes, with adults and children singing and moving to the music. It is hard to explain, but it was a true spectacle unlike anything I have seen before. The show lasted an hour and a half, and we learned that it is performed twice every night and three times in the high season. The show designer was responsible for the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Rain ponchos were handed out for the show, but luckily we did not need them.
Day 14, April 30. Guilin
This morning we took our bus back to Guilin, where we stopped at the Botanical Gardens for a tour. We encountered a group of elementary school children who were anxious to try out their English. ‘I am happy boy. You happy too?’
Next was lunch, then a factory visit. We saw how tea is grown and processed - they use the old style hand made way - then we took part in the traditional Chinese tea tasting ceremony. It was not as elaborate as the Japanese way, but a very personable young man did the honours and we tasted four different qualities and types of tea. He was rather dismissive of black, or as he called it red, tea and tea bags are not worth considering. After the tasting we had a chance to buy tea. Their offerings were very expensive but a few people bought for gifts.
We then headed to Elephant Trunk Hill, to see the hill shaped like an elephant drinking from the river. We had a young guide there who spoke little English, but Heather translated. The gardens were very attractive with more flowers than the Botanical Gardens which had mainly trees and shrubs.
Our flight to Shanghai was at 10:20, so after dinner we went to the airport. Once there we found that the flight was delayed about half an hour, so we had quite a long wait. We flew with Juneyeo Airlines on a plane that seemed older than the other internal flights we have taken. It was after 1 am when we arrived in Shanghai, where we were met by our new guide, Jane, and taken to the Wyndham Bund East Hotel. It was three am before we were settled in our very comfortable rooms, so we had no trouble falling asleep!
Day 15, May 1 Shanghai
We didn’t begin our tour until ten am, so we had a reasonable amount of sleep. We had a good breakfast then set off to see Shanghai. We looked around the Bund Area then head to take a cruise on the Hangpo river. It was amazing to see how much building has been done since our last visit in 2006. Pudong especially has grown up and out, but many areas of old homes and businesses have disappeared in the Old City to be replace by high rises. We had a really good view from the river. The boat trip lasted about an hour and a half, then we then went to Pudong for lunch.
A short visit to Nanjing Road was next. It was very crowded because May 1 is a public holiday (Labour Day). We wandered around but didn’t do any shopping. People watching was fun.
Next we went to the market near the Yuyan Gardens. It was unbelievably crowded. Crossing the bridge was almost impossible, but we followed Jane with her blue flag. Chris found the crowds too claustrophobic so he stayed with some of the others in a coffee shop. I went to buy a kite with Kathy, John and Janet. It was quite an expedition although it lasted less than half an hour. We kept really close together and made it back to the coffee shop in time for a quick coffee before fighting our way back to the bus to go for dinner.
For a change we went to a Mongolian Restaurant, where we had a good dinner with grilled chicken and fried rice. they even served ice cream for dessert and a generous tankard of beer, We had quite a rush to get to the theatre in time for the Shanghai Acrobat Show, but our driver found a quick way and we made it to our seats with about five minutes to spare.
The show was not the same as the last one we saw on our previous visit, but was just as spectacular. The finale had six motorcycles speeding around in a metal sphere. There was a good mix of spectacle and comedy.
Back to the hotel and to bed.
Day 16, May 2 Shanghai and home
We packed our suitcases and loaded them onto the bus, then headed to the Shanghai museum. It was very crowded because it was also a public holiday. There was no charge to enter the museum, but the queue to get in was really long. We went into the shop first, then bypassed the queue by going into the museum from there. We spent a couple of hours admiring the minority costumes and ancient sculptures and pottery.
We had asked our guide, Jane, if we could take the Maglev to the airport, and she arranged for our driver to drop us at the station, then continue to the airport with our luggage. The Maglev cost 40 yuan, and took eight minutes for the journey at a maximum speed of 301Kph. We had to wait for the driver to arrive with our cases before we could check in.
Our flight to Vancouver left slightly late, but we made up the time, so we were in good time for our connection to Toronto. We were home at about 11pm.
Thoughts on the trip
The air is so polluted that we hardly saw the sun. We had lots of rain, but it didn’t stop us having a wonderful trip.
The enormous population creates crowds everywhere. The Great Wall was particularly busy and Shanghai on a National Holiday was incredibly crowded.
Washrooms do not provide toilet paper - we had to carry our own. Many are not very clean, and we were lucky to find Western style, most were squats.
The cruise ship was quite unlike an ocean going vessel ,but was clean and comfortable. We had the basic category of cabin but it was spacious and had a balcony. The food was served buffet style and was adequate, but not exciting. We never went hungry, but on the whole tour the food was rather bland. It was as if they were attempting to adapt Chinese food to what they thought Westerners liked. We would have preferred some spicy dishes.
We are generally independent travellers and this was the first time we had taken a guided tour. It was very intensive, but we saw the places we had hoped to see in a stress free way. The others in our group added to the experience. When we began, we were strangers, but by the end we were a group of friends. I’m not sure if I would take a guided tour again, but for a country like China it provided an efficient and economical way to travel.
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