Back to Baozi
We started the day off with baozi for breakfast, it can’t be beaten in China. Whilst researching for things to do in Guilin, the most popular result was to go on a river tour. We’d not been on a river tour before (in China), so we thought this might be a good opportunity. The spot where the river tours were advertised was quite a walk away. Once we got there, we noticed a few different River Li Cruise ticket offices. The guy wasn’t interested in us at all as we were looking through the cruise book.
We decided to leave this guy and go back to another ticket office. This one had quite a few different river cruises, but they cost quite a lot. I did some research on them, and apparently a good portion of the river tour is actually driving by bus. We eventually decided on a cheaper tour that stayed in the Guilin area, rather than go down the River Li. This particular cruise was named as a 1 river & 4 lakes tour. It was reasonably priced at around ¥90 for the day tour. If you want more info on the tour, or the other tours, check it out here.
The river cruise
We bought the tickets, and then slowly made our way to the docking point. This happened to be at a nearby lake, so we waited on a little platform that extended into the lake. There were a couple of pagodas in view, so it was a nice sit down. A few elderly ladies who were taking selfies wanted us in on their photos. We’re always more than happy to oblige, had a good laugh. When the time came to it, we went to the dock. There are certain time slots, so it gets busy all of a sudden.
After a bit of confusion of what boat we were boarding (nothing seemed official) we managed to get on the boat. It was a fairly small boat/barge. Rather cramped inside with only 4 to a really small table. We eventually set off on the river tour. To be honest, I couldn’t tell you if I saw 4 lakes or not. There’s no tour guide saying this is the first lake, this is the next etc. It wouldn’t have done us any good if there was to be honest, we wouldn’t understand a word. There were a couple of scenic locations where we stopped for half an hour so everyone could get some picture perfect shots. You could either pay for this ‘professionally’ with their camera, or just wait for the commotion to die down and take your own. Of course we opted for the latter.
Slightly underwhelmed
The tour was between 1 and 2 hours long. It did tend to drag out a bit at points, especially when we were told to go inside. For what we paid I suppose we got all we could expect. It was a good way to kill some time and see some of the features of the city. I wouldn’t say it was a waste at all though. The tour ended on the River Li, at the famous Elephant Trunk Hill. Trust me, what you see on those photos are only at one particular angle. We saw it from side on, and it was a big let down. Both of us had heard and seen photos of it, but I hardly even recognised it.
After we docked, we were absolutely starving, so we hurried to the city for some grub. It didn’t take long before we found somewhere to eat. This place happened to do western food, so we took a punt on it. After a good amount of deliberation, I decided to go for a roast chicken dinner. Roast chicken accompanied by roast potatoes and vegetables. It was no Mum’s roast, but it was all right to be honest. I couldn’t resist a pudding. The chocolate cake with ice cream was calling to me. No regrets!
Time to chill
After our dinner we had a slow walk back to the hostel. As we were crossing a bridge, we were surprised to see quite a few swimmers in the River Li. The same on we had just been in. After watching people swim for a while, we carried on and reached base. I attempted to call my Indonesian friend on WhatsApp again, but struggled with the Wi-Fi. WhatsApp messaging works on Android phones, but photos/videos do not. I was using a VPN in conjunction, but this reduces the quality of the connection.
We tried to get her to use WeChat, but it’s an absolute ball ache. There are so many hoops to jump through before you can use WeChat. Eventually we had to give up on that dream. WhatsApp it was! After some time, I’d got fed up with it and just went to bed.
Tip!
Setting up users on WeChat is a nuisance. If by some miracle their account isn’t blocked straight away for random violations, then they also need to get verified by a current user. So I had to try and verify her. However, a user can only verify so many people in a certain amount of time. I had used mine up this year for friends/family to use WeChat. Cristina offered some help, but it just wouldn’t work in the end, so we stuck with WhatsApp. I’d advise trying to set this up well in advance of your trip to China. If it’s your account, then you can wait until China and ask for help from someone when you’re there i.e. phone shop.
