Thoughts on Leaving China
Today I left Yangshuo for Hong Kong via Guilin (city and airport). I’ll miss the cheap eating … up to two big beers and three ice creams per day:
- A 600 ml beer is CNY5 (about EUR0.50) for locals and 2-3 times the price for tourists. There’s now a good choice apart from the famous Tsingtao … there’s one called Li Quan (or just Li Q) … its nice without any bitter after-taste or too much head. But then I’ve been told I haven’t got much taste in beer.
- While I love my red-bean ice creams, I’ve tried other varieties. There’s a mung-bean and a tea one which are nice too. Magnums are CNY5 here which is about the third of the price in New Zealand but are bit smaller … they are pricey by local standards as many varieties are only CNY2.
China is modernising very quickly but scratch the surface, it is still very traditional … in my hotel the bar is very funky and serve cocktails with names like C*cksucking Cowboy and Sexy Thailand Girl … they have pretty young waitresses but it is still the old grandma that collects the cash!
Remind me not to be stingy with bikes next time … I got mine for CNY10 (EUR1) per day … it had a very hard seat (ouch!) … prices go up to CNY30 and CNY40 per day. I don’t know the technical differences apart from some Shimano gears … but I did notice the seats are softer 🙂
Getting back to Hong Kong
I had a morning massage in Yangshuo before leaving. For a change I opted for a Thai one. It felt like their normal massage with some decent twisting motions.
After a crispy bacon and cheese pizza, I took a bus to Guilin and then a short over-priced taxi to the airport. I was at the airport about 4h prior to my departure to Hong Kong on a short Dragonair flight.
In Hong Kong I took the bus to Mirador Mansion on Nathan Road where many budget guesthouses are located. The bus is about a third the price of the train and actually faster. The train itself is very fast, but one needs to connect to the shuttles to get to one’s hotel. And those shuttles are slow and go round-and-round doing drop-offs.