Hainan-Guilin-Shenzhen

Qionghai in Hainan was my ancestor's birthplace. Visiting Qionghai was like going back to my tribe - where everybody in the town speaks the dialect I could understand. I also realised that coffee and tea served with condensed milk in Malaysia and Singapore coffee shops must have originated from Hainan as nowhere else in the whole of China could I ever find that. Not to mention our chicken rice being the adapted version of the Wenchang chicken.

While in Qionghai we visited two hot springs. One had a pool for immersion and another for swimming and it cost only 30 rmb. The other in the same vicinity was more elaborate. There were many small pools of different fragrances and also a pool full of small fishes that eat away your dead skin. The hotbed was real comfortable, with the hot spring water running below the marble top. If you want to feel like an emperor you could get two masseurs to work on your head and feet at the same time while you drift away in the warmth of the hard and soothing bed.

We had planned to end the trip in Shenzhen so that the wives could do the shopping in the last two days, but the temptation started the very first day in Qionghai and the floodgate never seemed to shut all the way through the journey.

We were picked up by our taxi driver in Guilin and taken to a hotel he recommended. Apparently he could secure a cheaper rate and the saving was quite substantial. Early next morning we took the cab to Longshen and were mesmerised by the scenery. Though the padi fields were bare, the houses, the friendly people and the walk up the hill made the trip memorable. We stayed till late afternoon and were tired when we got back to Guilin.

We travelled to Yangshou in the cab, checked into a clean hotel and were on our way to Xinping. There were plenty of hotels in Yangshou and we could pick and choose. We had to be sure that hot water was available, and don't take their word for it. At the jetty in Xnping we crossed the river to hire a small bamboo raft which took us upstream and savoured the best of the Li River. The wind was biting and we were shivering from the cold but the two and half hour boat ride was totally worth the experience.

Cycling around Yangshou in the countryside was a cheap and exciting form of seeing the place for us city folks. With the guide taking us through the busy streets of the town and our not-so-expert, rusty manoeuvres of the bicycles, we managed to cover about 10 km in the bitter cold and slight drizzles, amidst the fantastic panorama of overlapping hills.

The West Street I feel is a little overrated, it does not have the feel of culture which Lijiang in Yunnan is imbued with. Two nights stay in Yangshou should suffice.

We took a flight to Shenzhen and left our heavy luggages at the airport. Having bought most of the stuffs in Qionghai, Guilin and Yangshou, and with over-weight bags to worry about, the plan of a marathon buying spree in Shenzhen fizzled out. We visited the Windows of the World instead and were duly impressed by everything we saw and the show was great. Shenzhen was brimming with great food and whichever way we turned we could find something to our liking. One obvious result of our trip was the two to three kgs added on to our already expanded bodies that we swore to a strict diet when we return home.

In case anybody needs a driver in Guilin we would like to recommend Mei Shifu who is very reasonable, at phone number 13978329138. Unfortunately he doesn’t speak English.

All in all it was a delightful trip, without tour guides to induce us into buying from the designated "black" shops. Qionghai was like home, Guilin and Yangshou heaven, and Shenzhen gourmet paradise.

[Trip was from Dec 4 – 13 2006]