The long anticipated National Holiday vacation blog is finally here – Better late than never right? I’m splitting it into a couple days at a time so that I can add optimal pictures for your enjoyment! Ok, so here it goes…. October 1 we flied out of Shanghai and arrived in Guilin, located in the Guangxi province of southern China. After a surprising nice flight with China Southern Airlines (arguable the nicest and best travel experience I’ve come across) we made it to Backstreet Youth Hostel, conveniently located directly across from the beginning of shopping stalls and booths galore! The first night there we walked around a little, did some shopping, had dinner, and went to bed early in order to be well rested for what the rest of the week had to bring!
Saturday was a day of hiking and exploring! We (Blair, Tricia, Camden and I) woke up at 5:30 and caught a bus to our first destination, Ping-An Village. Once we finally arrived, it was around 11:00 so we grabbed a quick lunch of local dishes consisting of bamboo chicken (not something we will ever order again) rice, and veggies before beginning our 4 hour hike from Ping-An to Dazhi through the most amazing and beautiful rice terraces ever! We followed signs to “Nine Dragons and Five Tigers” and by signs I mean there were a total of 2! Along the way we were chased and followed by Yao Village women (scary long haired women that insist on showing you the way and then expect payment for their services to tell you to continue going straight…) as well as scary roosters (one of which who succeeded in biting Camden while the rest of us screamed and ran away! – good thing we were prepared with a first aid kit!) So after a long and quite eventful hiking excursion (to say the least) we made it Dazhi Village and Minority Youth Hostel where we stayed the night. This was definitely not a hostel I would recommend or ever even think about returning for a second stay. It was very cheap (about $6 a person/night) but I guess you pay for what you get…. BUGS, a toilet that doesn’t flush, and a freezing cold room without heat…)
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