THE SOUTH
by Tam Chiwai, HK (March 00)
Note from Passplanet : This section is a contribution from a backpacker (hence the different presentation) and includes a number of localities along an itinerary running from Beihai in Guangxi Province to magnificent Yuan Yang in Yunnan Province . This area see few backpackers so an adventurous spirit and some time ahead are recommended. Apparently, it is worth the little effort !
Beihai by Tam Chiwai
Comments ? Beaches in China are not the same
as in Thailand, so don't expect too much. There is not much to see in Beihai.
Unless if you are heading to Hainan Island or are desperate for a swim, I think it's not worth the effort.
How to reach ? There is a bus from Guilin everyday at 21:00, RMB 138, take 7 hrs, a very clean
bus. The only disadvantage is you arrive at 4am. But the day in Beihai start very early or can I say…it end pretty late??!! You will still find people in the
street and food stand outside the bus station. You got a good chance to see the real life of the
city. In Bei Bu Wen square, you will see hundred people practicing martial arts already, while the day get brighten
up. People go to work or school and the city get real busy.
Where to stay ? There are 2 bus stations on Bei Bu Wen road. In between there are many guest house which they don't mind taking foreigners. Just go, ask and take your pick. Price around RMB 15-30 for a room.
The beaches ? Silver beach is about 15 mins
from town, bus no.3 will get you there. Couple of guest house there, but since transports are quite
frequent, better stay in town and check out the night life. There is an entrance fee for the beach RMB 15.
/ There is another beach on the other end, bus no.5 will get you there in 15
mins. Free entrance, beach is ok, has a food street at night, quite develop, many hotels around.
Tip ? You can buy a bus card if you plan to stay a bit longer and use a
lot of bus. You won't need to keep a lot of coins and with card they charge less for each ride.
At night ? Bei Bu Wen square seem to be the hot spot at night. You will see old people sing Chinese opera there, young people sing karaoke in the
cafe on the other side,... Night market is around the corner, very busy. / For sea food, walk or take
a taxi to the sand island on the water front in the evening. Many restaurant will suit your taste.
E-mail ? Go to the telecom office, RMB 10/hr.
How to leave ? Boat to Hainan island everyday at 18:00. Bus no.2 will get you to the
Harbour. / Same Harbour to Wai Zhuo island, take off at 08:30 & return
at 15:00 the same day (RMB19 for 3rd class, RMB21 for 2nd class, one way). You can stay at the island if you want, couple of local hotel charge RMB 20/bed, turn right from the
Harbour along the only street. Not much to talk about here, a volcanic island but you won't feel much of a volcano, only sight is an old cathedral about 7 km from town, you can walk or take a tuk
tuk. Cheng Tang is a small stone village, all the house are build with big
stones. The cathedral is a mini scale model of Notre Dame of Paris, it look funny with all those Chinese writing on the wall. You can visit
inside for RMB 5.
Backpacker's Tips :
Mark Rowlatt, UK (Dec 03)
« The harbours (& there are at
least 6 of them!!) are extremely photogenic. Jammed to the gills with beaten-up,
battered old boats & the water-side streets inhabited by various propeller
makers, potters, boat & ship-builders, coal merchants &, of course, sea-food
processors. Very friendly people & take lots of film!! If you happen to be
around Guilin or Yangshuo, one of the English maps of Guangxi you can buy there
has a big map of Beihai which will really help you get around. Bus No 3 (Y1/2
ordinary/a/c) goes to Silver Beach. From there, a walk west will take you to
another slightly remoter beach & on to a harbour absolutely jam-packed with
rickety old boats next to what looks like an abandoned holiday camp!! There's
also a harbour & lots of activity just north of the main bus stations. Going
rate for a basic room is now about Y30-40.»
Shangsi by Tam Chiwai
Comments ?
A pleasurable little town to stop over between Beihai & Ningming. They do have some sight around the area, like an hot spring, couple of waterfalls & a forest park, but it will involve a lot of transport and leg
work since it's still not developed for tourism. If you do have time, go for it
! There is only 1 main street in town, full of food stand at night, interesting market at day time.
How to reach ? One bus a day at 06:30 from Bei Hai, RMB 22, take 6hrs. If you miss this bus, take
a bus to Qinzhou. From there many bus to Shangsi.
Where to stay ? Opposite the bus station on the right, Renmin
Fandian, RMB16 for a room
Backpacker's Tips :
Mark Rowlatt, UK (Dec 03)
« Shangsi is also known as Shiwan.
Forest Park is about 35kms from Shangsi. You can get there by taking a minibus
from behind the market. (Turn right outside the bus station & walk 10 mins to
where you see lots of tuk-tuks. Turn right here down the side-street & walk
through the market to the other side. On the opposite side of the road
diagonally left is a small minibus station. The drivers will ask Y50 for a
charter, so just wait for others to show up. The minibus serves the villages en
route, so you shouldn't have to wait long.) They go when full (8 people) & it
costs Y5. There are now 2 brand new hotels at the park; Y50 dorm bed, Y80 to 250
for single/doubles. Entry fee to the park is Y20 & there are loads of trails,
some of them requiring overnight camping for which you need a permit from the
park office.
Buses from Qinzhou cost Y8 & take about 1 hour. To Chongzuo, there are buses
about every 2 hours till early afternoon (Y16, 3 hours).
Many places to stay. Turn right out of the bus station & walk about 400m. Xin
Yaun (sic) Lu Guan is about 6 or 7 doors down on the right after you cross a
side-street. Small but comfy singles with TV, fan WC & 24 hour hot water are
Y25. The Renmin Fandian is now Y20 for a big, basic double with fan & TV but
there's no shower.»
Ningming by Tam Chiwai
Comments ? A pleasurable little town with a beautiful cliff painting on the Ming river.
How to reach ? Bus from Shangsi leave at 08:40 & 13:30 , 130km, take 4hrs and charge RMB 13.5.
Where to stay ? Mei Gui hotel (??), turn left from the bus station, left again on the 1st corner, 2 mins from the
station, RMB 20/bed, but they will let you take the whole room for RMB 30, carpeted
floor, private bathroom, 24hr hot water, TV…best deal!
At night ? There are so many food stand at night, karaoke seen like the most popular thing to do here, every stand have their own karaoke like an open air concert.
What to see in the area ?
Pang Cheung
(??), at Vietnam border only 1 hr away from town, but you can forget about it.
// Hua Shan ( ??) The cliff painting was discover in 1954. Expert said it was there over 2000
years. In an over 8000m sq. area, you will see human figure, animal, musical instrument, weapon, boat…in red
color. The biggest figure is more than 3m in size. So far no one can tell for sure
the reason for those painting, some say it is for Fung Shui reason, some say it
is for worship,... Whatever, just use your own imagination. From town you take a tuk tuk to train station, get off before the station just after the bridge, on the left side of the street, there is an office will sell you boat
ticket. RMB 80/boat for whole day, it can hold up more than 4 people. The boat
depart any time you come to the office, but you have to take another tuk tuk to the landing place 5 mins from the office, where you
have to pay RMB 8 for the landind fee. While you wait for the boat, there is an hot spring nearby.
You can take a bath for free, just ask the worker at the landing place. Boat trip take 2 hrs.
The scenery along the Ming river is enjoyable, people plant the lotus leaves in the river which dot the river with many pools of
green. The fish lay their egg on the root, then the fisherman collect it back to grow in their own pool. There are no road along the Ming river, the public boat for locals will come down early in the morning to Ningming, and back up
at 1-2pm. By that time you will see that all the boat are full of people with their
purchases from the city.
Chongzuo by Tam Chiwai
Comments ? A nice little town build around
the Zuo river, good family atmosphere and a night market for food. Gui Long tower is one of the 8 leaning tower in the world.
How to reach ? Many buses from Ningming come here or you can come by train, 09:00 & 14:00, take 1 hr.
Where to stay ? Xan Jiang hotel (??) just outside the train station on your right, RMB
25/room with bath.
What to see ?
- Gui Long tower is about 2km from town. From the main road outside the hotel, turn right, walk along the road & keep to you
left. Once you come to a bridge don't cross) keep on further on the dirt road until you pass a small village & the tower will be in sight. Actually you can't get to the tower from here since there is a river in between, but the view on this side is
good. If you spot some boat on the river, give them a shout, they can take you over & after take you all the way back to town with RMB 10 out from your pocket. But how to get to the river
to catch the boat…? Cross the field & down all the way is what I did! there
is no road). The tower was build around year 1621, 28m tall with 5
storeys, about 5m in diameter. The whole tower leaning out about 1m in distance. Legend said there was a monster in the river which capsized a lot of boat and killed many people, so they build this tower to
subjugate the monster. The tower is leaning at an angle 4.26'46" to the west, on purpose, facing the on coming water
flow. For sure, it was according to their calculation. Sitting on this small hill, looking at the lovely scenery & gentle river, it's hard to imagine how this river could kill so many life long time ago. Heard that some people still come here to dig up the treasure underneath the water. You can also come to the tower by tuk tuk from another way. Entrance fee RMB 2.
- 6km outside town is a stone forest park, about 1000 acre in area, many strange looking rock, stone, cave, hole,...
A good place for a quiet day out.
- Less than 1km on the way to the leaning tower, there is a small hill on your
left. You will see a long long staircase, 337 steps all the way to the top.
Worth it. Panoramic view to the whole town and good place for sun rise and sun set.
Backpacker's Tips :
Mark Rowlatt, UK (Dec 03)
« The leaning tower is not
actually on the river but on a lake fed by it. If you want to walk to it, good
luck!! About half of the locals I asked directions of didn't know what I was
talking about &, of the half that did, half of them didn't know how to get there!!
It's a good hour first north down Xinmen Lu past the market. Just after a big,
round, white building, you climb steps up to an overhead bridge & turn right.
Follow this road over the river for about 1km into Taipeng Lu past a small park
on your right, then turn left & immediately right at the junction at the end of
the road. At the next junction, just after passing a big billboard on the right
with a picture of the leaniing tower on it, you bear right past a petrol
station. From here, it's 2kms to the 89km stone where a blue signpost points you
right 1km down a dirt road to the tower.»
Daxin by Tam Chiwai
Comments ? the reason to come here is on the way to
Petian Waterfall but they have also an old city wall which date back to year 1501. If you don't want to stay here, you can take
a bus to Xi Long (??), where you can catch a tuk tuk to Detian but you will need to start early from
Chongzuo.
How to reach ? many bus come here from Chongzuo, RMB 9 for 70km, it take 2hrs.
Where to stay ? Xan Do hotel (??) RMB 25/room, out from the bus station & turn left for 300m.
Detian by Tam Chiwai
Comments ? a very little border village with a beautiful waterfall.
How to reach ? one bus a day at 11:00 from Daxin, RMB 10 or you can take bus to Xi Long.
Where to stay ? There are only 2 places to stay in Detian, either a resort RMB 100/bed or
a local guest house RMB 25/bed. Tell the driver you want to stay at Gong Lu
Zhaodaisuo.
The waterfall ? From the GH walk up the only road a little bit, you will come to an
entrance ( where the resort locate). Entrance fee to the fall is RMB 30. The waterfall is separate into 3
states, the total height is 60m, 70m depth & 200m wide. They said it's the
biggest cross- country waterfall in Asia (so what ?) You can swim in the big pool underneath the
fall. Also some bamboo raft that you can hire to take you over to Vietnam but don't go too further inland...
Tip ? Try to eat early at night, the shop close up by 19:00, after that, the only place for food is inside the resort.
Xilong by Tam Chiwai
Comments ? a small village where you can stay instead of
Detian.
How to reach ? Only 14km from Detian. You can walk all the way along the river between Vietnam or take a tuk tuk for RMB
5 ( take 15mins)
Where to stay ? No bus station here, bus stop right at the market place, walk a little further, after a school on your right is a guest house, very basic, RMB 15/bed.
Market ? Every 2,5 & 8 date on Chinese calendar is market day.
What to see ? Out from the GH to the left about 300m, a staircase on your right will lead you up the lonely hill
( ??) where you can view the village. In fact this hill was an army post during the time China had
a conflict with Vietnam. You will find a big cave where soldier were stationed.
A stove for cooking is still there. Also if look closely around the area, you might locate some stone military watch post on top of some hill with cannon hole on the wall.
Continue the journey to Yunnan Province
(select "South-East")
