China Travel Forum

[IDLA]

Hello
I'm planning a trip to Yangzhou and Guilin for me and my parents. It would only be a 5-day visit (Nov 30-Dec 4)and I need your suggestions on where to stay...Yangzhou or Guilin...I read that the 2 are only 1.5 hours apart if travelling by bus. Also, how is the weather there in early Dec? I'm going with my parents and they are not fit to take long walks or even try bicycling...do you think the beautiful karst view and Li River boat trip would be enough to keep them happy?
Thanks a lot. And if you have more suggestions like accomodation, food trips, transpo...it would be super!
All the best

[kamal]

I have never been to Yangzhou but I love Guilin. The weather in early December is like a European "Indian Summer". The Li River tour should make you happy, the only problem in December is that the water may be so low that you have to go by minibus half or more than half of the route.
And the best part of the Li River is between Xingping and Yangshuo anyway, which you can still enjoy on a boat tour. They have small boats for around 6 people - this is much better than the big tourist Titanic cruise ships.
Despite the limited mobility of your parents I'm sure you will love the river scenery, even if they can't do the other excursions.
have fun

[IDLA]

I heard that there's not much difference between hard and softsleeper. Maybe I'd book for that. I checked travelchina and they only have the 17:45 departure arriving to Guilin at 6:37 the following day. I couldn't make an earlier reservation as I'd be coming from Macau on a free and easy tour. Do you think I would have difficulty getting the tickets if I'd be buying those on the same day?
can't wait to see part of China. It is at the top of my dream destination list.

[Tap]

Guilin isn't that busy. The river floats beautifully through the city. Pity your parents aren't fit for walks - I spent half a day strolling around in the outskirts of Guilin with the beautiful landscape, huge trees and lovely small rivers.
I saw later that you are not from Europe - a European Indian Summer is when it should have been autumn and then sudddenly the sun decides to give us some summer days again. It's very difficult for me to know how you would feel that weather condition - coming from Norway I have a tendency to regard everything above 15 deg. Centigrade as summer. But at least it's dry and sunny in Guilin in December.

[naftra]

OK, so that's were Yangzhou is, well, then I have passed it on the boat on the Li Jiang, just didn't recognize the name. I'm sure it's a nice place, too.
Funny how we describe things differently...coming from a country with only 2 seasons then 15 deg is definitely not summer however dry it may be hehe. Anyway, thanks for the description...I now have an idea how it would be.
I read somewhere that it is possible to rent a motor vehicle in yangshou (a tricycle of some sort) so maybe we could try that.

[natasha]

It is all relative to a comparison;-)
Compared to Chongqing Guilin is small and quiet with fresh air.
Compared to Yangshuo Guilin is big, polluted and noisy;-)
But Yangzhou is an interesting city in Jiangsu province.
The question is of course about Yangshuo. I recommend 2 days in Guilin and 3 days in Yangshuo. Guilin is the Chinese tour group mecca and Yangshuo is well known for its western backpacker hangout status. In fact Chinese tour groups often include Yangshuo's "West Street" as an attraction where tourists can go gawk at foreigners. The karst scenery is why everybody goes to this area, and so the Li River boat trip will be the biggest highlight for your parents.
Guilin is famous for rice noodles. Yangshuo has the notorious banana pancakes.