Travels with Kathryn

Its 7pm on Monday and I am writing this at Kashi airport having just waved off my group and am now officially on my own – I feel a little bereft.

Anyway, I am getting slightly ahead of myself. Today was my last day of the tour and “officially” the tour ends after breakfast. Lets put it this way, I did not get up for breakfast. I had a nice lie in and then a bit later in the morning headed out for a mango yogurt and my last explore of the old town:

So, as I said previously the old town has all been rebuilt, however, the photos above are from the oldest part of the town which is now the residential area and you could actually see ino people’s houses – effectively these fronts are original (although have been theme-parked up) but modern houses sit behind.

I had lunch and my tour leader Spike did his last act of leadership in that he led me to the shop that sells frozen mango smoothies. I have been searching for this shop for the past 3 days, others had been and reported on the quality of said beverages, I was finally pointed it out last night and it was closed, but today, my time had come and for the princely sum of £2 I was able to consume one:

Now on my own, I have some time to reflect on this trip and in particular the Uygur Autonomous Region. I am pleased I was able to finish the Silk Road, and certainly, China has a number of important staging places on that road – obviously starting in Xi’an, the great fortress of Jiayuguan, to the Thousand Buddha Caves. I have also climbed up more things that I feel was completely necessary, but I am proud I did make it to the top of that sand dune as I very nearly didn’t… However, China has certainly changed a lot in the 6 years since I was here – China has always had that tendency to rebuild rather than leave ancient sites as ruins, and the theme park experiences give Disney a run for their money. Things have felt very different in the Uygur Autonomous Region, and although I am developing warm feelings for Kashgar, I suspect this is not an area that I will return to. I am actually pleased that I am continuing to travel in China as this region can leave a slightly sour taste with the extensive surveillance and pushing of the “One China” messaging. There is a lot about China I love, but this is showing me a very different side.

Anyway…

I am now on a plane. So the immediate plan is: flight from Kashi to Chengdu, then a 6 hour layover in Chengdu, then Chengdu to Guilin. I have booked a transfer to my hotel (as I suspect I will have had very little sleep) and have been assured that “Kevin” will be waiting in arrivals with my name on a sign.

So it is now 7am on Tuesday. No problem with the first leg and at 1am I arrived into Chengdu airport. Obviously, this being an internal flight and my luggage is checked through I was straight into departures and went in search of somewhere to bed down. I would like to say at this point that I was going to book a capsule hotel, but Terminal 1 was fully booked and the one that claims it is in Terminal 2 is actually 10 minutes away and requires actually exiting the airport. I therefore did what everyone else did and positioned myself on handy sofa type areas and attempted to sleep. I actually did ok until 4.30am which is WAKE UP time at the airport – the air-conditioning blasts on (which arguably was needed overnight imho) and the announcements begin. I had unfortunately positioned myself under a ceiling air-conditioning and a floor level air-conditioning so I had to move, and after 30 minutes looking for a suitable spot, bedded down again until 6.30am.

I am now in what can only be described as the waiting area from hell. The upstairs gates of Chengdu are spacious, lots of seating, quiet… I am in the downtairs gate holding pen sat on the floor behind a pillar. It also looks like I am going to be bused to the plane in the rain. Oh the joys. 

We were bused, practically all the way to Guilin and then had to board the plane in the pouring rain. I almost miss the heat of Turpan, I certainly miss snorkels.

A few shots as we came into land:

Well, having landed I can say its nice to be back in lush green landscapes but, dear Lord, the humidity. I genuinely don’t think I have ever been this sticky in my life. When I got back to my hotel this evening I was able to wring out my tshirt. There is a lovely image for you all.

So, when I was planning this leg of my trip I decided that I was going to need some kind of guide/driver in Guilin simply because the main things I wanted to do all required a decent length of drive out of town. So, enter Kevin arranged via my hotel and as promised Kevin was there to collect me from the airport and drop me at my hotel.

When I booked this hotel, I do not quite remember booking something this fancy. Well its fancy and my room is massive. The White House Hotel is part of the former residence of Genera Bai Congxi who was a powerful Guangxi warlord and father to Taiwanese writer Kenneth Pai Hsien-yung. My room is furnished in heavy wooden furniture of the period, my bathroom includes a spa bath (which I have just exited from) and washing machine (the joys!) and a view over Rong Lake. I am just about coping…

Guilin is part of the Guangxi province, and its representative of the classic views of China – waters, greenery and then karst peaks mountains behind. Unsurprisingly, it was therefore China’s first city to develop tourism after 1949 so shockingly it has not been Disney-fied! It actually feels like a city a little run down, which is actually rather nice, and it has natural wonders that far outweigh any gleaming theme-park experience.

After a quick shower, I braved the humidity and was driven to Daxu. Daxu is one of two “ancient towns” within easy distance of Guilin and it genuinely is an ancient town with only very minimal updating. Daxu was founded in 200 CE as a market town and has been left pretty much as is since then – houses are mostly one or two story, the streets are cobbled and you can buy both genuine handicrafts alongside the general tourist crap. However, I started off with a short cruise along the Li River (yes, again in the rain – its a theme of this trip) in the Chinese equivalent of a long tail boat. It struggled a little as the water is very deep (they have had quite a lot of flooding here in recent weeks), but we managed.

The town itself is not very big, but I had a lovely wander mostly to myself (apparently the tour buses usually come in the morning on route to the Longji Rice Terraces) and it was lovely to see just some genuine old buldings looking old (and rather wet given the current weather).

On return to Guilin, I decided as I was already oh so sweaty I would have a walk around the lakes. Guilin has 2 rivers and 4 lakes and whilst I did not do the whole thing just around the Rong and Shan lakes, I knew I had done it when I had finished. Both these lakes were originally part of the city’s defensive moat,  but are now very much a place to promenade. I did also fit in a dinner stop – eating very spicy (and delicious) peanut noodles, in the heat whilst trying to stop your sweat dripping into your food is a very classy look…

By 6pm it was time to retire to my room to attempt to cool down, rehydrate, do all my laundry (now hanging up to dry) and then play in the spa bath. A delightful evening.

Final geography question of this stage of the blog (as my tour leader is no longer entertaining us and is already back in the UK). There are 8 countries that begin OR end with the letter “Y”, please name them. Answers in the next post.