Day 10
The next part of our adventure was upon us. Our meeting time was 9:00 so we had set the alarm for 8:00. We got up and ready. We packed the last odds and ends, and I took the magnets down. Then it was time to leave our cabin for the final time. We went up to the Windjammer to get some breakfast, but this was absolutely packed, and we could not find anywhere to sit so we gave up on this idea.
Our meeting point was the Two70, so we headed down to deck 5. We sat down at Vintages Wine Bar as it was still a while until our meeting time. I decided to check out how busy Cafe Two70 was and this was surprisingly quiet, so I came back with a couple of breakfast sandwiches and some pastries. Once we had those, I took back the empties and brought back some coffee. When I took the cups back, I saw that our group had just been called. I went back to Graham, we took our hand luggage and headed for the gangway.
Getting off the ship was a lot easier here than it had been in Shanghai last year. They had this well-organized. It did not take us long at all to get off the ship. Once we were on dry land again, they held us outside the terminal building for a while. We had to wait again just in front of the escalators leading up to the immigration hall and there was a third holding area just outside the immigration hall. Once we were inside the immigration hall, things moved very quickly. We got our entry permit and we were on our way.
The baggage hall was probably the most well organized one I have ever seen with numbered bays for each tag number. We spotted Graham’s suitcase straightaway, but mine was nowhere to be seen. We looked at adjacent bays, but my suitcase was not there either. I went to find a member of staff, which was easier said than done. Eventually I found somebody. I described my suitcase, which fortunately is quite distinctive, and he went off to look for it. He came back about 5 minutes later with my suitcase in tow. Somehow the luggage label had been torn off.
We were just about to leave the terminal when we were intercepted with a lady with an iPad. We were asked if we would be willing to participate in a short survey. We did and were given a dim sum pin for our troubles. We then left the terminal building in search of a bus. We had read before the trip that there are various free shuttles to shopping malls with MTR stations. They also had paid for shuttles and they were closest to the building, but we did find a free shuttle going in the right direction quite quickly.
We did not have to wait very long once we found the shuttle until we were on our way. We made pretty quick progress even though it was still morning rush hour. Once we arrived at the destination, we took to the MTR again. We had to change trains once, but everything worked very smoothly. We headed deep into the New Territories. Our destination was Lok Ma Chau, which is one of the border crossing points into mainland China. When we researched various ways of getting from Hong Kong to Guilin before the trip, this quickly turned out to be the best option. We did not regret this decision either. When we came off the MTR, we just had to go up a couple of levels and walked right up to Hong Kong immigration. We were sent to e-gates, which kind of surprised us as we thought you had to be a frequent visitor to Hong Kong and register to use the e-gates. Apparently, that only applies when arriving in the country. When leaving, anybody with a chipped passport can use the e-gates. The whole process only took a couple of minutes.
Once we had cleared immigration in Hong Kong, we then crossed the river on a glass covered bridge. At the other side of the river was Shenzhen, which is in the Guangdong province of mainland China. Assoon as we got to the other side, there was Chinese immigration. We looked for landing cards, but they seemed to be in short supply. Eventually I found a couple and we filled them out. We then got into line for immigration. Most people in line were Hong Kong residents that had a special permit card and were processed quite quickly. Both of our passports were given a thorough inspection, but then we were given our entry stamps and were on our way. Leaving the border crossing was very easy, we just had to go downstairs, and we were in the ticket hall for the Shenzhen metro.
I got in line for the ticket machines and before I even had time to select the English language option, I was approached a member of staff who assisted me with getting my tickets. I did appreciate his assistance. I say tickets, but I actually ended up with a couple of plastic chips. They turned out to be RFID enabled and we just touched them against the ticket gate. A train pulled in pretty much as soon as we got to the platform. As this is the terminus station, the train was empty. Our destination, Shenzhen North Station is on the same metro line and made this really easy. It took about 15 minutes until we were at our destination and then it was just a question of following the signs, which were in Chinese and English. It really could not have been any easier.
The next part was what I was nervous about. We had pre-purchased tickets from Guangzhou to Guilin, but as we did not know how long it would take us to get from the ship to Shenzhen North, we had not bought the tickets from Shenzhen to Guangzhou. There were two challenges waiting for us. We had to collect the tickets we had bought before leaving and also had to get the tickets to get us to Guangzhou. I learned how to buy tickets in my Mandarin class and probably would have coped, but I was mightily relieved when the ticket agent spoke English. She was a little confused why we I was picking up roundtrip tickets from Guangzhou to Guilin in Shenzhen, but I soon enough managed to communicate to her that I needed two tickets from Shenzhen to Guangzhou. The first train that was available was in 2.5 hours, but that still gave us plenty of time at the other end. Fortunately, I had some Yuan left from last year as they do not accept cards.
With all the tickets in hand, we then faced the next challenge. It turns out that ticket offices in China are not directly attached to the train station. They are nearby, but we had to leave the ticket office and follow another set of sign posts to the entrance of the station itself. When we reached this, we first had our tickets and passports checked and then went through security where our luggage was x-rayed, and we went through a metal detector. Shenzhen North station is huge. Our cash was now depleted, and we were optimistic that we would find an ATM at the station. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Graham left me with the luggage and went back outside to find an ATM. He was gone for quite a while and have to admit I was starting to get a little nervous, but he came back with cash. Speaking of being nervous, he had a very nervous moment as well. He was trying to work out how to use the ATM as it required a six-digit PIN and the usual trick of adding two zeroes to the front did not work. He was approached by a police man with a machine gun who helped him with this. I think if I had been approached by a heavily armed police man, I probably would have fainted.
While I was waiting for Graham, I learned two interesting facts. Delays on the Chinese railway system are very rare and a big deal. While I was standing near the departure board, there was a train leaving every few seconds. In all the time we were at the station, there were only two trains that were delayed, one by 4 minutes and one by 9 minutes. Where we live, this would be considered to be on time. I also spotted that there are trains between Shenzhen North and Guilin North. We were returning from Guilin North station and I had been under the impression that we had to change in Guangzhou to get from Guilin to Guangzhou, but this was not the case.
Once Graham came back, we headed to Starbucks for a snack. We both had a panini. We were not absolutely sure what we were eating, but it was tasty. I think it was probably some kind of ham and cheese. We also both had a caramel coffee Frappuccino. When we had finished our late lunch, we took turns using the bathroom and I got some water for the journey. We then made our way towards the platform from which our train was going to leave.
At this stage, something got lost in translation. During our research prior to the trip, we learned about the red cap porters at the stations. The advantage of hiring a porter is that the passengers who pay for this service can follow the porters to get to the platform and get on board prior to other passengers. As our luggage was slightly bigger than what was recommended and as we were not quite sure what we were letting ourselves in for, the fee of 10 Yuan per piece of luggage (just over one Pound or around $1.4) seemed like a small price to pay for the convenience and took some stress out of this adventure. I had seen a few red cap porters milling around when I was waiting for Graham, but as is so often the case, once we needed one, there was none to be found. Eventually I saw a porter next to a desk near our gate. I figured that this was probably where one requested a porter and I went over. The lady at the desk appeared to speak English and I asked her if this was where one could request a porter. She confirmed this. She asked me how many and I assumed she referred to pieces of luggage and told her two and she charged me 20 Yuan, which is what I was expecting. She told me that there would be a short wait, which was no problem as we still had plenty of time. Eventually she called me over, which was strange as there was still no porter in sight. It turned out that I had not paid for a porter, but for a massage chair. Graham at the same time managed to flag down a porter and to her credit once she realized the misunderstanding, she refunded my money without any issues.
In the meantime, the porter put our luggage on a cart and once I had my money back, he asked us to follow him. He escorted us to the gate, told us to get in line for check in and he headed off with our luggage. He waited for us on the platform, took us to our coach and stored the luggage for us. All that was left to do for us was to find our seats. Hiring a porter was definitely a good idea for our first trip on a bullet train as we did not know how everything worked and what to expect and this took some stress out of it. This was the only time we hired a porter and I probably would not do so again as we now understand how the trains work in China.
I was absolutely in awe of the bullet trains. They are modern and comfortable. They are also incredibly quick. Our train covered the distance of 63 miles in just under half an hour and that included a couple of stops. When we got off the train, we did look out for a red cap porter, but did not see any. However, we did not need one and the process was very easy. We followed signs for connections and this bypassed security and took us straight to the departure hall. We still had about an hour before check in for our next train began. We both took turns using the bathroom and I stocked up on water as we had gone through the water, we bought in Shenzhen very quickly. The trains are air-conditioned, but the stations are not, and it was about 35 degrees that day. We dehydrated quite quickly. When I stocked up on water, I came across a very interesting crisp flavour. They had cucumber flavoured crisps and curiosity got the better of me. I bought a bag.
Not long after check in for our train started and we had no issues finding the right coach and somewhere to store our luggage. We found our seats and settled down. At some stage during the trip, we tried the crisps and I absolutely loved them. I had every intention to get some more, but this did not happen. Getting some more of them is high on the list for our upcoming trip. The distance from Guangzhou to Guilin is about 270 miles and takes around 2 hours 45 minutes. I spent the trip alternating between catching up online, reading and watching the scenery. Initially we went through large urban areas, but soon we went through quite rural areas. Once we crossed into Guangxi province, there was some really spectacular landscapes. Unfortunately, around this time it started to turn dark.
Time definitely flew, and we were soon approaching Guilin. Guilin station is easy to navigate. There were red cap porters meeting the train, but we declined the offer of help. We headed for the exit, where we were met by a driver. Our hotel offered a pick-up service from either one of the stations in Guilin or the airport for a small charge. This was only 40 Yuan and for the convenience, I decided to go with this. It worked really well. Our driver did not speak English, but he had a translation app on the phone that translated Mandarin into English and vice versa. He was interested in what brought us to Guilin and what our plans were for our stay. We both where under the impression that Guilin is a small provincial town, but it is actually a sprawling city and we were staying at the outskirt of town. The main industry in Guilin is tourism, but mainly domestic tourism although I did get the impression that the secret is out. There were definitely quite a few international tourists at our hotel.
The drive to the hotel took about 20 minutes and although it was dark, I fell in love with the area where we were staying straightaway. The hotel was located in Lujia Village, which is about 2.5 miles from the centre of Guilin. There are a number of hotels there as well as restaurants, shops and a couple of museums. This is strictly for tourists, but is very picturesque. I had looked for a hotel with a bit of character and our hotel definitely had this. It was located in a traditional Chinese building that is built around a courtyard. The name reflects this as the hotel is called Secret Courtyard Hotel. We were checked in by Amy, who speaks fluent English. We were each given a welcome drink. I had a glass of Coke and Graham had a glass of orange juice. She checked if we needed dinner and suggested that we have dinner first before going up to our room. This sounded like a good plan. Graham had a local noodle dish and I had some noodles with pork. The food was delicious and an absolute bargain.
Once we had finished dinner, Amy asked if we were hoping to do any excursions while we were there. She brought us a folder and there were a couple of interesting options. Top of our list was a Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo. We had extensively researched this before leaving as we had originally planned to book this before we left. However, either the pricing was crazy, or the reviews were bad, so we decided to rely on local guidance. This did pay off. We had planned to do the river cruise on our middle day in Guilin. The weather forecast for the next day looked awful and it also had been a pretty long and tiring day. We just wanted to decompress the next day. However, this particular boat does not operate daily and there was no availability for the rest of the week. We decided to just go for it.
A few phone calls later and Amy came back to advised that we were all set for the next day. We were due to be picked up at 7:30 the next morning. We were still pondering other excursions, but Amy suggested that we should see how we like this one first. We took her advice. We paid for our meal and the excursion. We were given some extra bottled water and then we were escorted to our room. Our luggage had already been taken up while we had dinner. We were on the top floor. I absolutely loved our room, even before I was able to assess the view. The room had plenty of character. There was even a traditional seating area in the bay window with a tea set and proper Chinese tea. Unfortunately, I never got around to using this tea set. We took turns getting ready for bed. While I was in the bathroom, the phone rang. There had been a slight change of plan. We would be collected half an hour earlier and taken to a hotel in town where we would be collected by our tour guide. This was fine by us. I set the alarm for 6:30 and we settled down for the night.
