Self-drive Tour of Liuzhou: Eating the Longed-for Snail Noodles

📍 Bangkok · 👁 7056 reads · ❤️ 30 likes

This trip to Liuzhou was truly for the snail noodles. In previous travels to various cities, whenever I saw a snail noodle shop, I would go eat there. But: Liuzhou snail noodles, ah. I always thought they must be the tastiest in Liuzhou. So this summer, I came on a snail noodle trip with a few snail noodle fanatics from my dorm.

Departing from Shanghai and landing in Liuzhou in just over 2 hours, it was super convenient. I had booked a Volkswagen Lavida on the EHi Car Rental mini-program in advance, picked it up at Liuzhou Airport, and the rental was not expensive, about 120 yuan per day. I used their new user gift package, which gave a 100 yuan discount on the first day. After landing, I contacted the EHi staff and picked up the car directly in the airport parking lot. The pick-up process was very fast, and after getting the car, we started exploring.

Although urban transportation is convenient now, my many travel experiences have taught me that only renting a car truly allows you to go and stop as you please. After visiting a scenic spot, I no longer want to wait for a taxi or bus (mainly because time is limited, and I want to spend it on traveling). Besides, there were four of us, so the average rental cost per person per day was only 30 yuan, not expensive.

Since we checked into the Sky Top Hotel, which is on the top floor, everyone said the view was excellent. I couldn't resist driving to the hotel first. This was the river view from our room. The whole city embraced this stretch of river; it was indeed very beautiful.

We left our things at the hotel and set off. Liuzhou has many attractions, but with limited time, we had to focus on the ones that interested us most.

First, we went to the Liuzhou Industrial Museum. It's a free museum and very impressive.

Note: Due to the pandemic, you need to make a reservation to visit. Be sure to book in advance.

After visiting various museums in recent years, my biggest takeaway is that domestic museums are becoming more and more stylish.

The museum displays the development history of Liuzhou as an industrial city. I even saw Liangmianzhen toothpaste. I recall seeing news about Liangmianzhen declaring bankruptcy, but from online searches, it seems they are still operating (I might have remembered wrong).

Anyway, I think the Industrial Museum is a place well worth visiting. All kinds of machinery and vehicles—it's really educational.

My friends also went to the Liuzhou Diwang Glass Skywalk. But I am very averse to such high-altitude glass structures, scared to death, so I didn't go.

Some might say, just try it a few times and it'll be fine. But I've already let myself off the hook and don't want to challenge myself with things I strongly dislike.

The glass skywalk is near the Diwang Building. If you like thrills, you can go. I saw my friends' photos, and they looked super cool.

This time we didn't climb the mountain; we took the elevator up, which was perfect. The weather at Ma'anshan was too hot. Taking the elevator was my first choice.

When we reached the top and looked at the scenery, it was really beautiful. I think the Liujiang River is more beautiful than in many first-tier cities.

On the elevator, we saw many people, and there were also many enjoying the view at the top. Everyone had nothing but praise for the scenery of the Liujiang River.

The weather was scorching hot, but it felt more comfortable at the summit.

In the evening, you can take a cruise on the Liujiang River. Sitting on the boat, feeling the river breeze, watching the scenery along the banks rush by, it was a great experience.

Liuzhou has built many bridges, each with a different design. So, whenever the boat approached a bridge, it felt like opening a new blind box. My friend said it was like a surprise connect-the-dots game, haha.

There were many scenic spots along the boat ride, including the Confucian Temple, waterfall groups, musical fountains, etc. Really beautiful. The boat ride was totally worth it.

The lighting along the Liujiang River was really stunning. It shows that Liuzhou is paying more and more attention to tourism.

A quiet remark: How many people are like me, willing to visit a city just for a bowl of snail noodles?

After the boat ride, we drove along the Liujiang River for a long time, enjoying the peace and comfort of this third-tier small city.

Friend: "Do you smell the snail noodles in the air?"

There are really many small snail noodle shops nearby; you'd be satisfied eating at any of them.

Liuzhou is not a coastal city, but at Jinsha Corner, they have created an artificial beach. It's quite interesting.

If people in Liuzhou want to go to the nearest coastal city in Guangxi, they have to go to Beihai, over 400 km away. So, Jinsha Corner has become a great place for parents to bring their kids to play on the beach.

There weren't many people here. We bought lifebuoys and went straight into the water.

Some also chose to rent kayaks and go drifting on the Liujiang River—another good option.

Here, never underestimate any snail noodle shop. Each one has its own soul.

We originally planned to visit Cuicui Snail Noodles. It's a very famous local shop, but unfortunately, the owner was out on a study trip. What a shame.

Who would have thought that even a small snail noodle shop owner would go on study trips? Admirable.

We ate at Jinwang Snail Noodles, another very famous local shop. The snail noodles there were really delicious. The tofu puffs were especially fragrant. We also added duck feet, which tasted good too. But the duck feet still had nails on them, which bothered me for a long time.

The snail noodles at this shop were extremely fresh. Only after eating here did I feel that the instant snail noodles bought online are far from the taste of those from a real shop.

We also ate at Jubao Snail Noodles. The name sounds very auspicious (meaning 'treasure gathering'). It's an old local shop. Maybe because it's been open for a long time, the wiring was old or something—anyway, there was no air conditioning, so we ate in a steamy heat. For someone like me, no A/C in the summer is unbearable, and the dining experience was a bit compromised.

The side dishes at this shop were also very tasty.

We also had a dry-mix snail noodles at Aimin Snail Noodles. Dry-mix is a method without soup, similar to tossed noodles. Although it's called 'dry mix', the noodles weren't dry at all, and the flavor was excellent.

Liuzhou's night markets are very lively. We went to Feiluozhuang. There were so many people; basically, you have to queue anytime you go. We bought stir-fried snail noodles and various grilled skewers—all hearty dishes, and they tasted great.

We also went to Gui Xiaochu, which serves Guangxi cuisine. The shop has a wide variety of dishes. My favorite was their lemon duck, super delicious. Probably because of the lemon, it had a refreshing aroma, very satisfying.

We also had a lot to eat at MixC (China Resources). Many items were things I had never tried in Shanghai. Things like ice-residue tofu pudding, sugar water shops, etc., all were very tasty. The kind of good that I would come back for if I had time.

Coming to Liuzhou for the food was definitely worth it. This trip made me deeply feel that Liuzhou absolutely qualifies as a food city. So many kinds of delicious food—basically no disappointments throughout the trip.

Travel Diary Directory:

1. Liuzhou Industrial Museum

2. The Beautiful Scenery of Ma'anshan

3. Jinsha Corner

4. Eating and Drinking Food Tour

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