Liuzhou with Snail Noodles: I Didn't Know It Was So Beautiful Here

During this 8-day holiday, besides Liuzhou, we also went to Nanning. Originally, I planned to fly directly to Nanning, spend four days there, and then go to Liuzhou. But later, because I really like eating snail noodles, I decided to fulfill that wish first, so I adjusted the plan: go to Liuzhou first, then Nanning.

We rented a car from a platform. We picked it up in Liuzhou and returned it in Nanning, so we could fly back directly from Nanning. I compared several well-known rental platforms, and there was no fee for returning the car in a different city. Thumbs up for that—it really made things convenient for us.

We arrived in Liuzhou at 17:07, picked up the car from the rental company, and drove directly to the hotel. Along the way, Liuzhou looked much more bustling than Guilin—tall buildings, clean and tidy streets. It was rush hour, and seeing the swarm of scooters roaring past at intersections was quite spectacular.

Because the beds at the Hyatt Place were a bit small, we booked two rooms this time. The reason we chose this hotel was its high floors and great views. We stayed on the 48th floor, and from the window we could see the Liujiang River. After checking in, we separated to unpack and rest a bit, then went downstairs for dinner. Since we had been waking up early these days and were quite tired, we didn't want to go far. I found a nearby restaurant on a review app.

We found a restaurant that suited our taste. For the first time, I tried Rongshui banana heart, which tasted a bit like crispy lotus root. The tea-scented chicken was roasted just right, juicy and flavorful. We also had Gongcheng oil tea, which we missed in Guilin. I ordered the sweet version, which had a strong ginger flavor; I didn't taste much tea, but I personally thought it was good.

While eating, I ordered a delivery from Grandma's Handmade to the restaurant. It arrived just as we finished our meal—perfect. It was my first time trying their matcha drink, and it was really good! Definitely worth a thumbs up. After dinner, we walked around the nearby shopping mall and then returned to the hotel to rest. Tomorrow we can finally wake up a bit later.

Today, my alarm went off at 8:30, and we went downstairs for breakfast after 9:00. Breakfast is free for children under 12, which is great. After breakfast, we drove to Liuhou Park. Entrance is free and no reservation is needed.

Any open space in the park was occupied by various dance groups, showing that this is a popular leisure spot for local residents. Today the sun came out, making it a bit hot, but under the shade of the trees, a cool breeze occasionally came through, making it pleasant to walk.

We entered from the South Gate, followed the path to the right heading north, walked around the park in a loop back to the South Gate, and finally arrived at Liuhou Temple. Adults need to buy tickets to enter, 10 yuan per person; children enter for free after registering their information. The most famous thing here is the "Three Perfections Stele," written by Han Yu, calligraphed by Su Shi, and about Liu Zongyuan—truly unique.

After leaving Liuhou Park, we walked along Wenhui Road to Wenhui Bridge. On the right side was the East Gate City Wall, the only ancient brick-and-wood structure with a raised-beam roof in Liuzhou, and one of the oldest and best-preserved ancient city walls in Guangxi.

Continuing along the East Gate City Wall, we reached the Five-Star Commercial Pedestrian Street. We went down to the riverside and walked west along Binjiang East Road, enjoying the riverside scenery. We even saw people swimming in the river—it looked so dangerous!

We went up to Five-Star Pedestrian Street, and by then it was almost noon. The street wasn't busy at midday—similar pedestrian streets are everywhere, so it wasn't very appealing to us.

While searching for nearby restaurants, I saw a café called Black Dog Coffee with good reviews, so we walked over to get a cup of coffee. I ordered the recommended Green Shasha Latte, which was very similar to the mung bean latte I had in Nan'ao Island—both were mung bean flavored. There was a cute dog named Andy in the shop, and the walls were covered with information about stray cats and dogs, showing the owner's love for animals.

We checked the distance to Diwang and it was about one kilometer, so we drove there to save energy. After getting our drinks, we took the elevator to the fourth floor to eat frog hotpot. For the main dish, we ordered matcha rice cakes.

After lunch, it was almost 2:00 PM. In the afternoon, we planned to visit the Liuzhou Industrial Museum. It was still quite hot in the afternoon, and walking outside would be exhausting. The Liuzhou Industrial Museum is a national first-class museum, containing over 6,000 industrial relics. It is the first comprehensive urban industrial museum in Guangxi and even the country.

Inside, there were many machine tools and machinery that you don't see in everyday life. These "big guys" and "little cuties" represent the wisdom of Liuzhou people and are the foundation of Liuzhou. Next to the Liuzhou Industrial Museum is the Yaobu Ancient Town. Although I knew it was just a commercial street, we went in for a walk anyway, following the mentality of "since we're here."

At around 4:00 PM, the ancient town was very quiet, almost deserted. It might be livelier at night. Besides various restaurants, there were many photography studios for tourists. The buildings were all newly built imitations of ancient architecture, and honestly, it wasn't very interesting. After walking around, we went to the Yaobu Pier to take the Liuzhou water taxi to the Nanche Ferry Pier. I'm not sure if this is unique to Liuzhou, but I've never seen such a thing elsewhere except for expensive cruise ships. The fare is the same for adults and children, 3 yuan per person. We had to experience it.

Many people seemed to think the same way—the pier had a queue. We waited about half an hour for two boats before it was our turn. Just then, the second boat needed two more people, and the people in front of us were all in groups of more than two, so we got on; otherwise, we would have had to wait another ten minutes.

While waiting, I bought a Liugang popsicle from a vendor nearby. It tasted a bit like a salted soda popsicle, quite refreshing. The boat ride from Yaobu Pier to Nanche Ferry Pier took about 15 minutes. Along the way, we saw many people swimming, diving, and surfing in the river, waving at us. Aren't they aware of the danger??? I was quite worried for them.

Anyway, we got to experience the water taxi. We got off around 5:00 PM, drove to the last stop of the day—Mount Ma'an. The main attraction of Mount Ma'an is the night view, but our timing was a bit off—we probably wouldn't see the night view. Still, the scenery was nice.

Mount Ma'an has an elevator up and down, but the latest operation time ends at 6:00 PM. We arrived around 5:30 PM. I was planning to buy an up ticket and walk down. A family of four in front of me said that three adults form a group, the group price is 20 yuan per person (original 30), and children are half price at 15 yuan. They asked if I wanted to join, and I agreed.

Mount Ma'an has an altitude of about 270 meters. The elevator went up in less than a minute. From the observation deck, the view of Liuzhou city center was indeed great, and there were many people. Since the mountain isn't high, going down on foot wasn't tiring—it took only about 20 minutes.