This Summer, Taking Two Mothers to See Guilin’s Scenery and Beihai’s Beaches

Guilin’s scenery is unparalleled. While my mothers are still young, I want to take them out more. I hadn’t used Ctrip much before, but this time Ctrip issued a Diamond Card for medical workers, and from now on I’ll truly be a loyal fan. Booking flights and hotels saved a lot of money compared to other sites. We successfully met in Guilin at 3 p.m. and checked into the Venus Royal Hotel (Elephant Trunk Hill Park branch). The free medical worker room provided by Ctrip was really great—very clean, and they even upgraded our room to one with a view of the mountains outside.

After a short rest at the hotel, we walked to Elephant Trunk Hill Park. We strolled slowly through the park, taking lots of photos of the two mothers—they were happy. In the evening, we randomly found a Guilin rice noodle shop and had two bowls of rice noodles. As night fell, we walked to the Sun and Moon Twin Pagodas. The boat tickets seemed a bit expensive, so we just walked around the park—quiet and the night view was beautiful.

The next day, we took a cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo (you can book a package online that includes hotel pickup to Guilin Mopanshan Pier and the boat ticket). The cruise took 3.5 hours. Yangshuo is downstream, so the boat was one-way. Fortunately, I had done my homework beforehand; otherwise, I would have tried to drive all the way from Guilin to Beihai. I had even rented a car, but later realized it wasn’t right, so I cancelled the car rental. All transportation was by public means. Later, I found out that Guilin and Beihai are indeed not suitable for self-driving—there are almost no parking spaces in Guilin and Yangshuo.

Around noon, we arrived at Yangshuo Pier. A taxi to the hotel cost about 10–15 yuan. As soon as we got in, the driver said we could buy cheap tickets for Impression Liu Sanjie; I thought it was reliable, so we bought them for 150 yuan each. The hotel upgraded our room again to a balcony room with a great view.

The hotel provided free afternoon tea.

Crossing a pedestrian bridge led directly to West Street.

Impression Liu Sanjie is definitely worth seeing. Photos or videos cannot capture its visual impact. After watching, I really admired director Zhang Yimou.

On the third day, we hired a car to Shuielow for bamboo rafting; the driver waited for us downstream. Each bamboo raft could seat two people and cost 160 yuan for about 40 minutes. The scenery on both sides was stunning—you must take a bamboo raft when visiting Guilin. When the raft docked, the boatman asked for a tip. It was indeed hard work paddling under the blazing sun, so we showed our appreciation.

After the rafting, the driver recommended the Jinshui Rock Cave, which wasn’t in our original plan, but it turned out to be interesting.

Later, the driver wanted to take us to eat some specialty chicken, but we weren’t interested. We noticed his attitude immediately soured. When we were taking photos at Ten-Mile Gallery and Gongnong Bridge, he texted us to hurry up and get back in the car.

After visiting the Ten-Mile Gallery area, we drove about half an hour to Yangshuo Station.

We took a bullet train from Yangshuo to Beihai—no direct train, so we transferred at Binyang.

A tourist photo for the memory.

We arrived in Beihai after five hours. The homestay owner, a Sichuan native, was very welcoming and picked us up at the train station.

After a good sleep, the hotel owner drove us to the pier. We had booked a package online from Weizhou Island ticket website: round-trip ferry to Weizhou Island + one-day Weizhou Island chartered car tour + lunch, costing 568 yuan per person. Medical workers and those over 60 got a discount, so the three of us paid 1294 yuan.

The waves were huge that day; many people on the boat got seasick. I wanted to get up to go to the restroom halfway, but the boat was rocking so badly I gave up. After more than an hour of bumpy ride, we finally reached Weizhou Island. It was even hotter than Beihai, with a hot sea breeze blowing. Because medical workers had a discounted ticket, and the customer service hadn’t explained clearly the day before, plus the ticket seller at Weizhou Island didn’t know how to process it, I and several other medical workers were delayed for over an hour before finally getting on the island.

On Weizhou Island, there was a 150-year-old Catholic church built by the French.

Jackfruit growing wildly on the island; the driver said no one wanted them, and due to inconvenient transportation, they couldn’t be exported.

This was the best and most affordable group meal I’ve ever had. Five dishes for three people, and every dish tasted fantastic.

The owner also introduced cat’s eye snails, which are only available this season on Weizhou Island—it was an eye-opener.

Colorful Beach was too hot, so we didn’t go down; we just took photos from above. It got its name because sunlight reflects colorful light on the beach. But people who went down said it didn’t look as good as from above.

We originally booked a return ticket for 10:15 the next day, but because we were delayed over an hour getting onto the island, we wanted to change to a later ferry back to Beihai. I contacted the WeChat customer service about changing the ticket, and they said the next day’s ferries were canceled! The chartered car driver said it should only be the ferries from Beihai to Weizhou that were canceled, but there should still be ferries taking us back to Beihai from the island. I called customer service again, and the person who answered said she hadn’t heard about the cancellation. The two customer service reps gave conflicting information. Weizhou Island is a beautiful island, but the experience was terrible—from booking, to getting on the island, to changing tickets, nothing went smoothly. Fortunately, a staff member at Crocodile Mountain Scenic Area confirmed that ferries would indeed be suspended for the next two days. So we urgently changed to the last ferry that day back to Beihai. The ferry is the only way to reach the island. If we had been stranded, we might have become islanders growing jackfruit, haha.

The lighthouse at Crocodile Mountain Scenic Area.

We almost gave up on Crocodile Mountain because of the heat, but it is the core attraction of Weizhou Island. The two mothers didn’t go up; they walked the plank trail, which requires physical strength. Thanks to that staff member who urged me to go up—I didn’t miss the beautiful scenery and had no regrets. I took photos to show my mothers later.

There were various cacti on the island.

After coming down from Crocodile Mountain, we told the driver we had to catch the last ferry back to Beihai. The driver still insisted we take a quick photo at some spots so we wouldn’t have regrets. He was enthusiastic and a great guide.

Shiluokou Beach had many corals and shells.

Due to time constraints, we didn’t get to see Dripping Water Danping, but we still had to take a photo at the village entrance, haha.

The return ferry was a tourist boat, very stable—maybe because of the wind direction. The over-an-hour ride felt just like being on a bullet train. Since the hotel we stayed at in Beihai the previous day was particularly nice, we chose to stay there again.

Hotel breakfast, swimming pool, and a swing.

On the fifth day, we woke up naturally and took a Didi to Beihai Old Street. At around 10 a.m., there were still very few people, quiet. I’ve always liked old buildings.

After visiting Old Street, just as we were about to call a car, a driver came over and said he also drove for Didi. He could take us anywhere we wanted for the whole day. This young man spoke Mandarin with some difficulty but was warm and had a little humor. We visited five places in one day, and the transportation cost was only 65 yuan—an honest driver.

We had lunch at Qiaogang Style Street. It’s said to be more lively at night. We checked out the local seafood stalls.

The food wasn’t particularly outstanding, but we did try Vietnamese rice rolls—satisfying. The oysters were not too big, 10 yuan for six.

Originally we planned to go to Silver Beach after lunch and then to the seafood market to buy seafood for the hotel to cook in the evening. But the driver said it was still early and asked if we wanted to visit “Vietnamese Village” (Dajiangbu). However, it was totally different from what we expected. It was the worst scenic spot I’ve ever visited in China. The ticket seller said the regular price was 128 yuan, but currently 60 yuan per person. Once inside, it was too shabby. I couldn’t even find a suitable spot to take photos for the two mothers. There was a performance that was a bit scary. Few tourists were there. We ran into a couple who also complained it was a ripoff, saying it wasn’t even as good as the free Silver Beach.

Silver Beach—the sand is so fine that your feet don’t leave footprints when you step on it.

Our last stop was the Haixinrong Seafood Market recommended by the homestay owner. They said it didn’t cheat customers and used accurate scales. Grouper was 23 yuan per jin, sandworms 55 yuan per jin. In the evening, we also ordered a plate of the hotel’s stir-fried pork—non-spicy but still delicious.

We woke up naturally, took a photo of the hotel, and then took the bullet train back to Guilin.

At 3 p.m., we arrived at Guilin Station and checked into Lavande Hotel (near the station), within walking distance.

We had been wanting to buy Guilin fruit to take home—delicious and cheap. We took a Didi to Wulidian Fruit and Vegetable Market. Unfortunately, they only sold by the whole box, so we couldn’t buy much. Finally, at one stall we bought huge red dragon fruits—four for only 28 yuan. We arrived at the market around 5 p.m., so we missed the lychees and jackfruit, which are only available in the morning. Outside the market, a street vendor was selling peaches for only 2 yuan per jin. We bought 6 jin, but didn’t know peaches shouldn’t be refrigerated. After waking up, many peaches were ruined, but they tasted very good.

On the way back to the hotel, it started raining heavily. Sitting in the taxi, we felt very lucky—the weather had been perfect the previous days.

During this trip with the two mothers, we arranged one or two attractions per day for them to visit and take photos. We booked hotels with breakfast for convenience, and ordered takeout for lunch or dinner. For transportation, some hotels offered pick-up and drop-off, and we used Didi for the rest. This way, they could relax more.

I will continue to take them traveling next time, showing them the world.

Companionship is love.