China Short Trip with High-Speed Train

Welcome to Hong Kong. You will meet our professional guide once you are out from the exit. And then you will be transferred to the hotel. So, you can have a good rest and be refreshed for the following days’ enjoyment.

Free Time Suggestion:

Do you want to experience local life and custom? Temple Street is a good option. Located at Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Temple Street is the most famous open-air night market in Hong Kong. Moreover, quality goods at bottom prices are sold here. There are stands selling Seafood Porridge, Steamed Rice in Clay Pot, and other local dishes. All of these are palatable, with a unique Cantonese style. Besides eating, you may hang around and explore further. If you are the artistic type, the performance of Cantonese Opera, a traditional opera that originated in Guangdong Province, will bring you a visual and audio feast. If you plan to buy some souvenirs, you will be satisfied by various crafts here. Wish you all have a good night. 

After having breakfast at the hotel, we will start today’s trip in Victoria Peak which is named after Queen Victoria (former queen of the United Kingdom). One of the most attractive activities of the site is to take Peak Tram to the peak. The tram was opened in 1888 and was firstly driven by steam. But now it uses electricity as power, which is more environmental-friendly and saves more time. Taking the tram, you can have an overlook of the world-famous marvelous Victoria Harbor and surrounding lush mountains. The best proof of its beauty is that some famous movies and soap operas were shot here, including Love Boat. When you arrive at the peak, you will see the Peak Tower designed by Britain architecture Terry Farrel. In the shape of a bowl, the tower is a landmark in Hong Kong and its image is printed on lots of postcards. So, you may as well take a selfie in front of it and send the photo as a postcard to your beloved ones.

Then we will drive about 20 minutes to Repulse Bay in the south of Victoria Peak. Repulse Bay is considered Oriental Hawaii with the blue ocean and soft sandy beaches. You could take your swimsuits to swim or surf, or you can just sit on the sand and feel the lovely tropical breeze. What’s more, Repulse Bay is linked to love and romance. In the love story --- Love in a Fallen City (a famous Chinese novel, which was later made into a TV series), Repulse Bay witnessed how the hero and the heroine encountered. So, you probably meet the right one here. Who knows?  

Then we will drive to the Stanley Market. Various goods are sold in the market, such as handicrafts, postcards, T-shirts, and accessories. There is an exhibition venue at the Stanley Market Shopping Center on the second weekend of each month. If we are fortunate enough to encounter the exhibition, we can have the chance to appreciate fine painting, sculpture, and other artistic handcrafts. If you don’t want to buy anything, you could also have a cup of coffee at a riverside coffee shop and listen to music. 

Free Time Suggestion:

You will have some free time at night and you are suggested to explore more spots. One of the famous ones, Lan Kwai Fong is located in Central, Hong Kong. It is a well-known party location opened in the 1970s, with loads of nightclubs and clubs. Local white-collars spend their happy hours here, drinking, eating, and making friends. Happy hours (from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.) is a period when fatigued employers forget the pressure of work and enjoy beer and snacks. During the time, beer and wine offered by clubs will be cheaper than at other times. Therefore, you can get there at happy hours if you want to save money. Besides, every Thursday night is Ladies Night, and the entrance fee is free for them. And a glass of whiskey is also free for ladies in each bar. Lan Kwai Fong is also a place to taste cuisines from Japan, India, Italy, Mexico, France, the United States, and the Middle East.

Stanley Market

Peak Tram

After lunch, you will take an estimated train G408 12:05/15:25 to Guilin. Your guide in Guilin will pick you up at the railway station and take you to the hotel and help you with your check-in.

Guilin is a tourist city with a high reputation. It is named Guilin (means a forest of Osmanthus in Chinese) for Osmanthus trees are planted everywhere in the city. Every fall, the whole city will be filled with the sweet scent of Osmanthus blossom. Graceful, elegant, thrilling, all the words you think of are not enough to describe Guilin. Clear rivers and lush hills will bring you into a traditional Chinese ink painting; the delicious special dishes will give you a fresh enjoyment of feast; the hospitable minority nationalities will show you diverse cultures.

Option:

Sun and Moon Twin Pagodas are the best choice to enjoy the beautiful night scene of Guilin. They consist of two pagodas. One is 41 meters (134.5 feet) high and decorated with copper ornaments, and the other is 35 meters (114.8 feet) high and decorated with glaze. They add radiance and beauty to each other harmoniously, so they are named the Sun Pagoda and the Moon Pagoda. In the evening, they will be lit up in different colors: the Sun Pagoda is illuminated with golden light which makes it shine like a sun while the Moon Pagoda with silver light that makes it shine like a moon. By using wisdom and innovation, humans captured the moon and sun! On the first floor of the Sun Pagoda, there is a bronze bell and you can ring it to pray for blessing. Up to the second and third floors, you can have rest in teahouses providing the silver-needle tea, a kind of yellow tea with mild sweetness and fresh aroma. Then going upstairs to the top floor, you will be greeted with the picturesque scenery of Guilin by night. If you don’t want to be exhausted to climb stairs, you can take the elevator. The pagodas are surrounded by lakes, so you can also take a boat and appreciate the beauty of them from distance.

The first activity after breakfast in the morning is to take the Li River Cruise to Yangshuo. First, we need to drive southeast for about 1 hour to get to the Mopanshan Pier, which is about 35 kilometers away from Guilin city. Then your guide will take you to board the Li River Cruise. The Li River is a typical section of the Karst Landform, featuring underground water-eroded caves and precipitous hills on the ground. The hills are in various shapes. For example, some look like a cat and some like ears. In the local folk tales, the hills are the incarnation of what they look like. As a saying goes, “Guilin landscape outshines those elsewhere, and Yangshuo landscape outshines that of Guilin”. What you find in Guilin and Yangshuo will be peerless in the world. Along the Li River, an attraction is famous over the country, named Yellow Cloth Shoal, because it is used as the pattern on the back of the banknote of Renminbi 20 yuan.

Your cruise will pass by the Nine Horses Mountain. The spot is famous for the profile of a mountain. From the distance, you can see nine horses. And some of them are drinking from Li River, some are eating, some are roaring. In the legend, they were horses from heaven. When they drunk at the Li River, a painter incidentally noticed them. Surprised by their beauty, the painter intended to draw a painting of them.  But the horses were frightened, and ran to the mountain. Suddenly, nine horses appeared in the profile of the mountain. If you watch the hills carefully, you may find some like threatened horses that are running away.

Today’s lunch will be on the cruise. After lunch, you will disembark at Yangshuo. We will take you to visit Yangshuo West Street. It has a history of more than 1,400 years and is the most prosperous street in Yangshuo County. Ancient city walls built in the Ming Dynasty (1368―1644) inscriptions, ancient temples, pavilions, memorial halls, and other ancient buildings are well preserved here. Yangshuo West Street, where Sun Yat-sen once lectured and where the great artist Xu Beihong once lived, has attracted people around the world. For example, leaders of more than 150 countries have visited it. After that, we will drive back to Guilin.

Li river

Yangshuo west street

After breakfast, we will visit Elephant Trunk Hill. It is named for it resembles an elephant. In front of the hill, a hole made by erosion looks like the elephant’s trunk stuck into the river. There is a pagoda on the Elephant Trunk Hill called Samantabhadra Tower. From a distance, it looks like an elephant carrying a bottle on its back. In Asian culture, an elephant carrying a bottle symbolizes peace and happiness. Therefore, the Elephant Trunk Hill becomes a symbolic attraction of Guilin for its landscape and cultural connotation.

The next destination of our trip is the Longji Rice Terrace. It is about 105 KM away from the Elephant Trunk Hill and we will drive north for about 2 hours to get there. With a history of over 650 years, the Longji Rice Terrace was first developed in the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368). The altitude here is about 600 meters. Steep mountains are the obstacle to connecting with the outside world, thus making the manmade landscapes and natural resources here well protected. If you look at the rice terrace from the distance, the shape of the rice terrace is just like a giant dragon. Therefore, the terraces are called “Longji Terraces” which means terrace of dragon’s back in Chinese. The Longji Rice Terrace is magnificent, and many tourists come here for hiking or photography every year.

Here you will visit a distinguished village named Ping’an Village. The dwellers here are of Zhuang nationality with the reputation of being good at singing and dancing. The village boasts buildings and customs with Zhuang characteristics. For example, you can find locals carrying palanquins made of bamboos in the streets. If you are tired, you can ask for taking the palanquin. Taking palanquins has been an attraction in this spot. With vast rice terraces, the staple food of the Zhuang people is rice. Sometimes, they make colored rice by adding juice from different vegetables. Besides, local people show their hospitality by serving colorful rice to entertain their important guests during festivals.

Recommendation:

The major specialties of the Longji Rice Terrace are what we call “three treasures of Longji Rice Terrace”: chili, rice wine, and Yunwu tea. If you want to buy one of them as souvenir, I recommend Yunwu Tea. First, it is easy to carry and can be delivered easily. Second, it is a kind of tea that grows in high mountains where the temperature difference between day and night is large and humidity is relatively high. Therefore, Yunwu tea has a unique taste and fragrance. Moreover, drinking tea contributes to your health by reducing fat. It is a good beverage when you want to refresh yourself or after eating meat. It is also an appropriate gift to people of all ages. And then we will drive back to Guilin.

Longji Rice Terrace

Elephant Trunk Hill

Today, you will say goodbye to China. The guide will drive you to the airport and help you with your luggage and check-in.

Editor: Hu Guoyu

Proofreader: Summer Hou