Shenzhen, Hezhou, Quilin, Zhaoqing Travel (Part I)
Shenzhen, Hezhou, Quilin, Zhaoqing Travel (Part I)
China is a large country with the world’s largest population of 1.4 billion. She is rich in history, arts, traditions and cultures of 5,000 years. Besides, China has unrivalled natural physical beauty.
Since China opened her door to foreign investors in 1980, it has transformed from a country of poverty to one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
Early year 2005, my wife and I decided to travel to China for the first time to learn about her people, culture and history. The first two main places we wanted to visit then were Shenzhen City and Quilin.
Below is the itinerary of our travel.
Day 1 Travel to Hong Kong Day 2 Shenzhen City Tour
Travel to Hezhou City I
Day 3 Gu Po Mountain Visit
Silver Cave (Lipu)
Day 4 Quilin City Tour
Day 5 Quilin City Tour (Last Day)
Li River Boat Cruise
West Street (Yangshuo)
Day 6 Travel to Zhaoqing City
Day 7 Zhaoqing City Tour
Back to Shenzhen City
Day 8 Travel Back to Malaysia
Day 1: Monday 30 May 2005 Travel to Hong Kong
Our Tour Group On 30 June 2005, my wife, son and I joined a group of 17 Malaysians for an exciting tour
of some cities in the two China provinces of Quangdong and Quangxi. As summer in Southern China is hot and wet, we decided to bring along light clothing and umbrellas for the trip.
At Changi International Airport in Singapore, we boarded a China plane (A737 300) and at about 5.30 p.m. the plane took off for Hong Kong. After a few minutes of flying, we felt slightly hot in the plane. I was wondering whether the air-con inside was under utilized. During the flight, the plane encountered a few moments of minor turbulence over South China Sea. Although we were asked to be seated and tied ourselves with safety-belts during the turbulence I was surprised to see the air-stewards and air-stewardesses continuously distributing food to the passengers.
Arrival at Hong Kong After 3 1/2 hours of trouble-free flight, the plane landed safely at Hong Kong
International Airport (Chek Lap Kok) on Lantau Island.
Then we passed through the Hong Kong immigration, custom and health checkpoints smoothly. After that we boarded a green coach and were on our way to mainland China.
Before entering mainland China, we had to go through another immigration checkpoint at the border, Shenzhen Checkpoint. We went through the checkpoint fast as there were not many people at the late evening (10 p.m.)
Day 1: Monday 30 May 2005 Arrival at Shenzhen City
After the Shenzhen checkpoint we boarded another coach and began our 7 day-tour in south-east China. At 11.00 p.m. we checked in at Sunon Hotel in a narrow street, Yongxin Street, in Shenzhen. After checking in and leaving our luggage in our room, my wife and I hurriedly went out shopping near the hotel. We were surprised that at such late hour, shops were still open and the brightly-lit streets were crowded with people. It looks as though Shenzhen is a city that never sleeps.
About Shenzhen Shenzhen is a fast growing metropolis with a population of 5 million. It is located in the southern coastal area of Guangdong Province and 35 km north of Hong Kong City. It faces
the South China Sea in the east and high mountains in the south-east and low ones in the north-east. It is commonly known as Hong Kong’s “backyard”.
In 1979, China, under the leadership of Deng Xiao Ping, opened its door to foreign investors. Since then she has transformed from a country of poverty into one of the world’s fastest growing countries. She produces goods ranging from apparel to vehicles. Her goods are sold everywhere in the world as they are produced cheaply by her hardworking people.
Economic Zones Shenzhen is divided into three parts: the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Shenzhen City and Shenzhen County.
The SEZ attracts many foreign investors as China offers significant tax concessions during the early life of their projects. It now has many industries, including machinery, automobile assemblies, electrical goods, electronics, textiles and foodstuff.
The world demand for goods is so great that Shenzhen has built three harbours for a large number of container-ships which help to export its goods.
Day 2: Tuesday 31 May 2005 Shenzhen City Tour
After breakfast at the Sunon Hotel restaurant, we went on a sightseeing tour of Shenzhen City.
Old Shenzhen City First, we went to the old city. It was once a busy fishing village with a population of 30,000. The streets here are narrow, crowded and jammed with traffic. Quaint buildings are still standing there. It is a popular place among both locals and tourists as it offers myriads of merchandise ranging from apparel to the latest cell-phones as well as a variety of local cuisines.
New Shenzhen City When our coach brought us to the new city, we were amazed to see a complete change. The new city is planned and modern. Here the streets are wide and lined with trees. Multi-storey skyscrapers are mushrooming on both sides of the streets for commercial and financial purposes. The tallest is 356 metres high. They house offices, banks, shops, restaurants, hotels and many more. High-rise residential buildings can be seen in the outskirts of the city.
Cars of Popular Brands It is amazing to see many cars of popular brands on the roads. The people in the city must have benefited from the rapid economic growth in Shenzhen and become affluent. As China’s one-child policy has stopped many from having a second child, more people have much disposable income to buy a car.
Shenzhen City has no interesting historical and cultural sites, but it has some interesting attractions, like the theme and amusement parks, viz. “Splendid China Park”, “China Folk Culture Village” and “Window of the World”.
Lianhua Hill Park (Lotus Hill Park) After the city tour, we went to Lianhua Hill Park (Lotus Hill Park) which is about 2 km from the city. It is a clean, refreshing, open space with carpet grass. The park is on a gentle slope of Lianhua Hill (106 metres high). A small road leads to the top of the hill where a statue of Deng Xiao Ping is
located. Locals bring their families there for fun, relaxation, jogging, hill-climbing and kite-flying.
Xingyu Mineral Museum Then we went to Fu Tian District in Shenzhen to visit Xingyu Mineral Museum. Its exhibits include crystals in their natural shapes and forms, crystal balls of different colours, jade made into jewellery, miniature boats, fruits and animals and intricate embroidery works. Most of the exhibits in the museum are for sale.
‘Pixiu’ The only exhibit that attracted my attention was a figure of an unusual creature known
as Pixiu’ (dubbed as David’s Deer). It is a mythical animal with a dragon’s head, horse’s body, lion’s paws and kylin’s horns. The Chinese believe that if you have a ‘pixiu’, you will have a peaceful and healthy life, good luck, wealth and power.
Day 2 : Tuesday 31 May 2005 Travel to Hezhou City
At 11 a.m. we left Shenzhen City and headed west for a long journey to our next destination, Hezhou City in Quangxi Province.
Expressways Travelling west on the Guan Shen Expressway, we
noticed the scenery changed from urban to rural. The expressway cuts across the Pearl River Delta. The delta is one of China’s most densely cultivated areas as rivers, Xi Jiang, Pei Jiang, Tung Jiang and Pearl River, from all over the provinces flow through this fertile region to the South China Sea. In the countryside, villages of old buildings, fish-ponds, duck-ponds, paddy fields, vegetable farms and orchards are common sights.
The expressway passes by many towns. When the the traffic was approaching Quangzhou City, it started to crawl. Vehicles ranging from smoke-belching heavy ones to the latest model cars choked the expressway. Then our tour guide told us that we were not going to visit Quangzhou City as the traffic jam there would set us back two hours. So we bypassed the city
and travelled along a few more expressways, such as Hua Nan, Guangfo and Guan San. The motorists using these expressways have to pay toll charges which are high.
Lunch-Time At 1.30 p.m. we stopped at a restaurant, Nan Jiang Fishing Port, in the outskirt of Sihui City which is near Sansin City for lunch. The food served here was bland and salty. As we were hungry, we ate it without much complaint. Then we were on our way again to Hezhou City.
Bad Roads This time the journey was uncomfortable as the coach was travelling on narrow, old roads in Quangxi Province. It had to make a detour at places where roads were under repair. While
travelling in the mountainous areas, our coach-driver had to drive cautiously on the narrow, winding and steep roads. There are many heavy vehicles travelling on these roads. Each time a big vehicle passed by, it came too close to our coach making us worried.
Simple Washrooms At 3.30 p.m. our coach stopped at a petrol station, Fan Lin Petrol Station, for refilling. Some of us went to a washroom nearby. When I entered the washroom for gentlemen, I was surprised to see a row of small cubicles with low walls of 1 metre high and without doors.
Out of curiosity, I entered one of them. Then I figured out that if I wanted to do the big ‘business’ I would have to squat over a narrow deep drain which ran under all the cubicles. As there was no water in the cubicle, I would have to leave the
cubicle without flushing away my “deposit”. I was told that it would be flushed away at intervals together with the rest by a large among of water rushing down the drain and making all the ‘things’ disappear down somewhere. I was told by the ladies that their washroom had the same toilet facility as the gents’. Some of them who were shy used umbrellas to hide themselves for privacy!
Quangxi Province Soon we entered Quangxi Province from Quangdong Province. There is a blue arch over the road that marks the border btween the two provinces. Quangxi province is less developed than Quangdong Province. It is a common sight to see
farmlands of paddy, maize and vegetables, orchards of lychees, longans, plums and peaches, fish-ponds and duck-ponds in the rural areas. Along main roads, traditional industries such as stone-cutting, bamboo-collecting and brick-making can be seen.
Hezhou City After about 8 hours of travelling from Shenzhen City, we finally arrived at Hezhou City and checked in at a hotel known as “New Century Hotel” along Gu Po Hill Road.
Hezhou City is in the east of Guangxi Zhang Autonomous Region with a population of 900,000. It has a history of more than 2,000 years. Besides cultural relics and historical sites, it has beautiful landscapes of limestone hills and caves attracting many tourists from home and overseas.
Motorized Tricycles The roads in Hezhou City are wide. Most of the busy crossroads do not have traffic-lights. The most popular means of city transport here is motorized tricycles. On these vehicles, the drivers sit in front of their passengers. It is surprising to see many young women driving these vehicles for a living.
Day 3: Wednesday 1 June 2005 Gu Po Mountain Visit
An International Passport Incident After breakfast at the New Century Hotel restaurant, we were shocked when we learned that one of our tour members had lost his international passport. He was bombarded with a lot of questions about his lost passport. A thorough search in his hotel room paid off. It was found hidden under his comforter. He said he could not remember putting it there the previous night. Anyway, we heaved a sigh of relief when we were told that it was found.
After that incident our tour guide told us to hand over our passports to him every night and he would keep them in the hotel safe deposit box. He added that he would return them in the morning.
Gu Po Mountain At 8.30 a.m. we departed for Gu Po Mountain (Gu Po Shan). The road to the mountain is narrow and bumpy. When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, it was raining heavily. Crystal clear water could be seen rushing down a stream with rocks at its bottom. The place was lush green and scenic and the air there was clean and
refreshing.
Angel Waterfall To go to a beautiful waterfall called Angel Waterfall, we took a 9-seat vehicle. It took a few minutes to reach there. Standing in front of the waterfall we were awestricken by the spectacular sight of water continuously rushing down the steep 30-metre high waterfall.
Legend According to a legend, there was a long drought in the
farms near the mountain. One day, an old lady went to the mountain and spent many days praying to an angel for rain. Finally, the angel answered her prayer and the farmers were happy to see rain falling down for many days. That is how the mountain gets its name, i.e. Old Lady Mountain (Gu Po Shan) and the waterfall, Angel Waterfall.
When we came down the steep mountain, we stopped at a winery where gluttonous rice is made into rice wine. We tasted a few types of wine, each containing different amount of alcohol. A few of us bought it. Then we went to a small tea farm to learn about tea-making. Later we went back to the foot
of the mountain where our coach was waiting to take us to one of the most spectacular karst landforms in the world in Lipu. It is known as Silver Cave.
Day 3: Wednesday 1 June 2005 Silver Cave (Lipu)
On the way to Lipu, we passed through a few towns and villages. We also crossed a long bridge which is over Xijiang river (China’s third longest river) in the mountainous region.
Silver Cave Silver Cave is in Maling Town of Lipu County. It has been opened to tourists since 1999. It is about 2 km long: passing through twelve limestone-hills. It consists of three parts: Lower Part, Grand Hall and Upper Part. It is like a fairyland inside the caves as one can see stunning stalactites and stalagmites of different shapes and sizes resembling “musical curtain”, “preaching Buddha”, “waterfall on snowhill”, “pearl-decorated umbrella”, “twin towels”, “sea corals” and many more. It took us more than an hour to walk from one end of the cave to the other. The beauty of the structures is enhanced by colourful lighting.
Dinner: After the awesome experience in Silver Cave, we had an early dinner at Silver Cave Restaurant nearby. At 6.20 p.m. we left for Quilin which is 85 km north of Silver Cave.
On arrival at Quilin at 8 p.m. we checked in at a three-star hotel, City Garden Hotel, along Zhongshan South Road. Later, all of us went for a foot massage. After that painful and ticklish treatment, we felt fresh and rejuvenated. Then we went shopping in a few streets which were brightly-lit.
Written by: Choo Chaw, Kluang, Johor, Malaysia