Day Eight – Hiking in Xingping

Friday 22 January 2010
8:30am Hike to Snail Hill
10:30am Hike to the top of Laozhai Hill
11:30am Eat Guilin Noodles with school kids in Xingping
12:30pm Hike to spot of the image on the back of China’s 20 yuan bill
1:15pm Continue hiking to Nine Horse Fresco Hill
2:30pm Catch a bamboo raft back to Xingping (very cold)
3:15pm Attempt to warm up by the fire in our hostel
4:00pm Give up, start on our four hour trek to the Guilin airport
12:15am Finally board delayed plane back to Nanjing
3:30am Throw down our bags and hit the sack as we say goodbye to a trip well planned

The view from the roof-top of our hostel:



Kiersten: As we headed out that day, I admit that I was a little apprehensive. After our experience of being cold and wet the day before, I didn't really want to have that happen again. But the whole day was absolutely wonderful! And we were able to hold off becoming cold and miserable until we had seen everything we wanted to. As we climbed to the top of a nearby karst mountain that morning and then looked over Xingping and the Li river, I was again struck with how incredibly beautiful it all was. I felt awed and lucky to be able to be there and see it all. What a wonderful trip.

At the start of the hike up Lao Zhai Shan (the nearby karst mountain). Hiking up steep slippery stone steps in the rain might not be the best idea, but we made it!

From the top:


Eric: The hills around Xingping were my favorite. It was still raining, but we weren’t willing to pass up the opportunity to see more of karst mountain beauty. Our trip to and back from Snail Hill went quite well, and I was quite excited to find that in the rock bed along the path there were ironically quite a few snail shells to be found. Much to Kiersten’s amusement, I couldn’t help but stop and sift through the rocks to find the best ones. The day went by wonderfully, but a few minutes into our boat ride back to Xingping, the wetness that had accumulated on our clothes throughout the day began to be more apparent. As we reached our hostel, we were forced to take a break and try to warm ourselves by hot coals pulled from the furnace. It didn’t work, however, and the whole way to the airport both Kiersten and I were wondering if we had gone too far with our adventure. The cold and the wet was painful, to say the least. Would we do it again? If you were to ask me on the bus, I’d have said no, but ask me at any other time, and I’d say definitely.

I loved our trip. From Hong Kong to the Longji Rice Terraces to Yangshuo to Xingping, Kiersten and I had a wonderful time. Things could hardly have gone better.

Taking the little ferry across the river.



Snail Hill. It really does look like a snail shell, doesn't it?

Eric looking for snail shells with Snail Hill in the background. He got so excited by them. He reminded me of his Grandma Matthews- I have almost the exact same picture of her looking for shells when we went to visit them in Washington. Like grandma, like grandson.

Not the best picture and we weren't at quite the right angle, but the is the same view that is depicted on the 20 RMB banknote. (Chinese currency) We thought that was neat.



Can you see the little man on the raft? I love this picture.


This particular mountain is called Nine Horse Fresco Hill. The whitish areas are supposed to look like horses. You have to look really hard, and even then they still don't look too much like horses.

Our raft-ride back to Xingping.