HI = Hostel Incompetence, YHA = You're Having Alaugh
People i met here, who contributed to and improved my trip: Juliana (Russia)
We arrived into Guilin around 8.45pm, pretty shattered and ready to get to our hostel for some food and a drink. We pulled out our Backstreet Youth Hostel flyer and followed its instructions to wait for the No. 2 bus, leaving from near the bus station. After 10 minutes we put our bags down, realising that the second we did the bus would arrive. Unfortunately this didn't work, as we watched countless buses pass by. After 40 minutes we lost our patience and decided to jump on any bus heading in the right direction and take it from there. Sods law meant that the bus we jumped on immediately turned the wrong way and we had to jump off it! Now really annoyed, we decided to walk, what we believed would be 15 minutes.
I finally lost my cool when the hostel receptionist told us that the cheapest rooms available, were infact twice the price of what was quoted on the flyers, as they were conveniently doing maintenance to all the cheap dorms! Explaining what we had gone through to get there, i suggested a discount would only be fair, at which point another member of staff suggested i go and stay at Flowers Hostel if i didn't like this one. I asked if he believed that hostel would treat us better and was also nicer, to which he replied yes to both accounts! I told him it could hardly get any worse and we left, opting for a taxi to take us back to the station we had come from, where the hostel was situated! Thankfully this hostel was much more accomodating and sympathetic, reopening their kitchen to feed us some dinner!
Our first day in Guilin was spent dawdling around the town and getting a workout by climbing Fubo Shan, for some aerial views across the town, which was dotted with interesting Karst rock formations.
Our second full day was spent doing much the same as the first, wandering around doing sweet fa. I did go for a highly recommendable haircut though, which included a 15 minute hairwash and 15 minute massage, all for under a pound! It made Julia and I realise why all Chinese women seem to have fantastic hair.... why not go to the hairdressers on a regular basis at that price!? If only i could find this kind of service at these prices in England, the hairdressers would become my second home!
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