Pingxiang Travel Forum

Would it be possible to hire a taxi from Pingxiang to Gulin?
Any leads on how to go about booking one??

There is more than one pingxiang, but I expect you mean the one on the Vietnamese border. That's a long way from Guilin - probably getting on for 10 hours driving. Anything is possible, but I think you might have difficulty engaging any hire car for that long. (I'm not sure, but I think there might be traffic police problems for the driver being so far from home.)

Why not just take the train? Pingxiang direct to Nanning, then Nanning to Guilin. You might be able to take buses too.

Thanks John,

Looks like train is the option.. We just spent time in Cambodia and taxi'd virtually everywhere. 4 hour / 300km rides in AC camry - $35

Thought there may be potential in this country also.. We intend to travel Hanoi to guilin - Gangzhou - Honkers... Most probably be by train.. Any other way to get to Gangzhou from Ha Long Bay???

You mean Guangzhou?

Where do you actually want to go? If you just want to get to Guangzhou, no point in going to Guilin, you can fly Nanning-Guangzhou for about 600RMB. In fact if you just want to get to HK, you could fly Nanning-Shenzhen.

We have about 6 days to get from Hanoi to Guangzhou and heard guilin and Yangshuo were worth a visit. We havent made any arrangements but investigating possibilities at this stage. Will be leaving Ha Long Bay on the 29th - 30th June. That much is definate. We fly out of Hong Kong back to Brisbane on the 15th July, That much is definate. Between Hanoi and Hong Kong we need to visit people in Guangzhou for a couple of days.. Other than all that we can go were we please.. DO not neccesarily have a tight budget but do not need 5 star either. Have looked at flying but would miss a lot of the country that way.

You sound as though you are familiar with the area. Any recommendation would be greatly appreciated as to us it is a journey into the unknown. My girlfriend speaks some cantonese, however with an aussie accent. We would just like to see some great sites, some awesome scenery, hopefully no buses..!!

I heard that westerners can hire cars now in China, is that true??

I think Yangshuo is much more worth a visit than Guilin. But you have to get to Guilin first. (Unless you know your way round Guangxi.) Buses usually are faster than trains, and hence a little dearer. Both are pretty slow - train Guilin - Guangzhou takes more than 12 hours, bus similar. So whatever scenery there is, you'd be sick of pretty soon. My philosophy is to pay the money and get to where I'm going.

Within Guangxi, rather than rush to Guilin, perhaps make your way slower, and stop overnight in Liuzhou (3 hours from Guilin by bus or train). nanning isn't really worth stopping at.

Other places to see on the way to Guangzhou - you could take a day out at Zhaoqing which is pretty enough, with its seven-star lake. (Guilin has a seven-star lake too.) There are coastal places in Guangdong you could think about - Yangjiang for instance, or Shanwei. As well as places inland, such as hot springs at Qingxin/Qingyuan or Conghua. And caves at Yingde.

Hong Kong itself has plenty to offer - I'm just back from 4 days there, where I stayed on Cheung Chau island and ate some wonderful fish meals.

About hiring a car, I've no idea. Chinese drivers are complete loonies, so I wouldn't care to risk it. I think you need to speak Chinese to drive, but between you that's no problem. I guess it's all a matter of a back-hander to the right person. Like most things here...

From the border at PingXiang you can take either the train or the bus to Nanning, but the bus is faster. And from there you can take another bus to Guilin where you can transfer to the shuttle bus for Yangshuo which is considerably less expensive than Guilin (where there are a lot of overpriced accomodations).

In addition to Yangshuo where you can take boattrips amongst the karst at Xing Ping. I'd also recommend a visit to the Longsheng/Longji terraced rice-fields and hilltribes area. Stunning scenery staying in a cabin.

Shoudln't be a problem also taking VIP buses between Guilin/Yangshuo and Guangzhou or Hong Kong. I took an overnight VIP bus between Shenzhen across the border from HK, to Guilin/Yangshuo and it was very clean and good quality with a bathroom on-board.

Thanks so much for your replies, it is helping the fog lift a bit on rather grey area of our journey. I have read some nasty stories about the way tourists are treated around guilin, and particularly with the olympics coming I dont see it improving.

John,

I will have a look at the areas you recommend and try to organise a route through were you recommend I like the idea of not just being on the designated tourist route. Particularly as my GF can speak cantonese (her parents were originally from hong kong). This I believe will be a bonus for me, however she is deeply concerned that she will be viewed as a hooker. I have told her once they here her cantonese with an aussie accent she will be OK.

Have you heard about the Viet. crossing at mon cai and the ability to move from there.. Also what would be the internal airfare costs as you pertain to?

Once again, thanks for your time, it will be invaluable to us later..!

Seagypsy, we were basically going to follow the route you have recommended, but are now looking further afield. Buses for me are a painful and dampening experience on trips as I spent enough time on them when I was 20. Planes, Boats, cars, motorbikes and trains (in order of preference) are perfectly viable means of moving around. Although I hear the VIP coaches are very nice this may change.

Daytime buses andovernight buses are two different animals. My only ride on an overnight bus I swore would be my last. They have very narrow bunk beds, five across the bus at the back. Too small for large westerner such as myself.

Day buses are fine.

Train schedules:
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/

Airline schedules:
http://english.ctrip.com/ but these quote full price. Often there is a discount of up to 60% (or more) depending on time of day, day of week etc.

Actually quite near Pingziang, on the border, are the Detian Falls, claimed as "the second largest trans-border waterfalls in Asia." Whatever that means. Also the leaning pagoda at Chongzuo.

Hello OP/Blonk--that VIP bus I took was in excellent shape and more like the very high-end VIP buses that one comes across in the US or Thailand. They even have a female attendant--similar to a flight attendant--to pass out handwipes, snacks, water, etc.

Just a caveat. I'm able to speak a bit of Cantonese myself but found China still one of the hardest countries to communicate in because not that many people outside of the Canton/Guangzhou-HK-Macau area speak that much Cantonese. I even took several years of Mandarin but because each place has their own dialects and accents, sometimes it was still quite difficult to understand what Mandarin speakers were saying. So, I'd advise to still take a good Chinese/Mandarin phrase-book along. I wouldn't worry too much about people what people think with regards to your girlfriend. If she's adopted the mannerisms of Australia, then it'll be readily apparent to locals that she's an overseas chinese and they'll be able to tell quickly just by how she dresses and carries herself. Anyways, have an excellent time. I think you'll like the Longji/Longshend/Dragon's Back terraced ricefields and concomittant ethnic minority area.

Yes, communication between Chinese people can be so difficult that quite often they resort to passing each other notes - the written language is the same but the spoken language isn't necessarily. So it always amuses me when someone such as waitress in a restaurant will pass me a note when she sees my bewilderment at her speaking! If your g/f can read/write Chinese, then no prob.

I don't know what the girls on the buses are there for - they do pass out water when the journey starts, but that's it, apart from an occasional message over the intercom, unintelligible even to Chinese people because she has the system set to full concert hall reverb!

I wouldn't dream of hiring a taxi for Pingxiang -- Guilin, there're buses and trains that you could take. I presume you mean the Pingxiang on the border near Vietnam.

You'll need to change trains at Nanning.

Pingxiang -- Nanning:
7312 (0900--1500) 6h00min
5518 (1445--1807) 3h22min

Possible connecting trains for Nanning -- Guilin:
5534 (1610--2150) 5h40min
1558 (1901--0033) 5h32min
1628 (2014--0145) 5h31min
K582/K583 (2355--0527) 5h32min

Possible connecting buses for Nanning -- Guilin: 1640, 1800, 1900, 2000, 2230, 2300

Or, since you're coming from Halong Bay, you could also take the direct bus from there to Nanning that leaves at 0730 or 0800. Sorry, I don't know the details, try calling 84-33-627888/620988/825898/849655 to ask!

Yangshuo transport details: http://www.yangers.com/How_to_get_to_Yangshuo.htm

You could take comfortable sleeper buses from Yangshuo to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, no need to backtrack to Guilin.