An ambitious 29 days plan
Five months ago we were in China for a 26 days half guided half DIY (do-it-yourself) trip. The DIY parts to Bejing (4 days) and Xi’an (4 days) were so easy that we were totally ready to do more DIY trip to China on again.
This time we were back in China for a 29 days which practically maxed out the 30 days visa free stay in China. We would be visiting Gulin, Yangtze River, Yading Daocheng and JuiZhaiGou. They were selected because when we looked at all the places in China we had NOT visited yet, these places were the ones we wanted to see most.
Basically we picked the places before we planned how to get from one to another. We did not want to rush from one destination to the next so we packed in stops /days to allow us to move leisurely from one destination to another. Within China, for short distance travel we would be moving around using cabs and buses as for long distance travel we would fly or take the fast train.
Getting to Guilin via xiamen
There was not direct flight from Singapore to Guilin (our first must see destination) so we flew via Xiamen on “Xiamen Airlines“. The departure time from Singapore was 3pm arriving in Xiamen 5 hours later at 8pm. The next morning we would leave Xiamen at 7.30am and reached Guilin in 1 hour 40 minutes. 
Fly to Guilin via Xiamen on Xiamen Airlines
We liked flight time that was short and all within the day. The transit time also allowed us to check in to a hotel for a good night sleep. Xiamen airport was a large, bright and modern airport. On arrival we quickly “put” in our sim card bought specifically for china “data”.
With mobile data we quickly contacted our hotel to arrange for pickup. We found that it was most convenient to have our own data than to rely on free airport wifi. Mobile data cost was just a fraction of the entire cost of the trip and having assured connectivity greatly improved the experience of a trip.
The hotel receptionist directed us to road just outside the arrival level and wait for the hotel van near a certain “eatery”.
Our pickup came, and in less than 10 minutes we reached our hotel. Check in was smooth and the hotel was very interesting. Xiamen Fliport Coso Hotel (厦门海丝艺术品中心佰翔琨烁酒店) was “Arty”.
After a quick refreshing in our room, we were down in seach of dinner. The receptionist pointed us to some “eateries” just across the road. There was only a few small “eateries”, nothing fancy like the one we saw at the airport. We picked a stall that looked “okay” and went in to have a simple meal. It was more essential to do a quick dinner and returned to our lovely room to rest and relax and a good nite sleep before our 7.30am flight the next morning.
Our stay for the night
Our stay in Xiamen was Xiamen Fliport Coso Hotel (厦门海丝艺术品中心佰翔琨烁酒店) on Trip.com. It costed about ¥500 a night for two of us. We selected the option of no breakfast as we planned to have our breakfast at the airport after we checked in.
The most important reason as to chosing this hotel was its promixity to the airport, about 900m. Best of all the hotel provided two way airport transfer at no cost! This suited us so well as we could quickly get from the airport to the hotel to rest and relax on arrival and leave for the airport the next morning without having to wake “ungodly” early. In the listing at Trip.com, the hotel looked modern and new and good!
The lobby was lovely full of art installments, we had an interesting walk to our room. The room was lovely too. Bright, clear, colourful and spacious.
The room had an ensuite toilet, it came in three compartments, the wc room, shower room and wash basin area.
Other accommodation nearby
