Morning in XingPing
We woke up early at about 6.30am in the morning and went up to “Mercure” roof top to view the Karst Landscape of XingPing. The mist was still heavy in the air and the peaks were partly covered. We did not see any spectacular view but still enjoyed the quietness and coolness of the surrounding.
At 7.15am we took a walk down the road and found that it was a morning farmer marke street. The farmers in the nearby farms had brought out their produces and displayed them on the sides of the street for sales. The produces looked so green and fresh. Too bad, we were not cooking our own meal for this trip or we would buy some local vegetables for breakfast.
At about 8.30am we were back to our hotel for our breakfast. Mercure (Gulin YangShuo XingPing) was an international hotel so the breakfast spread was more diversified compared to local hotels. After a few days of simple breakfast, it was nice to have a change.
XingPing to GuiYang to anshun
From XingPing we were going to GuiYang then to Anshun . XingPing was a town in Guangxi Province and GuiYang was the capital of GuiZhou Province (adjacent to GuangXi). From GuiYang we would proceed to Anshun (a city). We were in Anshun to visit HuangGuoShu Waterfall the largest waterfall in Asia which was 50km from Anshun.
From our hotel in XingPing we took a taxis to YangShuo Station (Train Station) which was only 8km away.
YangShuo station was 33km to the east of Yangshuo but was only 8km from XingPing. It proximity to XingPing was a reason we stay a night in XingPing before departing the Guilin/Yangshuo/XingPing area.
YangShuo Station was a big station. To get into the station we had to scan our passport, got our luggage checked basically for sharp objects. Once in the station we waited below a huge electronic sign board displaying the arrival times of various trains stopping at YangShuo Station.
We were waiting for the 11.45am train that would take us to GuiYang North Station (GuiYangBei), which was the first of two legs train ride. Usually tourist could buy train tickets on Trip.com but I bought mine directly from China Rail 01236 (a mobile app) since we were familiar with the Chinese Language. We found buying directly more assuring as we were able to make the purchase once the tickets was put online. These tickets were usually made available two weeks before the trip.
Our journey from YangShuo station to GuiYang North Station took 2 hours and 46 minutes. We bought first class seats which were super comfortable, not many locals bought first class seats so the entire cabin was empty except for two of us. The price of the first class ticket was ¥293 per person which was about the same as the price indicated on Trip.com.
The train arrived at GuiYangBei Station on the “dot” at 2.31pm. We found our way to the next platform for another train departing from GuiYang North Station to Anshun West Station. GuiYangBei station was very big and all exiting passengers were channelled out one direction so we had to exit before we could enter again. Our next ride was at 3.40pm and the transfer timing was just sufficient.
GuiYang North station was a very large station and the departure hall was packed with people. There were many platforms and lengthy queues formed long before the arrival time of the trains. Our ride from GuiYang North to Anshun was only 31 minutes and train speeded off even faster than our earlier ride. The train speed went up to 295km/hr.
At Anshun West Station we exited the station and walked to the main road to e-hail a taxis to our hotel which was a “very” short distance away. With our bags in tolled it would be difficult to walk to our hotel.
HuangGuoShu Waterfall
HuangGuoShu Waterfall (黄果树瀑布) was the largest fall in Asia. It was situated south-west of Anshun, 40 km away. We read on the internet that there was a “bus” that transferred directly from Anshun West Station to HuangGuoShu National Park. When we arrived at Anshun West station the day before at about 4pm, we saw a huge sign pointing to another building adjoining the station on its right (when exiting) stating “bus ride to HuangGuoShu”. We walked over to do a “recee” and found a ticketing counter selling bus ride to HuangGuoShu. On checking with the ticketing staff since we were only visiting the waterfall the next day, we could buy our bus tickets the next day, prebooking of tickets were not needed as there were ample buses leaving for HuangGuoShu.
The next day after our breakfast we walked from our hotel to Anshun West Station. It was just a 10 minutes walk. We reached the ticketing counter at about 9.30 am and bought our bus tickets. There were a couple of visitors around and we waited for about 20minutes before the bus departed for HuangGuoShu Waterfall.
The bus ticket was valid for the day and had to be used by 6.10pm which was probably the last bus for the day. We supposed that there would be visitors taking the 6.10pm to visit HuangGuoShu Waterfall at night? The bus journey took about 50 minutes. Before we alighted the bus, the driver informed us that we could buy the return ticket in the building “infront” and the last return bus would depart from HuangGuoShu waterfall at 6.30pm. We went in to purchase for our return tickets.
After getting down from the bus, we walked to the Scenic Area ticketing office to get our entrance tickets. We bought a combo ticket which included entrance, tourist bus two-ways transfer and two-way elevator rides. Apparently senior (like us) above 60 years old needed not pay for entrance, our combo ticket cost ¥100 per person.
We had tried earlier on to get our tickets on trip.com but at that time this attractions was not offered on the platform.
HuangGuoShu (黄果树) meant Yellow Fruit Tree, so we wondered if there were many yellow fruit trees at HuangGuoShu waterfall. At the ticketing counter, a staff informed us that due to heavy rainfall the last few days, one of the “paths” that led behind the waterfall was closed as the ground was unstable.
On the reverse side of the tickets there were some instructions. First it said that the tickets were valid for three days. This place was big which meant ones could visit it leisurely over a few days if one stayed in a hotel nearby. Ooo.. if we had known that earlier we would have planned a multi days trip to this scenic area. Arriving in the evening to visit the scenic site for its “lighted up scenery” then staying in a hotel nearby and continued exploration of the park on the 2nd day.
On the tickets, there was also indication that there were three main attractions in this scenic area, (1) Steep Pond 陡坡塘 (2) SkyStar Bridge天星桥 (Tianxingqiao Scenic Area) and (3) Big Waterfall 大瀑布. Unfortunately the map did not give a clear indication of the locations of these attractions. We would have to board the tourist bus and let it take us to “whereever”.
Our first stop was across the river (Bai Water River 白水河), once we alighted, we walked along with many others down a path to an steep escalator. Since we had already paid for our “escalator ride” we scanned our tickets at the entrance and went down a very steep and long escalator which went down and down. Wow we were only too glad that we had paid for the return escalator ride too. Walk up these countless steps would be “killing”.
The weather was slightly rainy and misty and it certainly made the waterfall seemed more gigantic. After we reached the base of the escalator we exited and went onto a path that ran along huge turbulent river. There was a suspended bridge hanging over the river and many people was crossing it to another walking path on the other side of the river.
Though this area was called HuangGuoShu Waterfall Scenic Area, it was not about one waterfall it was actually a series of waterfalls. The path from the escalator lead us to one waterfall apting named “Big Waterfall” 大瀑布”. Just when we were near the fall, we felt water droplets pelting on our face, we were not too sure if the droplets came from the splashing of the fall or the drizzle. There were a couple of viewpoints and we went all the way to the one nearest to the fall.
At the viewpoints there were just too many people all converging there to take photos after photos. We took our photos and squeezed our way out and soon we crossed the suspended bridge. After the bridge there was a path that went behind the “Big Waterfall”. We were told that the path was closed due to unstable ground caused by several days of rain but we still wanted to “try our luck” to check if the path was truly closed. “Yes! it was closed and barricaded! So we crossed the bridge again and went up the escalator to a tourist bus station to take the tourist bus to the next stop.
Our next stop was “Sky Star Bridge (天星桥) Scenic Area (Tianxingqiao Scenic Area)”. We alighted from the tourist bus continued walking forward till we saw a map/sign board. In the Star-Bridge-Scenic-Area (Tianxingqiao Scenic Area) there were a upper region and a lower region. We were currently in the upper region and would have to transfer to the lower region via another tourist bus ride or walked all the way. In the lower region there was another beautiful waterfall.
The lower legion was a rocky canyon .. with water everywhere. Not sure if the wetness was due to the rain or the place was always this wet. There were many stepping stones, each with a day of the year printed on it. Apparently there were 365 steps, each representing a day. It was fun walking on the stepping stones in increasing order to the day of the year. After a while we stopped counting.
Somehow the crowd that was very overwhelming at the “Big Waterfall” was not here at the TianXingQiao Scenic Area. We wondered where did the crowd went to?This place was very rugged with sharp rocks, boulders and crevices everywhere. Luckily there were good proper walking paths so it was easy to walk on.
Our walk ended at “Sky-Star Lake (Tianxingqiao Lake)”. At the perimeter of the lake were some eateries selling drinks and “finger food” so we took our “coffee/fingerfood break. The weather was drizzly and the scenery was misty and mysterious.
We ordered a cold desert and a spiral potato fries from the only eatery that was opened for business. Both tasted not great.
At the lake we saw a sign board indicating the distance to various attractions in the lower section. The “right” path led to the exit of the “upper section” the “left” path led to various sights in the “lower section”. The first attraction was about 600m away and the waterfall was 2.5 km away. We decided to walk left!
The hike was pretty scenic, there were steps, high cliff, dense vegetation. There were mountains, mist and valleys. The weather was cooling and the drizzle had stopped and the walk was relaxing and refreshing. As usually we had plenty of time on hand so we stopped as and when we wished to enjoy the scenery, to take countless of photos.
About 600 meters later we reached a limestone cave, TianXingDong (天星洞). The cave was full of limestone formation, it was colorfully lighted up but the lights the place artificial. We did not spend long to walk through the cave.
Finally after more than 2.5 km we reached a gigantic waterfall. The waterfalls was massive, it was massive not in the tall way, it was massive over the area it covered. The ground where the water flowed was full of undulating huge boulders and the rushing water flooded, twirled and crashed over them. The water sound was roaring loudly and we had to shout over our heads to hear each other when we talk.
The name of the waterfall was 银链坠潭瀑布 which translated to “silver chain dropping waterfall”. The whiteness of the water did look like silver and the streaks of water cascading down the boulders did look like silver chains.
Interestingly the huge crowd appeared near the waterfall. The viewpoints were pack with visitors again!
After we were done with the waterfall we found our way to the tourist bus terminal (lower section of TianXingQiao Scenic Area) to hop on a bus that brought us all the way to the main entrance of HuangGuoShu Waterfall Scenic Area. Unfortunately it was not exactly at the same main entrance where we bought our entrance ticket earlier on. In China the entrance and exit areas were separated and in this case pretty far apart. We had to get back to the entrance to board the bus to get back to Anshun West Station. It was a 20minutes of “not knowing” exactly which way to walk to get back to the main extrance.
Two nights in Anshu
We booked two nights at Mercure Anshun as we thought that by the time we reached Anshun it would be too late to visit HuangGuoShu Waterfall so the plan was to stay a night in Anshun and to have a full day for HuangGuoShu Waterfall the next day. After the visit we would return to Anshun for another night before going forward the next day.
The reason we selected a hotel very near Anhsun West Train station was that this station was where we started and ended often in the next three days. So staying in a hotel near to Anshun West Station would be most convenience.
Mercure Hotel Guizhou Anshun West Railway Station was 600 metres from Anshun West Station. When we had no luggages to carry it was a 10 to 12 minutes walk. When we had to carry our luggages it was a ridicuously cheap taxis ride of ¥6.48 for two persons and two huge roller bags and two backpacks!
We booked a Superior Suite for two nights at SGD 199.23. We decided to pamper ourselves with a more spacious room since we would be spending two nights at this hotel. The suite had two rooms, a bedroom and a sitting room, each with its own television. Breakfast was also included in the package and being an international hotel we knew the breakfast would be lovely.
In the Mercure Hotel there was also a nice gym and a laundry room. Using the washing machine and dryer were free of charge and laundry detergent was free too! It was time to do our laundry!
Where we go for dinner
For our first dinner we explored the shops around Mercure Hotel. Mercure was located at a very “vibrant” place and there were many local restaurants nearby. We found a “hot pot” place and had a wonderful hot dinner on the first night.
On the 2nd evening after we were tired out from our HuangGuoShu Waterfall trip we decided to “take it easy” and dine in the restaurant at Mercure Hotel. It offered a set dinner for two and the price was a steal! The entire dinner cost ¥128.
Other Accommodation Nearby
