Baishe to Guilin

Cycling from Baishe (also spelled as Bose) to Guilin is possible in about 10 to 14 days. I did this road in May supposedly just before the rainy season. When I was in Baishe it was beautiful weather, the roads had been good to cycle though not spectacular after I left the area of the Stone Forest. But I had enjoyed it.

Now it was time to find my way from Baishe to Guilin, through the hills of central Guangxi. It didn't look too difficult according to the map. Since Baishe was the first town in Guangxi, I had immediately bought a local (in Chinese) map of the province. My experiences in the past told me the Chinese maps were more reliable then the Nelles Map which contained quite some mistakes.

And I don't like to cycle without a map although that has some advantages too. Here another bicycle story about about that kind of experiences here

Baishe is the first important city in this part of Guangxi. Baishe is the gateway to Yunnan from this point in Guangxi. There are two roads into Yunnan. I had come cycling on the southern route, more about that road you can read here.

Going to Hechi

Hechi is located in north Guangxi. There is a very scenic road to cycle from Baishe to Hechi, right through the heart of the province. Unfortunately the first 20km after Baishe I had no choice then to use the busy 4 lane 324 that connects Nanning through Baishe with Xingyi.

People playing Mah Jong somewhere on the road from Baishe to Guilin

In Tianyang I took a junction. Soon I was climbing again and the road became silent. At first the hills were slow and rolling. This was what I was looking for, cycling in the hills in the country side from town to town, not bothered by a lot of traffic. I followed the little rivers going up and down. The hills were neither steep nor high. It was very pleasant though again nothing spectacular at first.

In three days I was in Hechi. Especially the last day to Hechi became quite spectacular. The green hills had made place for the first limestone mountains, similar you find around Guilin and Yangshuo. The difference with Yangshuo is that the limestone mountains are real much higher and rougher. There's hardly any traffic, let alone any tourists. And it is very scenic. There are some minority villages too.

Hechi to Liuzhou

Hechi is the maincenter for the surrounding towns and villages. It contains a few big markets. In some ways it's comparable with Liuzhou. In the town there are some limestone rocks but the real beauty is to found south of Hechi. Although there are plenty of hotels in Hechi, there's no "tourist infrastructure". If you want to do something in town or in the surrounding, you have to organize it through a taxi driver (or use your bicycle)

I continued to Luizhou, which was not all too much fun. This road is a few years ago upgraded. It's in principle now the highway between Guilin and Guiyang in Guizhou province. Fortunately it is only one day to Yizhou and from there you have to follow the old road to Datang. Was the road to Yizhou (actually a not unpleasant town) big and busy, the road I followed now to Datang was almost empty. I crossed some hills, never high or steep but I got other problems. Just outside Yizhou the road went in the hills, in the dense forests which lie on the mountain sides. It was beautiful and very quiet.

Old lady in a town near Hechi

The rainy season had begun and I was mostly cycling the whole day in the rain. Here in south China, cycling in the rain is not too bad since it's not cold. In fact, the rain cools you off but without getting cold. But my road from Baishe to Guilin had become a bit unpleasant because I had to cycle in day in day out in wet clothes.

I do not wear rain coats since I don't see the benefit. After all, with a rain coat I start sweating even harder so the rain may be kept outside, inside the sweat makes me wet anyway. So I preferred the rain keeping me "clean".

Datong was a little town on a crossroads. The road north leads to Liuzhou, going south leads to Nanning (2 or 3 days cycling). I went to Liuzhou. In the past Datong was imfamous for it's rough life. It was a village known for prostitutes, gamling and tough guys. When I was there (I was there twice) there were no signs of this anymore. Datong is still small, contains a few basic hotels and restaurants and it's mostly a junction point for truck drivers between Guilin, Liuzhou, Hechi and Nanning and what is in between.

Liuzhou has the name of the poor brother of Guilin. In some ways it's true. There's nothing much to see here, the limestone karst mountains are not very interesting, not even compared to the area around Hechi. But I had to stay a day in Liuzhou to get my clothes dry.

Liuzhou is by no means as nice as Guilin (though I don't like Guilin much too). But at least I had a hotel where I could get my stuff dry, clean my bike a bit and have some rest.

From Liuzhou it was another few days to Yangshuo, which was my destination. Yangshuo, 65 km south of Guilin was my destination. Here I would stay, meet some old friends and make new plans what further to do.

I cycled out of Liuzhou. As it usually is, the roads going out of big cities are busy but once out of town, this road was quiet. Most of the traffic to Guilin takes the motorway slightly west. I saw the hills coming closer. It was a long slow climb to the top of the these hills. I had a good day. Instead of staying in Zhaisha, I decided to continue to Lipu. Since I was on the top of the hills, I expected it would be a similar way down.

And I was lucky, the next 50 kilometers went mostly down. Around me there were slow rolling hills, nothing actually prepared me for the spectacular limestone mountains which, I knew, should lie very near.

Landscape on the way to Yangshuo, on the road to Puyi

Close to Lipu I saw south of me a range of karst landscape. I had seen it before, and I would see it again and again in later years, but I was (and later again) again amazed by it's beauty. The area south of Lipu is little visited by tourist, foreign or local. It's just too far from Yangshuo and Guilin. And for a daytrip you can easily visit some nice spots around Yangshuo and be intrigued.

Lipu is a crossroads. Going south leads to Wuzhou, a nice little town. Wuzhou is worth a visit for the market. The town is completely renovated and has great views over the river. From Wuzhou you can travel further to either Nanning or Guangzhou.

These days, traffic to Guangzhou from Guilin takes the east road from Puyi. That road is nowadays in better condition then the road through Wuzhou but for cyclist, the road to Wuzhou is much nicer (and more quiet).

It was only another 40 kilometer or so to Yangshuo and I was looking forward to see that little town again. And 65 kilometers north of Yangshuo was Guilin. I would go there later.

Read more about the road from Yunnan to Guangxi

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