Accommodation in ChinaReasonable accommodation in China is never difficult to find. In the year and a half I have traveled over China I never found difficulties in finding good accommodation. Well, reasonable, that is to say. In Tibet it was sometimes quite rough and in a few occasions I had to camp too. Outside the tourist areas you can sometimes find dirt cheap and excellent rooms, as the next story will tell you.
A room in Huanjiang, Guangxi provinceI was on my way back to Yangshuo which I used as a sort of base for my explorations of China. Yangshuo is conveniently located near Hong Kong, just a night bus ride away. It's a good base especially if you need a new visa.
This time however, Christmas was coming and I wanted to celebrate it with some friends in Yangshuo. On the way to Yangshuo I cycled through the southern areas of Guizhou province when I arrived in a town called Huanjiang, in Guangxi. There's not much reason to visit this town or it should be the quite colorful market. The town is about 60 km away from the bigger center of the area: Hechi. In both towns you will be able to find reasonable accommodation in China, in fact, you can stay dirt cheap in luxury! My plan was to stay there for a night since I had quite a difficult day done. Part of the road I had taken was complete under construction. In China this means the road is more or less a sand dirt road with lots of water pools. The soft sand plus the water made me going very slow and although I had not done many kilometers from Libo, I needed a good night rest. I knew good accommodation in China was seldom hard to find but today I would be surprised what I would find for the price offered.
And this is what I got! I cycled into Huanjiang, dirty and tired. The first hotel I saw, I took. Too tired to search further. It looked like a 3 or 4 star hotel I had seen outside China. But inside China many 1 or even no star hotels have a great entrance. I asked for the rooms and they told me they had a descent room for Y80. Too tired to bargain I took the room. What I got was this: two rooms with two toilets (one western, one squat) connected to each other by a walk through. One room contained a couch where easy 10 people could sit on. There was a big television and a fridge. The other room contained a king size bed with again a TV. For about $10 I got all the luxury I every now and then want. This can happen when you're out of the tourist areas. A hotel like this in Kunming, Chengdu or even Dali, can cost you easy triple that price if not more.  I found a lot of cheap accommodation in China, especially off the beaten track like here in Guizhou This map shows the north east area of Guangxi province. From Huanjiang it took me another 6 days to Yangshuo (just 60 km south of Guilin - not on this map). It could have been done faster but why hurry?
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The importance of MapsTraveling without a map generates certain problems, I always have one with me. They are good companions and excellent ways to make new friends Read more about my experiences with maps in local languages Cycling in GuangxiGuangxi is famous for Yangshuo and Guilin but there is more to explore: |
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