Job Discussion Forums

[nawface]

Hello

I am travelling to Yangshuo in late July. I have used the search function but I am not clear at all.

What is the cheapest/easiet way for me to get to Yangshuo from the UK including picking up an F visa on the way?


cheers

[Super Mario]

Easiest?
London to HK, fly to Guilin, bus to Yangshuo.
Cheapest?
London to HK, thence to Guangzhou, rail to Guilin, bus to Yangshuo.
Recommended?
Ferry from HK airportr to Shenzhen airport, fly to Guilin, bus etc.
Your travel agent should be able to do the SZ Guilin leg.
If you've got to get a visa in HK, you can arrange the train ticket there, should you choose that option.

[Roger]

The distance from Hong Kong is around 750 kms as the bird flies. Your intermediate stops en route from Hong Kong by train and/or bus are:
Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Guilin.

In HONG KONG you can get a visa (why does it have to be an 'F' visa?)

Then train (KCR) to the border, walk over that bridge into Shenzhen, get your passport stamped again, then choose a bus or a train.
There is one train every evening (around 6 p.m.) from Shenzhen to Guilin; in the hard-sleeper you will pay some 250 kuai;
if you take a bus, you can travel as far as Guangzhou (from Zhuhai there are a couple of buses all the way to Yangshuo, perhaps there is a bus now from Shenzhen as well).

Advantage by bus? None! IT's less safe and less comfortable. Saves you very little money and hardly any time. (Bus route is shorter).

Trains: It's an over-ngiht journey. If you start your train ride in GUANGZHOU, 140 kms north of Shenzhen, you can choose between two departures: one at around 6 p.m., and the train from Shenzhen that leaves Guangzhou at 9:04 p.m.
BOth arrive the following morning in GUILIN.

From there it's a 14 kuai bus hop to Yangshuo, 65 kms south. There is a bus every hour or so but only when there is a train arrival in GUilin will buses depart from the station square; otherwise it's a trek of 500 meters down Zhongshan Lu to a bus station.

If you leave at noon from HK - with a new visa (one day to organise from an agent), you can be in Yangshuo the next day by noon.

[Super Mario]

Alternatively, from the Railway Square [where you'll be deluged with touts calling "Yangshuo?", but you may wait a while until you actually get going}, try the South Bus Station. Turn right from the square, right again under the rail bridge, and its on your right. Mini buses, around 8 Y, leave once they've got enough patronage.

[Roger]

I don't want to disparage SM but I guess his feedback is a little outdated.
Minibuses are more epxensive than the regular buses, and they stop more often to pick up passengers. The fare has recently been hiked to 14 kuai (higher fuel prices).

And I wouldn't walk to the right from the Guilin station square: I would head straight to the central bus station to the LEFT on Zhongshan Lu. Some 500 or 700 meters down Zhongshan Lu, left hand side as you walk down that road!

[Larry Parnell]

Fly to HK, catch a train to the border, walk across and get the bus direct to Yangshuo. The bus, in my experience, is not dangerous or uncomfortable.

The info below is pasted fom www.yangers.com which has more detailed info. It also tells you about flights and trains.

Express Sleeper Buses - This is a very cheap and comfortable way of getting to Yangshuo from Shenzhen. The buses are very modern and the beds comfortable. The buses depart every night at 19:30 arriving into Yangshuo around 6am. You can buy tickets at the counter inside the bus station for 250 Yuan. You can also pre buy tickets in Hong Kong at most travel agencies including CTS

The bus station is very close to the China-Hong Kong border crossing. Getting here from Hong Kong is very easy. Take the KCR train from Hung Hom or Tsim Tsa Shui to Lo Wu. Trains leave every 4 minutes, take 45 minutes and cost HK$33.

On arrival in Lo Wu, go through Hong Kong and China immigration. As soon as you come out of the Chinese immigration, look to your left and you will see an escalator. Go up on this escalator and walk on the overpass that goes over the train station and this will take you to the bus station.

In the bus station, there are several ticket booths for the different bus companies. Just ask for the bus to Yangshuo or Guilin and you will be shown to the correct ticket booth and bus.

[Super Mario]

Eeep![/quote]

[Super Mario]

Damn quote function.

[Super Mario]

[quote]And I wouldn't walk to the right from the Guilin station square: I would head straight to the central bus station to the LEFT on Zhongshan Lu. Some 500 or 700 meters down Zhongshan Lu, left hand side as you walk down that road![quote]

Roger, lets not confuse the OP. I was specifically talking about the South Bus Station, not the main one. I lived in Guilin for two years. My wife, a Guiliner, didn't know about it until I took her, so you're excused.
Also, they're so suprised to see a laowai, they don't even think to bump the price up to 14.

[Gorak]

A cheap/easy way might be to fly to Bangkok if plane tickets are cheaper there than to Hong Kong. Hotel accomodation is certainly much cheaper in Bangkok ($US 10-15 per night).

Using $ saved on plane ticket/accomodation by going to Bangkok - go overland to Guilin. Overnight train to Vientianne ($25 US), bus to Luang Prabang ($10 US), another bus to the Chinese border ($10 US), another bus to Kunming ($25 US) and train or bus onto Guilin ($50 US). Accomodation/food in Laos is very inexpensive ($15 US per day) and not too expensive in Yunnan Province ($20-25 US per day). A Visa for Laos will cost about $30 US.

[Roger]

[Super Mario]

[nawface]

[Larry Parnell]

[Super Mario]

Not reading other people's posts correctly, and then attempting to belittle them because they know things he doesn't, appears to be Roger's modus operandi.