Today would be an easy going day...
The places in Yangshuo that we wanted to see and go had been covered. So it was time to head back to Guilin.
We woke up around 9 a.m and it was raining. The weather for the last few days was just fantastic- not a single drop of rain experienced. The rain here would be troublesome as it could rain days and nights non stop. So we did not intend to go out but just wait inside our room until the "auspicious" time to check out and leave Yangshuo.
At the stroke of 10:30 a.m we checked out. The check out was fast and at no time we were already outside the hotel waiting for a "taxi"(non metered private taxi). There were a few "taxi" waiting opposite the hotel and the bellboy helped us signaled one of them to come over. It was a small MPV and asked for RMB 25 for a 3-min-ride to the bus station. "WTF!"- but of course I didn't say out. Though pain was graciously felt below my belt ( being squeezed la), but with our heavy luggages and rain, I had no choice but to agree.
I had asked the receptionist earlier as how much would it cost for a taxi to Guilin. I was told that it cost RMB250 to RM300 for a private taxi.
Though I intend to take a taxi back to Guilin as it was raining at that moment. But somehow I would rather wait for the taxi driver to make the first move instead of me asking him first. This way I could definitely squeeze him back.
When we reached the bus station and about to get out from the car, the driver asked why not we used his service. He could give us a better price as his mini MPV was about time to do the routine service in Guilin. Instead of empty car to Guilin in another day or 2, he as well gave us a ride just to cover his petrol cost. He asked for RMB250 but finally we agreed on RMB190. If we were to take bus, the total cost would be around RMB100. Well, actually the difference was insignificant for an 1.5 hour comfort ride to Guilin.
Sheraton Guilin
This time around I didn't go back to Bravo Hotel but wanted to try out the Sheraton. It was nothing wrong with Bravo Hotel but I got a better rate to redeem the Starwood Points for Sheraton Guilin.
Sheraton Guilin was located at Binjiang Road and it was not difficult for us to find. We reached the hotel about 12 p.m. After paying the taxi driver we headed straight to the check-in counter while our luggages were taken care off by the porter.
I was informed the room was ready and as a member of SPG, we were assigned to SPG floor and given a king-bed room. The receptionist also brought out 3 items, a doll in local native costume, a piggy bank and a can of tea leaves. I thought all of them were for us but unfortunately she asked us to choose one and I chose tea leaves. Anyway it was a good gesture, don't you think so?
The washbasin and bathtub...
The shower...
The amenities...
The comfy pillows...
The comfy bed...
The coffee/tea maker and 2 complimentary bottles of mineral water...
The working desk...
The large LCD...
The hallway to our room...
The spacious interior...
The lobby...
The small garden in the middle of the hotel...
The shopping street behind the hotel... The location of the hotel was superb! It was a 2-mins walk to this shopping street where shops and foods aplenty.
The duck tongue... Mrs. Chialat's favorite. Sorry I had no idea how it tasted like as I didn't try it. We had our lunch at one of the restaurants at this shopping street. It was raining during lunch time and everybody was waiting in the restaurant and we had to share table. It was so crowded and I didn't want to take out my camera to shoot on my food like a stupid nerd, though the food was quite good. So no photo of our lunch!
After our lunch we just headed back to our room to check out the bed as it was drizzling non stop where we were not able to explore anymore. While we tried to take a nap, unfortunately we could here the noise from the construction site next to the hotel where it was quite annoying as they kept throwing steel rods from the top of the building. I made a call down to the receptionist to complain. The receptionist apologized profusely and asked us to wait for a while when she tried to assign another room for us. After 15 mins or so, the bellboy came with our new room card. The room was now located at the other end of the building. The room was same in size and design but came with a balcony. Sigh... it was raining non stop so the balcony was no use to us. Nevertheless it was now quieter than before and we managed to have our nap.
At dinner time we went back to the shopping street for our dinner. We ordered a farm chicken(frog) porridge 田鸡粥 and noodle. It was nothing extraordinary and I didn't bother to take any photo except this one - farm chicken porridge. Not that it tasted good but the way it was prepared... unlike our 田鸡粥 in Malaysia where the frog is skinned before cooking. Here they cook together with the skin!
The frog skin... how disgusting!
After the dinner we wandered around for a while at the shopping street. Since it was nothing much, we therefore headed to the night market. We spent a couple of hours there before going back to our hotel to pack for our early departure.
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