Mixed feelings about Yangshuo
Hi,
I have updated the information on the right, although that is only valid for another few days.
My interviews with Stanford went pretty well. That call my dad mentioned that was interrupted by the police was with them though, Prof. Jurafsky seemed understanding though.
We got to Yangshuo (near Guilin, supposed to be less expensive) at about 6:30 in the morning in pouring rain. One of the people from a local hotel was there, waiting for the bus. He had transportation, and was offering a room. The price he quoted was higher than most rooms in the area, but given the rain and the fact it wasn't even light out yet we really weren't ready to try to work something else out. He took us to the hotel, it was cold but the rooms were nice. We argued him down to RMB 75 per person per night (just under $10 each).
Later, he came up to our room and started trying to sell us hard on a tour. He was absolutely not taking no for an answer. We ended up paying RMB 300 per person for the tour, less than what it costs in Guilin but more than what it costs elsewhere here (about twice as much). By the time that was arranged he was already trying to pressure us into another tour for tomorrow (also at a huge marked up price).
He asked us where we were going next and how we were going to get there. We told him we were going to take the bus to Kunming. He placed a call and when he got off he said that there were no buses to Kunming (contrary to what our guidebook said). We went on the tour, and although it was nice it was much shorter than we would have liked. When we got back we checked at the bus station to see what the story about the bus was. Of course no one there speaks English, but we had thought ahead and already had someone write down a reservation request for us. The person at the bus station told us there was no bus, pretty much confirming what the guy at the hotel had said.
Given that the train takes twice as long as the bus (and it takes 20 hours to get from our next stop to Laos too) we decided that we really didn't have much time to spend in Yangshuo (and I wasnt feeling very good about the place anyway). We went back to the hotel and explained our situation to the guy, that we didn't have time to spend a second night and asked if we could get our money back. He seemed very understanding and gave our money back on the spot. However, after doing this he told us that the only train we could take was the 7:00 train out of Guilin, and that we could leave the hotel around 2. At this point he went right back into his sales pitch for the caves and said if we took a car we would have plenty of time to make it to the train afterwords.
We told him that we really did not want to do this and were fine exploring the city in stead. He seemed disappointed but let up for now. He wants to take us to dinner though, to a Chinese restaurant. We will see how that goes, lunch wasn't too strange, and since he speaks English maybe dinner will be ok. But we aren't going to be paying for another tour for him.
We should arrive in Kunming on the 27th, and we will be trying to make sure we get to Laos on the 3rd to make our reservations.
-Tim
P.S. Once we are in Laos I probably wont have a comptuer to use until the 12th or so (maybe later) and I am sure I wont be able to use any phones.
I have updated the information on the right, although that is only valid for another few days.
My interviews with Stanford went pretty well. That call my dad mentioned that was interrupted by the police was with them though, Prof. Jurafsky seemed understanding though.
We got to Yangshuo (near Guilin, supposed to be less expensive) at about 6:30 in the morning in pouring rain. One of the people from a local hotel was there, waiting for the bus. He had transportation, and was offering a room. The price he quoted was higher than most rooms in the area, but given the rain and the fact it wasn't even light out yet we really weren't ready to try to work something else out. He took us to the hotel, it was cold but the rooms were nice. We argued him down to RMB 75 per person per night (just under $10 each).
Later, he came up to our room and started trying to sell us hard on a tour. He was absolutely not taking no for an answer. We ended up paying RMB 300 per person for the tour, less than what it costs in Guilin but more than what it costs elsewhere here (about twice as much). By the time that was arranged he was already trying to pressure us into another tour for tomorrow (also at a huge marked up price).
He asked us where we were going next and how we were going to get there. We told him we were going to take the bus to Kunming. He placed a call and when he got off he said that there were no buses to Kunming (contrary to what our guidebook said). We went on the tour, and although it was nice it was much shorter than we would have liked. When we got back we checked at the bus station to see what the story about the bus was. Of course no one there speaks English, but we had thought ahead and already had someone write down a reservation request for us. The person at the bus station told us there was no bus, pretty much confirming what the guy at the hotel had said.
Given that the train takes twice as long as the bus (and it takes 20 hours to get from our next stop to Laos too) we decided that we really didn't have much time to spend in Yangshuo (and I wasnt feeling very good about the place anyway). We went back to the hotel and explained our situation to the guy, that we didn't have time to spend a second night and asked if we could get our money back. He seemed very understanding and gave our money back on the spot. However, after doing this he told us that the only train we could take was the 7:00 train out of Guilin, and that we could leave the hotel around 2. At this point he went right back into his sales pitch for the caves and said if we took a car we would have plenty of time to make it to the train afterwords.
We told him that we really did not want to do this and were fine exploring the city in stead. He seemed disappointed but let up for now. He wants to take us to dinner though, to a Chinese restaurant. We will see how that goes, lunch wasn't too strange, and since he speaks English maybe dinner will be ok. But we aren't going to be paying for another tour for him.
We should arrive in Kunming on the 27th, and we will be trying to make sure we get to Laos on the 3rd to make our reservations.
-Tim
P.S. Once we are in Laos I probably wont have a comptuer to use until the 12th or so (maybe later) and I am sure I wont be able to use any phones.
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on Friday, February 24, 2006 at 8:03 AM.
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