An exciting and easy way to explore the wonderful landscape
Due to the crazy holiday traffic we decided to explore the area by e-scooters. We saw them before in every-day traffic but never actually drove one. We could rent them at our hotel for 60 RMB per day per scooter. You do not need a driving license for it. The range is around 50km, depending on your driving style. They go up to 60 km/h which is incredible fun. Driving is not really dangerous, there are dedicated bike lanes next to the main streets (it is even a lane separated from the “real street”). On the smaller streets, of course, there are no dedicated lines, but people drive more slow there. You should expect people to drive differently than in Europe or the US, so always stay alert, there could be oncoming traffic on the wrong lane, or traffic rules are sometimes “flexible”.
Also, I supposed it goes without saying, drinking and driving is strictly prohibited in China, so do not drive under the influence of alcohol.
We just set out into the blue and ended up taking a ca. 45km round trip. We started at our Hotel „Zen Garden“ near Yangshuo (near Guilin).
I marked the scenic spots where we stopped. There are several activities you can do on each stop, which I will list later. The trip took around 6 hours, but I suppose you can turn it into a full day trip, if you take your time.
We stopped at majorly 3 places (as indicated in the map), there are many other minor places to stop. However, the „main attraction“ for us was the scenery. Just take in the gorgeous landscape around you while you drive and stop wherever you see something interesting. That’s the beauty of driving around on a e-scooter 🙂
The place below is called Yulonghe Scenic area.
For the final stop we drove another 15km to a place called “Shangri-La” which was supposed to be some sort of traditional village with rice fields. It turned out to be a “tourist-trap”. What do I mean by that? Firstly, you have to pay 60 RMB / person entrance fee (which is fine, it includes a boat tour). First, you take the boat tour along the “village” (it is actually completely artificial). It’s OK, you see a few old traditional buildings and the scenery is nice. After the boat tour you have to find your way back to the exit through approximately 10 or more different stores that offer all kind of touristy souvenirs. There is not any way to take any shortcut, and there is not much more to see except for the shops.
Therefore, we would not really recommend to drive all the way there. If it is on your way and you like buying souvenirs, sure take a shot, but otherwise, I wouldn’t.
On our way back, we got some great views on some actual rice fields right next to the street.
Back in our hotel for dinner, we ordered cucumber salad, mixed vegetables (lotus root, corn, peppers, mushrooms), mixed fried rice (chicken, shrimp and beef) and shrimps with vegetables. Simple, but extremely delicious.
2GIC 