The day finally came! We took the 8am CX flight from Singapore and arrived in HK at around 12noon. After disembarkation, we went for lunch at Tsui Wah Eatery, Tsui Wah’s fast service counter at level 7 of the airport. As usual, I had my fish ball and fish cake soup and crispy wheat bun with sweet condensed milk and ice milk tea. But I feel that the crispy wheat bun here is not as good as the one I ate at the TST outlet 2 weeks before. The bun here is not crispy! ??. DH, E&A had the rice with braised meat dishes. They thought it was so so too.
Our Dragon Air flight to Guilin departed HKIA at 14.10pm and we arrived Guilin at 15.30pm. Immigration clearance was quick as this is a small airport and ours was the only international flight at that time. After clearing immigration, we collected our luggage and Jack was waiting for us at the arrival hall. After quick introductions, we were off! The drive to Ping An Village in Longsheng took just over 2 hours. Road was pretty windy at some stage.
We arrived at the car park of Ping An village around 6.30pm. All visitors have to park their cars at the car park and walk to the village as village roads are narrow. Jack had asked us to pack a small back pack for the night so that we can leave our luggages in the boot of the car. Jack advised that the car park is guarded by security guards at night and so is safe.
If you need to carry a big bag, there are porters at the car park to carry them for a fee. In fact, if you cannot do the climb, there are sedan chairs which you can hire and the locals will carry you up. ??
Our hotel, Longji One Art Hotel is about 30mins uphill walk from the car park. It started with gentle slopes and became shallow steps. E and I and not exactly the fittest ladies around. It sure was a tiring walk. The thing that kept me going was my awareness that if I don’t make it, I’ll have to sleep among the rice terraces!! ?????
Along the way are shops selling all sorts of souvenirs, local handicrafts and local food stuff like chili paste and smoked meat. One of the most interesting things in the shops must be the stones that have different layers of colours and are carved to look like pork. they are so realistic, you could almost eat them!
We did not linger at the shops as the sky was getting dark fast. It was getting very dark and Jack had to shine his touch to lead us along. It was also too dark to take the evening photos of the village. We finally arrived at Longji One Art Hotel which is fortunately somewhere along the middle of the terraces, and not at the top. Inside, the hotel was decorated with quirky displays and many photos of the surrounding area, not only on walls but on the ceilings too. Very pleasant.
Longji One Art Hotel is built in the traditional wooden architecture of the region. Our couple terrace room was room 3C with an L shaped terrace overlooking the rice terraces. Our room was not big but was very pleasant and inviting. It had coffee and tea, water, slippers, essentially the basic necessities. The room is also decorated with wooden waste paper basket, quirky wooden furnitures, tables and stools. Lovely!
The bathroom is modern and clean. The tap at the sink caught my attention. It is really quirky. Toothbrush, tooth paste, shower cap etc were all provided.
We had dinner at the hotel that night. We had wanted to have dinner immediately after we arrive, but the tables were all occupied. They suggested that we order our food after check in and have a rest in our room first. It was just as well as the climb up to the hotel sure sapped all my energy. When we came back 45mins later as agreed, our table and food were ready. We had ordered 4 dishes:
- Bamboo shoot fried with preserved meat which is a local specialty
- Stir fried tofu
- Sweet and sour pork
- Beef fried with potatoes
Instead of white rice, we had bamboo rice, another local specialty. It is actually glutinous rice with pumpkin and Chinese sausages, stuffed in a bamboo and cooked in a charcoal grill.
We liked the bamboo shoot fried with preserved meat and the stir fried tofu. But found the beef a bit tough and did not like the sweet and sour pork at all. DH and I thought the bamboo rice was not bad, but E and A did not really like it. Dinner with several beers and cokes came up to RMB300plus. After dinner, we called it a night.