November 17, 2023

Day 10

Today is my last day at Yangshuo. After waking up and taking a shower, my first stop was breakfast.

I feel like I have to write about the breakfast because it is the first time in a while that I stayed at a hotel that has breakfast.

Since I am a cheap person, if I order a hotel room without included breakfast, it is cheaper. I did that when I visited Korea in 2022 and 2023, and that tiny ass hotel I stayed in Shenzhen just a few days before this day.

This hotel doesn’t have the option of not having breakfast, so I decided to get breakfast at the hotel.

The food isn’t anything to write home about, it is what Southerners eat every day, or at least that’s what I think they eat. The hotel also has freshly made Guilin Rice Vermicelli Noodle you can order at the counter. I didn’t find the counter at first, so I stuffed myself with boring food and was too full to order the Rice Vermicelli when I finally found the counter. What a damn shame.

Bought my train ticket back to Foshan while having breakfast. I didn’t go for the 1st class ticket again, though, as I feel like it is a waste of money. I went with the 2nd class.

After breakfast, it was 30 minutes until 10 AM, so went to the top floor of the hotel, where they say it’s the best place for photography. Also just walked around the premises.

The hotel really is surrounded by mountains, and it is a sight to behold. It really is beautiful.

At about 9:50, I went to the photography room, there was no one there. The department head of the photography department came up to me, asked me of my room number, and told me that my photographer was running late. So I’ve waited in the lobby for another 20 minutes but the guy still ran late. I went to my room for a while, and got down. Still, he didn’t arrive. At 10:50, I asked the department head where my photographer is, and he has no idea. He said that he will finish taking pictures for the couples he is serving right now and will take mine right afterwards. At 11:20, he was finally done with the couple. He told me that my photographer was drunk so he missed work today. Wow.

These are the 10 pictures that he finished complete with photoshop and Lightroom.

Here are some pictures that weren’t photoshopped.

Other than him photoshopping too hard and making me look like someone else, he did good. He asked me what kind of photo I want to take, whether it’s happy, solemn, or cool. I picked cool. I always smile in my pictures with all my teeth visible. I feel like I would look cooler without showing all my teeth, so I went with cool. It was a wise choice.

Now let’s talk about what this hotel did to my entire value system around money. I am a cheap person, as in I don’t like to spend money on something I feel like is in excess, or unneeded. For example, this hotel costs 1000 RMB to stay for a night. Since you only stay at the hotel for the bed, basically, so I feel like I could stay at a 300 RMB one and will probably get the same level of comfort. It’s also with clothes. I never buy expensive name brand clothes because I feel like I don’t need them. I am comfortable with some of the cheaper shirts.

This hotel shattered that value system for me, especially since I slept at that cheap ass 260 RMB hotel in Shenzhen which I hated so much. That hotel in Shenzhen really dampened my mood and made me enjoy my stay in Shenzhen less. It was one of the biggest reasons why I didn’t want to do some more exploring in Shenzhen and just wanted to get back to Foshan. The hotel I’m staying at for my trip to Yangshuo, though, was great. So great, that I wanted to stay in Yangshuo for a few more days just for the hotel.

My family isn’t exactly poor, and I certainly can afford a hotel room that’s 3000 RMB a night. I mean, it’s still not necessary for me to stay at a hotel room that’s 3000 RMB a night, but I feel like why am I saving money on the parts that directly influence my experience with the place? Why am I cheaping out on myself when that money isn’t even going anywhere?

Why can’t I enjoy the good things?

After questioning myself with these questions, I have a clearer outlook at my path to today. From this point on, all thanks to this hotel, I will be able to live a happier life. Why save a few bucks on something that will make me happier. Wow.

After the professional photoshoot in nature, I went upstairs to grab my stuff, and went to the front desk to ask for lunch ideas. The same guy who recommended the rice vermicelli yesterday recommended another Guangxi delicacy, with the baked goose, and that’s where I went. He also gave me a complementary bag with two boxes in it. One is 桂花糕, a cake like dessert made with Osmanthus fragrans.

The guy who grabbed my bags for me yesterday, and yes, also the one who asked if I needed prostitutes helped me get my stuff down from the hotel again. Nice guy. Like I said, good service from the hotel makes my mood so much better.

I called for a ride from the app, but the first driver was a no show after 10 minutes. I cancelled the trip and called for a second one. This guy also works as a tour guide during peak season, and is working as a Chinese uber driver during off peak season. He gave me a card with his information and asked me to give his information around in case anyone else needs a tour guide. I won’t post his information here, though, I’ll just keep that to myself.

Unlike the first restaurant the guy recommended, which is what we call 粑粑馆儿 (Poopy place), this one is a real fancy one. I left my luggage on the first floor and went upstairs where the dining hall is.

Restaurant Name: 椿记烧鹅 (凤鸣店) (chūn jì shāo é) [Chun’s Roast Goose]

Address: 阳朔镇荆凤南路3号彰泰乌布小镇10栋2层 (Yangshuo Village Jingfeng South Road #3, Zhangtaiwubu Village 10th Building, 2nd Floor)

This is what I came for, and is the only thing I ordered today. It is called 烧鹅, or Roast Goose. It is a Guangxi food which is very good, it not a little bit too oily for my taste. Since I had the memory of not being able to finish everything and feeling embarrassed yesterday night, I felt that I should only order the Roast Goose. Bad mistake. I should’ve ordered a vegetable dish to go along with the goose, because the meat of the goose is way too oily to be eaten alone.

Still, it is very tasty, and I ordered one more to go so I can bring it to my brother in law and my nephew. The manager at first told me not to, because it wouldn’t taste as good compared with eating it in person. I listened to him, but not for long, and ordered anyway.

I grabbed the food, my luggage, and my bag, and called a ride. Arrived by the train station soundly. Waited for a bit before being allowed to board the train, and everything was normal. The 2nd Class train is not much different from the 1st Class, except that the 2nd Class seats are a little bit more narrower. You still have more knee room compared to economy class on a plane though. A short girl could still have her full checked baggage sized luggage in front of her and still have enough knee room.

For the 2nd Class, there are 5 seats per roll. 2 on the left and 3 on the right. I was lucky enough to be placed on the left. Other than that there’s not much to tell. Slept most of the way and got back to Foshan.

Since my brother in law had to work, I called a ride to his home. Foshan Station is very big, and you should wait until you have reached all the way to the online ordered ride waiting area before you call for the ride. After I got off the train, I thought I would call one first so it would spare me a few seconds of waiting. Except, the train station was giant, and I needed to walk another 6 minutes before being able to reach the station, while the driver was waiting for me. He was pretty nice though, didn’t make a big fuss about it.

After I got back to home, I learned that my nephew already arrived at his art class and will be released at 5:30. I chatted with his grandma until it was time, and I went downstairs to get a lemonade first.

The last time my brother in law took me to the lemonade shop downstairs, we went out the main gate of the community, which needed to take a left and a left, left me with the impression that the lemonade shop was on the left. This time though, since I exited through the smaller gate, which was on the right of the lemonade shop, I couldn’t find the exact lemonade shop by walking left. I thought I had a bad memory, so I just went to one that has lemons on it. It isn’t good. I won’t show you the address, it’s not worth it.

After that, I picked my nephew up from his art class, we had dinner completed with the Roast Goose I “train-lifted” from Guangxi, and the night was over.