Vignettes of the World
We wanted to have a leisurely lunch at the YUN hotel but the dining options there were limited. We then decided to head over to the western shore of Nanao. The ride would take a little more than half hour. Nanao has the beautiful name …
A Hike at Chawangqi Shan Mountain I looked at the map briefly and noticed that there are two hills in the vicinity of the Mello Hotel, namely Chawangqi Shan and Hutou Shan (Tiger Head Hill). They are of medium heights, and I thought it was …
Nan’ao, located in the Dapeng Peninsula, is the ocean front area in Shenzhen that is somewhat lesser known to foreign tourists. I took a vacation in Nan’ao for four days and three nights. In the upcoming two entries, I will discuss some of the highlights in this trip.
Situated at the southeasternmost part of Shenzhen, Nanao occupies the Dapeng Peninsula, enveloped by the waters of Mirs Bay on the west and Daya Bay on the east. The western shore of Nanao is a mere 2 nautical miles from the Hong Kong waters. At the peninsula’s immediate north lies Huizhou, which is part of the Greater Bay Area and properly within the administration of Guangdong Province.
As a peninsula, Nanao has a humble beginning. The people lived a seafaring life in fishing villages. By now, tourism has taken over as the latest aspiration for this community. Just a brief walk around our hotel reveals the clear effort to position Nanao as the next seaside resort town in Shenzhen.
We chose Nanao for this vacation because we wanted to enjoy seaside views. Having passed mid-April, the weather is just about right for swimming. We hadn’t planned too much otherwise, for relaxing in a nice hotel was part of the plan too.
There are two main shores in Nanao and we stayed at the eastern shore. The western shore is more famous and upscale, and a number of restaurants there market themselves as sunset viewing spots at dinnertime. My view is that, if you stay at the eastern shore like we did, you must make a trip (about a half hour by Didi) to the western shore to experience these restaurants and to see the pristine beaches there. But if you already stay on the western shore, then there is no need to visit the east — unless, that is, you are willing to go quite some depth into the humanist aspect of traveling. I will be introducing a brief history of the Dongshan Village in the next entry.
As always, I was ambitious and did much more than I had planned. The most significant solo excursion on this trip was a hike up the Chawangqi Shan mountain. At an altitude of 169 meters, the mountain does not require a rigorous climb. But the hiking paths are very much deserted with heavy and scratchy vegetation. These unclear paths presented some unanticipated dangers. I will discuss the hike in the upcoming entry but I do not recommend any tourist to hike in deserted trails in Shenzhen, and certainly not alone.
Tourists who visit this area for the first time may also consider a half day trip to the Dapeng Fortress from here. Since we have already visited the Dapeng Fortress last year, we would only stay in Nanao this time.
Its name sounds grander than it really is. The Mello Hotel and Resorts is, properly considered, a very small hotel and perhaps it is more like a hostel in terms of its amenities. In our last vacation in Shenzhen, my friend and I visited the Interlaken Resort in OCT East, where everything was built to mimic Switzerland. The idea that you can experience something that looked so foreign, yet located so close in Shenzhen, remained attractive to us.
In Nanao, we were expecting a “near-South of France” experience at Mello. The hotel is newly constructed with some effort to create a cute French ambience. Large, full sized French windows line all of its rooms. The entrance has an open air corridor featuring arched gateways. The hotel glimmers softly in a pure white color under the sun. Its scale being not even 10% to the OCT East Interlaken Resort Hotel (unfortunately, now closed), it is a grand overstatement to call it “South of France.”
Yet that’s not to say that we did not enjoy our stay. The hotel’s greatest strength is its café, which serves proper coffee and bar drinks. It does have a pretty small menu in terms of food, but the breakfast that it offers is fair.
The café at Mello is a very nice space to relax, read or work. Other than that, I did also swim at their small swimming pool. There was no one else using that facility. Finally, I found the staff at Mello to be exceedingly mindful about their customers’ needs. Despite the view of the room being slightly disappointing, I would rate this hotel to be on the better-than-average level.
From Lo Wu, a Didi car would take a little more than 1.5 hours to reach Nanao. It is no short journey, and that was why my friend and I planned a four-day getaway in this part of Shenzhen. Nanao is a vacation spot, not so much for day trips. And I do not recommend anyone getting there from Hong Kong by public transportation. Calling a car somewhere (the closest boundary crossing is Heung Yuen Wai / Lin Tong) is a much better plan.
Xingping had a beginning as a fishing village more than 1,700 years ago during the Ming dynasty. Both the former President Sun Yatsen and U.S. President Clinton have visited Xingping, therefore it has earned a good name as “president fishing village.” The old houses of …
Our experience with the food of Yangshuo was noteworthy. There were a few memorable meals across all budget categories. I will discuss the restaurants briefly below. The order is not a ranking. Xitang Riverside Restaurant Restaurant Location Comment Recommendation Xitang Riverside Restaurant (喜糖爱吃鱼江景餐厅西街江景店) 广西壮族自治区桂林市阳朔县抗战路富安码头喜糖民宿一楼(碧莲江景酒店隔壁) Xitang …
Having visited the Silver Cave, you will never be lack of money.
So does the saying goes. The Silver Cave is not a silver mine, it is a stalactite cave. Located within a inner range of 12 mountains in Yangshuo, the Silver Cave offers some pretty good views of a geological wonder. The tour will take about an hour or an hour and a half along a path inside the mountainous cave for 2 kilometers. The walk is pretty easy for a healthy adult, but it might be somewhat rigorous for the elderly, as there is some climbing involved.
The Silver Cave is the largest stalactite cave in all of Guilin. There remain parts of the cave that are not yet explored. The ones that are open to tourism are of significant scale already, and actually, toward the end, I found the experience to be a little overwhelming, and I will explain why below.
In Chinese, a poetic word for beautiful natural scenery is made up of the characters for mountain and water, literally “mountain water.” The karst mountains and waterfront views are the very hallmarks of scenery that environ both the urban and rural areas of Guilin.
The exceptional landscape of Guilin is an example of karst landform. Its formation depends on two primary elements in nature, namely water and rock-formed mountains. Guilin’s famous peaks come from a long process of water seeping through and eroding rocks that contain soluble compounds. Examples of such compounds include carbonate rocks, sulphate karst and salt rock. Over time, this process results in the unique shapes of the karst peaks that we see in Guilin today.
In South China, the karst landform is also seen in Yunnan, Guizhou and Chongqing. Guilin’s karst peaks are, by far, the most well-known.
The water erosion process does not stop at the surface of the mountains. In mountainous caves, such as the Silver Cave that we visited, this process takes place under cover. The water source is the groundwater or underground river in this scenario. The caves that are formed are known as soluble caves or limestone caves, featuring grand appearances of stalactite mantles that can go on for miles.
The Silver Cave is said to attract wealth and fortune for the visitors. At the long pathway that leads one to the entrance, stalls selling all kinds of Guilin specialties lined the sides.
There was a row of God of Wealth Statues. They were all painted bright red. The people there told us the story about these red Gods of Wealth. In the beginning days of the cave, visitor counts remained low. The local government hired a Hong Kong fortune teller for advice. The fortune teller said that, out of the five elements, the only element that is lacking in the cave is fire. Therefore he suggested that red Gods of Wealth be placed near the entrance to introduce the element of fire. Since then, tourism boomed at the Silver Cave.
My elderly uncle and aunt have said that they were not able to walk 2km inside the cave. Xiaohuang told me that this is a problem easily solved, for there are carriers that can take them on sedan chairs. By hiring these carriers, my elderly uncle and aunt could also enjoy the scenery inside the cave.
The cave is generally divided into three sections called “lower cave,” “the great living room” and the “upper cave.” The stalactites are amazing, as they come in a large scale and the views are grand. The rock formations reveal themselves in myriad folds like the ruffles of a cloak, in the forms of pillars, towers, mantles and stone waterfalls.
I had two issues when I toured the cave. The temperature was not right inside the cave for me. These caves are known for the special quality of “being cool in the summer and warm in the winter,” and surely it was quite warm inside during this cold day. After walking half of the way, I was sweating terribly and it felt stuffy.
On top of that, I found that the typical Chinese way of presentation was overdone. Large colored floodlights illuminated every scenic spot inside the cave. I became a little dizzy from the stuffiness and the lighting at the same time. Toward the end of the path, I felt like I had to fight through the crowd just to get out.
In terms of cave tours, I have previously visited the Jenolan Caves in Sydney. There was no effort to project any colored lighting onto the stalactites. With that experience in mind, I found the colored lighting at the Silver Cave to have done a disservice to the natural scenery.
Meaning “may your wishes come true,” the Ruyi peak acquired its name due to its shape resembling the Chinese symbol of fortune, ruyi. There is a cable car ride that takes about 45 minutes up the mountains. Once you are there, you will be surrounded by a grand gallery of karst peak views. You may also spend some time walking the bridgeways there.
By the time we were done at the Ruyi Peak, we were exhausted. We would be saying goodbye to Yangshuo the next day.
The Wikipedia on Solutional Cave.
www.newton.com on the Silver Cave (Chin).
The Wikipedia on Karst Landform.
Yangshuo was unforgivingly cold on this day, and it was the very last full day of touring in Yangshuo for us. We would be pushing a full day program of activities. The day was cold and misty, but the scenery of Yanshuo took on an …
As night descended, we prepared ourselves for the highlight of our Yangshuo visit. In that evening, the temperature in Yangshuo dropped to 10 degrees Celsius. My family bundled up for the famous Impression • Sanjie Liu landscape theatre show. Impression • Sanjie Liu was directed …
When I was planning this family trip, I looked most forward to the hostel that we would be staying at in Yangshuo, for all the bedrooms in the hostel come with fantastic, wide open views of the Lijiang River.
The beauty of Moyesanqiu Homestay is that it is located across the shore from Yangshuo’s town proper. It provides the quiet we needed when we rested for the night, but showing fully the glimpse afar of the glorious and boisterous Yangshuo town as it is set against the classic views of Guilin’s karst peaks.
Moyesanqiu is perhaps not high on the list of popularity for the hotels that feature fantastic views of the Lijiang River in Yangshuo. The very popular one that receives all kinds of kudos from the KOLs is the Xitang River View Holiday Hotel. It was fully booked when I made my reservation, so I had to look for alternatives.
As it turned out, Moyesanqiu Homestay is quite a notch cheaper. It was newish when we visited in late 2024. One critical tip for booking hotels in China is that, given all else being equal, it is better to choose a hotel that is newer. Although this seems common sense, it is especially important in China. Generally, a new hotel in China is a certain guarantee of its comfort level. Photographs online always show the most flattering aspects and they are not a good indicator of the quality. Hotels get old and tired in China easily due to both climate and cultural reasons.
We checked in and found ourselves in a beautiful full window view of Lijiang River in all our rooms. All of the rooms in Moyesanqiu will give you this view. I specifically ordered a room on the top floor, and the curtains can be drawn for one to watch the stars as well. I really could not have asked for more.
Furthermore, the rooms are incredibly spacious. One standard room is big enough for a family of four with young children.
The only issue with Moyesanqiu is that it is located in a less busy part of Yangshuo, as such more effort is necessary to get to the good restaurants. It was perfectly fine, as we had a driver with us.
In my last visit to Yangshuo, I heard about the famous Ten Mile Gallery and the sites along this route that are worth visiting. I did not hire a car, and so I did not have a chance to see it.
Xiaohuang, our driver, explained to me that the Ten Mile Gallery is simply a scenic route going for a distance of 5km and marked by a façade. That’s all there is to it. We drove by it about two times in this trip. The views along the way are great. In an upcoming entry, I will discuss some of the sites along the Ten Mile Gallery, including the Moon Mountain, Ruyi Mountain Cable Car, the Dong Ethnic Minority Village and the Silver Cave.
I have seen online that people suggest cycling through the Ten Mile Gallery. Having ridden in a car on this stretch of scenic route, I question the wisdom of tourists riding on a bike there. It is, properly considered, a motorway. Yangshuo’s beginning as a hot spot for tourism dated to the 1980s. Back then, it was particularly popular with foreign backpackers. This would explain why the option of cycling in the county is touted. I am sure, however, the conditions that made cycling a favorable means of transportation then no longer hold true now.
That is not to say that the usual preferences of activities by foreign tourists do not exist now in Yangshuo. For example, the Moon Mountain is a proper climb. There are also hot air balloons for midair ascent. Please inquire locally about these options.
I set out for the Flying Eagle Restaurant in Sham Shui Po after a round of bargain hunting in this area. As an aged neighborhood in Kowloon, Sham Shui Po has a history little known to most Hong Kong people. It does not come under …