Comfortable Travel Day

Of late—and certainly to come, too— there have been some massive travel days. Early starts. Late arrivals. Flights. Connections. Today, though, not so much. Learning from our previous escapades, we opted for the high speed rail, despite the station being about 30 km from Yangshuo Town.

In China, unless you’re traversing half the country, the comfort you get for the price with a train is hard to pass up. You just rock up, scan your passport, and jump on. No checked bags, no airports, and hardly any real customs.

Of course, taking the bus can make a lot of sense, too. But clean toilets, legroom, surplus amenities, and easier booking logistics make the slightly higher price tag of high speed rail wholly worthwhile.

Also, China is also one of the only places I’ve ever been where I feel okay indulging in the luxury of taking a taxi everywhere. Yes, the metro is about one dollar, but when the same one hour trip to our accommodation can be made for just over five dollars in a taxi, the proposition doesn’t seem that outrageous.

Yes, I don’t have to carry 25kg of luggage on my back shoulders. Yes, we can enjoy the peace and quiet of a private car ride. But I think the most underrated component for me, especially when arriving in the city, is just being able to look out the window. Sure, you can gaze out the window all you want in the subway, but it won’t give you much of a bearing as to what’s outside. I really do think it helps to actually watch the city fly past my window, rather teleporting in next to our accommodation and going from there.

It might be the cheapest ride-share system in the world, all things considered. Especially when convenience and ease of payment are factored in.

Anyway, thanks to the riches of transport options available to us, this travel day to Guangzhou was actually a slow one. We left around midday; arrived late afternoon. It’s nice to not feel in a rush.