HOW TO GET FROM GUILIN TO HONG KONG

Send

Day 21: Yangshuo - Guilin - Shenzhen - Hong Kong

It's 5:45 in the morning when the alarm sounds. It is very true what we said yesterday when we spent the day in Yangshuo and it is that the nights no longer cover us and we wake up practically as tired as when we went to bed and it is that this trip to China for free is being as complete and today it will not be less, since we will do in transfer from Guilin to Hong Kong.
From Yangshuo you cannot go directly to Hong Kong, first we have to take a bus that takes us to Guilin in an hour or so and from there we have to go to the train station, from where we will take a train from Guilin to Shenzen at 11:16, from where we will cross the border to reach Hong Kong, the last destination of our trip to China for free.

Yesterday we asked at the reception of our hotel in YangshuoThe Yangshuo Magnolia Hotel and we were told that the first bus from Yangshuo to Guilin departs at 7 in the morning and has frequency every twenty minutes, until 10 at night. It takes about 1 hour and a half to get to the Guilin bus station, and it costs 20RMB per person.
These data are for the express bus that tells us not to stop, if you take the local for many stops so it takes much longer to make the tour.
So as you can imagine today we have to get up early and at 6.30 in the morning we are already checking out and picking up our 200RMB deposit, something usual here in China that you will find in all hotels. You must leave a bit, usually 100 or 200RMB of deposit that is returned at the time of check out. With everything already closed and seeing that the streets at this time of the morning are deserted, we ask that you call us a taxi to go to the Yangshuo North Station, which is 2 kilometers from the hotel and downtown.
We pay 25RMB (something expensive for what the journey is, but being a taxi called from the hotel, what we have to say is a private car) and just when we arrive we see that the train is about to leave bus from Yangshuo to Guilin, so we load our bags and there we go.
Today the day is gray again, and reminds us of the fate we had on the day of the Li River cruise to Yangshuo, being able to enjoy a sunny day.
We arrived at Guilin at 8:40, yes, making several intermediate stops, so in the end we have the doubt if we have taken the express or normal bus.
Just get off the bus we find several taxis to which we show our note with the text "please we want to go to the north train station of Guilin", made by ChinaDIYTravel, that have helped us a lot and without which we would have had more than one problem seeing that here, even if you carry a map and signs, they do not understand you.
They ask for 60RMB and as we see it quite expensive, even knowing that it is about 30 minutes from the bus station, we decided to try our luck and we went to the general road, which is right next door, and we stopped at the first one that passes.
We show the paper written in Chinese, it confirms that we can come up with a nod, and plug the meter in without asking. Result: 22RMB. Imagine the price difference!
We enter the train station of Guilin showing our train tickets and go directly to the waiting room where we have a picnic breakfast with some buns that we buy in one of the shops we found.

Train station. How to get from Guilin to Hong Kong

By the way there is no coffee or coffee shops here, even if it is a huge and modern station, so it is time to settle for the local product that we find in one of the few stores inside.
And so we spend the rest of the time, taking advantage of free Wi-Fi, rereading the planning of Hong Kong, until it is time to embark on our train from Guilin to Shenzen.
We travel again in first class, as we did the day of the transfer from Fenghuang to Guilin and as it happened the other day, we can say that it is not worth paying the price difference compared to the differences with the second class. The second seats are perfect for 3 hours of travel or more, since they are much better than those of airplanes.

First class car from Guilin to Shenzhen. How to get from Guilin to Hong Kong

And because at this point we give our lives for coffee, when we discover that we are right next to the restaurant car, we can do nothing but enjoy a couple of coffees for 40RMB. It seems a lie as we miss something as simple as coffee. When we get home we will be all day with the capsules up and down.

Leaving Guilin on the train that will take us to Shenzhen

We arrived at Shenzen North at 2:29 p.m., punctual as always, and just after leaving the train we find line 4 of the subway (red line), just the one we have to take to get to Futian Checkpoint, which is one of the points where cross from China to Hong Kong.

Shenzhen subway and location of subway stops

We pay 4RMB per person and this time we do not have subway tickets, if not some chips that we keep for later and now that we are already knowing the exact yuan that we have left, we will eat something before we set off to get to Hong Kong.
After filling the stomach, we take the subway at North Railway Station and go to Futian Checkpoint in Shenzenwhere this subway station becomes Lok Ma Chau in Hong Kong and here we begin to walk a corridor, which at all times is indicated with "Hong Kong Exit".

Crossing from China to Hong Kong

When you get to the fork you have to follow the hallway that says "passport"And here it is time to queue to be able to go through immigration. Remember to bring the Departure Card you filled out when you entered China.
After a queue of no more than 10 minutes and once sealed our passports with the exit of China, we follow the corridor again and arrive at immigration in Hong Kong, where we pass the control again, refilling the entry letter and after delivering it, we are already in Hong Kong.

Map of Hong Kong in the CityMaps2Go

Before entering the Hong Kong subway We pass by the bank to exchange money for these days that we will spend in the city and once with the new currency in hand, Hong Kong dollars, we go directly to the subway ticket offices where we buy a couple of tickets. The operation of the access vending machines is the same as in mainland China. Until Tsim Sha Tsui from Lok Ma Chau (including a couple of transfers that we will have to do) costs us $ 79. Orientation is not difficult, but we leave you a subway map just in case 😉

Hong Kong Metro Map

At the end between one thing and another we arrived at our hotel in Hong Kong, the Innsight, in the famous area Hong Kong Walk of Fame, at 6:30 in the afternoon, and as soon as we left the subway: woooowwwwww awesome !!

More practical information to prepare your trip to Hong Kong
- 50 things to see and do in Hong Kong
- 10 essential places to visit in China
- 10 essential tips for traveling to China

We are in another world! At first glance we found any city we enjoyed on our trip to Japan for free.

First scene we see when we arrive in Hong Kong

We check in and we adapt to what will be ours "fancy matchbox"In Hong Kong, the prices are not double here, they are tripling with respect to mainland China and although we are paying 100 euros a night, the room is mini.
Although in honor of the truth we have to say that the hotel is great and the location is exceptional, just 200 meters from the Walk of Fame.
A few minutes pass after 7 pm when we leave the hotel and go to that area, to enjoy the Hong Kong sound and light show, which takes place every day at 8 pm, although before, how could it be otherwise, we miss a while on the Walk of Fame, hallucinating with the change so impressive we have had in a few hours.

Walk of Fame in Hong Kong

Bruce Lee in Hong Kong

Book the best rated tours and excursions in Hong Kong by travelers:
- Boat trip and dinner at Jumbo Kingdom
- Excursion to Macao
- Symphony of Lights cruise
- Excursion to the island of Lantau
- Private tour in Spanish in Hong Kong
- More excursions and tours here

We don't need much time to see how everything has changed, including the treatment of people. Here they are much quieter and slower and this has nothing to do with the Mainland China from where we come from.
We are not going to lie to you, we expected something more from this and it was that they had told us and we had read that it was impressive.
A good option would be to book the cruise on the Aqua Luna boat, a traditional Chinese junk, to see the light show and the Skyline from the river.

Light and sound show in Hong Kong

We certainly believe that we must see it, but we have found that it has been very light, both in sound, almost imperceptible, and in lights, something weak. And so we get almost 9 o'clock at night when we go back into the colorful streets of Hong Kong to find a place to have dinner.

How to have internet in Hong Kong?
If you want to have internet in Hong Kong a good option is to buy one Holafly SIM card, with which you will have internet from the moment you land, several GB of data, keeping your WhatsApp number and support service in Spanish.
You can buy your Holafly prepaid SIM card here with a 5% discount for being our reader.

And suddenly a Japanese restaurant appears, the Manya, right in front of our hotel and how could it be otherwise, wherever we go.
We ordered a couple of sushi dishes, plus salad, soup and udon and coke for $ 326 that bring us back to life after all these days eating Chinese food.