It's not Suzhou or Hangzhou, but the ancient town of Huangyao in Hezhou, Guangxi, which has a history of a thousand years!!
Guangxi is not only home to Guilin, but also this forgotten ancient town.
Hezhou📍Huangyao Ancient Town~~
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Before going, I also read many posts advising caution, saying that the ancient town is quite small and overly commercialized; but fortunately, it's quite close. It's just a two-hour high-speed train ride from Guangzhou to Hezhou, so I still wanted to go and see for myself.
Hezhou, like Guilin, features karst topography with its majestic peaks, among which Huangyao Ancient Town is nestled; it has a completely different charm compared to the ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River with their small bridges and flowing water.
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🚄【Transportation & Accommodation】
You can take a high-speed train directly to 'Hezhou Station'. After getting off, there are buses to Huangyao Ancient Town, but I recommend carpooling as it's about 40 minutes by expressway and much faster than the bus.
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For accommodation, you can stay within the scenic area, which is convenient for sightseeing; you can ask the owner to help you buy tickets, as locals can get them at a cheaper price.
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🍜【About Food】
Douchi (fermented black beans) is a specialty of Huangyao Ancient Town. Locals combine it with various ingredients, such as douchi spare ribs, douchi rice noodles, and if you like, you can also buy some Huangyao douchi to take home; there are also local delicacies like nine-layer cake, scallion rolls, and grey water glutinous rice cakes to try.
When traveling, I, with my 'glass stomach', also like sour and spicy flavors😅
I always carry stomach medicine💊. This gastro-intestinal pill is a staple for me, a small pill that crumbles easily, dissolving completely in 9 minutes, containing wood creosote which can quickly stop diarrhea~ I heard that every Teochew family has a bottle🤨
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✅【Must-Visit Spots】
Dailong Bridge: Built during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, it is a landmark of the ancient town's scenery, and the movie 'The Painted Veil' was once filmed here.
Dragon Claw Banyan: A very distinctive large banyan tree, resembling a huge dragon claw, located at the entrance of the scenic area, right next to Yao River, and particularly eye-catching.
Stone Skipping Bridge: Consists of 31 stone piers arranged in a row, with the spacing between the piers set according to the walking pace of people, facilitating pedestrian access without affecting flood discharge.
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Overall, Huangyao Ancient Town is quite nice, and two days and one night are enough without needing to stay too long. Here you can find both the gentleness and beauty of the ancient towns in the south of the Yangtze River, as well as its own unique ruggedness and simplicity. If you also want to experience a different kind of ancient town charm, why not come and take a look~~
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one of the best ancient towns I visited, specially in the Chinese new year holiday, the only problem is the parking for the car is far from the hotels. However, we enjoyed the hotel. the price of the hotel wasn't expensive but nice and clean.
At 10 am, take the tourist bus at Shenzhen Bay Port for six or seven hours to Huangyao Ancient Yao, and arrive at dusk. Focus on the day and night of Huangyao Ancient Town. Tourist buses cannot enter the town and have to transfer. You have to pay the car capital. You can walk into the town and the hotel for half an hour. The town is full of civil construction and dust. The original appearance may have been completely different, into a tourist area catering to everyone.
very suggestive, can spend an hour or so walking around and taking photos. the drive there is also nice. inside the village there are some cafe to sit down but probably not worth it. can get some souvenirs instead.
The place is clean, but the tickets are expensive. We don’t have to go at night. We can eat outside and then go to visit. It is a place where we can punch in.
The boss is super good! The package originally booked was that all three rooms were on the first floor, because the 2 rooms upstairs were not booked out. After communicating with the boss, we decisively changed 2 rooms to the second floor. It was a very warm and chic small yard.