It was dark and raining a bit when the bus dropped me off in the early morning. I had some ideas for places to stay, but for some reason I listened so some English speaking guy who said he will take me to a hostel. He said go in this taxi. Usually in this situation if they take you to a specific place of their choosing, it is a free ride. I assumed this, but when I arrived I was overcharged for the 3 minute taxi ride. You can have a bed for the night for the same price! Anyway, the hostel he mentioned was closed, so he directed me to another place which was not the hostel. I knew these people already ripped me off so I didn’t want anymore business with them so I said no to this room and took off on my own.
After wandering around the streets getting lost for a while, the same English speaking guy found me again and tried getting me in another taxi to another place. I said I don’t trust him, I’ll just walk. I asked some other taxi drivers how to get to where I wanted to go, and I got some hints and I did figure out where to go combining all my maps and compass and hint of direction (of course no one will give you proper directions, they want money, it is like SE Asia here).
I made it to Flowers International Youth Hostel and such a better place than the first one I saw. They speak English here, have a nice lobby, nice room, free Wi-Fi, and free breakfast. The breakfast is actually served to you (eggs, toast, tea, orange juice) which is a first in a hostel! Under $6 per night for a private room.
The guidebooks say the best way to see the area is to rent a bicycle, which I did. Everyone else was doing the same thing, so it was nice to see so many bicycles around. It was my first time riding a bike in China too. I think it is more difficult than other places due to the variety of things on the street, and this is just a smaller city. In a few second period, I saw two people carrying a motor cycle engine across the street and a guy with only underwear on walking down the street (no shoes or anything).
I spent the next few hours riding past the scenic mountains, rivers, farms, villages. This area is pretty famous in China and it was a good experience to ride a bicycle through it. Although in the afternoon it started raining. A light sprinkle mostly, so I decided to turn around and get back to town. Some of the roads were dirt and there was a lot of mud so my clothes were getting dirty too. It still was worth it though and I made it to many places before the rain.