I came to Shanghai, China in 2011 to teach English and since then, there hasn’t been a dull moment. From all of my experiences, my trip to Guilin is one of my favorite experiences. While in this area, I went with some friends to visit Dragon’s Backbone rice terraces. We had a hotel reserved in the Dazhai area of the terraces, so we took a bus to Dazhai from Guilin. On the way up, there was so much rainfall that it caused a mud slide, which caused the road to become completely blocked by all the dirt. It was a little difficult to figure out what was happening since the bus driver only spoke Chinese, but it turned out that we needed to walk over the land side where another bus driver would come and pick us up. When we finally arrived at the terraces, we were completely lost. From the point where the bus dropped off to our hotel, it ended up being about a 2 ½ hour trek up and down the terraces to get there. I guess it was just lucky that two of us were carrying backpacks. Our friend without a backpack had one of the Chinese sherpas take her bag to our hotel for only 40 RMB.
Even though it was a drizzly day, the views were amazing! Up in this area, the clouds move so quickly that at one moment you can see the terrace stretching out for miles and the next thing you know, your entire view is covered by clouds.
After seeing the rice terraces, we traveled down to Yangshuo. Out of all the places I have visited while teaching English in China, Yangshuo is my favorite. This area is known for its soaring limestone peaks and the Li River. The picture below shows the rafts that you can hire to take you on a tour of the river. A good time to visit this area is during the National Holiday from October 1st – 7th, because the weather is really nice. One of the most popular activities in this area is to rent bikes and ride around the entire area.
I definitely recommend stopping along the road for some passion fruit. The people at the fruit stand will cut open the top and give you a spoon so you can eat it right there. It’s the perfect blend of sweet and sour.
If you get tired from all the bike riding and want a nice place to stop and enjoy a cup of coffee, I highly recommend the Giggling Tree Guesthouse. Also, if you’re looking for a place to away from the busy, noisy West Street, this may also be a good option. Even though it is a bit away from the action, it’s not more than a bike ride away from any area that you might want to visit.
There really isn’t a day that goes by that I am not excited about living in China and all of the opportunities that it includes. The places above are just a few of the places that you can see when you come to teach in China. Trips like this are quite affordable in China and the fact that teachers’ salaries in China are high in comparison to the cost of living allows teachers necessary income to travel. Teaching Nomad has new teaching job vacancies all the time, so continue to browse teaching job vacancies by visiting our website. All of our personal placement consultants have been in China for a while and can help make your move to China a lot easier!
By Sophia Marling, Business Development Specialist
Teaching Nomad is an American owned and operated education Recruitment Company based in Shanghai, China. Our goal and purpose is to help great teachers find great teaching jobs. Year round, we have hundreds of teaching job vacancies. Whether your goal is to be an ESL teacher or teach in an international school, we have a teaching job for you. You can browse jobs online at www.teachingnomad.com/job-search for the latest job openings. Teaching Nomad is here to make teaching in China easier, so please feel free to reach out and contact us with any questions or enquiries!
website website website website website website website website website website website website
