In August 1983, I took the train from Hong Kong to the big city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton). I met some fellow tourists on the train and we all stayed at a budget hotel near the Pearl River (also known as the Zhujiang or Guangdong River).

Most of us had done little planning so 5 of us all ended up taking the same slow local boat up the Pearl River. The accomodations where spartan but the views were wonderful. It was a fascinating trip.

After the overnight boat trip we disembarked at Yangshuo. From there it was a couple hours on a very rough bus trip into Guilin.