When I heard about Qingyuan for the first time, I felt that the name was calm and long, and it should be a place where people who have worked hard for many years can find comfort in a slow life.
In the busy Guangdong Province, it is a location that many brick-and-mortar travelers will consider when preparing to travel around. I have been in Guangdong for many years. In the early years, I heard that my colleagues would go to Qingyuan for rafting, hot spring bathing, and tree house B&B during a department team building trip. I have always longed for it, and this May Day trip finally happened.
In fact, I didn’t decide where to go until the May Day holiday came. I originally wanted to go to Tibet, which I have always longed for, but firstly, I have to take three days off, which is too long for an office worker. Secondly, after last year’s trip to Gannan, I really feel that driving is too tiring and I have to sit in the car for a long time. My body couldn't take it anymore, so I canceled it.
Finally, I decided to find a place to visit around Shenzhen for two or three days to relax and unwind. After looking at Ctrip and Mafengwo for a long time, I decided to go to Qingyuan. So this time it’s another trip that can just go. In fact, it’s a good situation. You don’t have to worry too much in advance. When the time comes, the decision will come naturally.
Including the itinerary on the road, the total is three days and two nights, for your reference.
Let’s talk about where we stayed first. Because we were worried about mosquitoes, we didn’t stay in a hot spring tree house or a camp in the peak forest. Instead, we chose a theme park in a remote area with many villas and hotels.
The name of the theme park is Aoyuan Yingde Chocolate Kingdom. Each building will be decorated like melting chocolate. The Ferris wheel, carousel, roller coaster, etc. are all wrapped in sweet candy colors. In fact, it is more suitable for parent-child travel. Recommended Parents with young children come here for a weekend getaway.
There is a very large hot spring lake in the center of the park, and you can see the entire lake from the hotel. There is a hot spring pool called Quanlin Water World. Customers can also go to the hot springs. But unfortunately, there was a problem with the water pipes when we went there. It was said that the water temperature of the hot springs can only be 35 to 36 degrees. I don’t know why. It will be repaired in time, so it is a pity that I did not choose to soak in the hot springs here.
We finally chose a place called Liwu Village Old Hot Spring on Dianping. It is more remote, but it is a hot spring that only locals go to. It has a history of more than 20 years. It is built in the village, although the external decoration does not look very good. It’s high-end, but in order to experience the life of the locals, I decided to go there.
Facts have proved that our in-depth "experience local life" mentality is particularly worthy of praise, because it is really different from the hot springs we have soaked in before. The cost is only 35 yuan per person, there are no extra things, and there will be no extra promotion for customers. It's like Doraemon. When the customer asks if there are bath towels, "yes" and if there are swimsuits, "yes".
The environment is also very good. Although it was raining heavily that day, you can clearly feel that it must be particularly beautiful on a sunny day. There is a small village hidden in the bamboo forest and a quiet river flowing next to it. Although it is located in a remote area and the hot springs are very simple, the basic facilities are still there.
In fact, these small business places do not need to be decorated too extravagantly. Along the way, I saw many tourist attractions being abandoned, which really felt like a pity. They were also places that were focused on development before, so they invested a lot of effort in decoration. After operating for a while, It is found that what people pay more attention to is not the glamorous appearance, but the meaning they can give to customers.
For example, just at the intersection of driving into Liwu Village Hot Spring, there is a small Qidong hot spring that attracts tourists with the gimmick that "you can soak in the hot spring in the cave." However, the latest comments from Dianping are that the water quality is itchy after soaking, and the towels are... There were comments such as uncleanness and average service. In fact, I checked the relevant information. This hot spring even had a resort built at the beginning of the century. I think it was really prepared to run it seriously at the beginning. However, due to the scarcity of customers and the high maintenance cost, It has not set strict service standards, so it no longer publishes reservation information online recently, which is a pity.
The next day we went to the highlight of our trip: Yingxi Peak Forest. I have been to Guilin twice, and I am still looking forward to seeing Yingxi Peak Forest, known as "Little Guilin" in Guangdong.
But unfortunately, many of the scenic spots in the brochure have been cultivated. I guess the epidemic in recent years has caused a scarcity of tourists. In comparison, actual agriculture is more reasonable. After all, relying on converting farmland into scenic spots, income is always unstable.
So until the end, I felt that we had never reached the real Yingxi Peak Forest. Driving all the way there, there were many signs on the road. There was a xx Peak Forest on this road and a xx Corridor on that road. , but they were all things I had never heard of before. In line with the principle of not picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelon, we drove straight to the marked point on the map.
I followed the map to Huanghua Town and found the ticket office. I found that I could only buy tickets for Jiuchongtian Scenic Area. The conductor was not very clear about where Yingxi Peak Forest was. I had no choice but to buy tickets first. After buying the tickets, we found that the Jiuchongtian Scenic Area was still more than ten kilometers away from the town. It was already 16:30 at that time. Although there was less than an hour left before the scenic spot closed, we only had this time and we were going back to Shenzhen at noon tomorrow, so we decided Keep going.
After arriving at the destination, we found that we were not expecting to see Fenglin, Shili Gallery, and Xiao Zhaozhou Bridge. After asking the ticket seller, we found out that this is just Jiuchongtian Scenic Area. None of the scenery listed above is available here, and Shili Gallery is from The scenery on both sides of the road when driving from Huanghua Town, many scenic spots have been cultivated. During the inquiry room, many people came one after another behind the ticket office. They all had the same confusion as us and drove for several hours to get nowhere.
But we have a better mentality, just take it as it comes, check in and have a look, and just lower your expectations. There is a small cave in the scenic area. Compared with the caves I have seen before, it is certainly not spectacular enough, and the price/performance ratio of the tickets is relatively low. But if you think about it, this is already the top specification that can be built in a beautiful town. There is really no need to criticize it too much. . Think about the pastoral scenery you can enjoy leisurely by driving here, it’s worth it.
I would also like to praise the several gourmet restaurants we visited during this trip. They all have good ratings on Dianping. The first one is "Fresh Green Farm Firewood Stove". We mainly ate Qingyuan Chicken, but we didn't expect that their soups were also very good. delicious;
The second one was the "Xinnongmen Hakka Courtyard" on the way back from Yingxi Peak Forest - it was very deep in the village. I wondered if I had gone the wrong way along the way, but at least we arrived before dark. After entering the house Everything suddenly became clear. There was a very large courtyard with jasmine and gardenia planted here and there. When you walked in, you could smell a refreshing fragrance. There are also many elderly people in the village who come to help with work, giving these elderly people some opportunities for re-employment.
The experience was pretty good, and Dianping’s reviews are reliable ~ However, the consumption in these places is not lower than in Shenzhen. It may be related to the tourism industry, but because we couldn’t eat a pot of fig-soaked chicken, we didn’t order this special dish, which saved a few dollars. One hundred dollars.
Taken together, Qingyuan is more suitable for friends from Guangdong to travel around, and can also take children for parent-child tours and farm stays. It only takes 1.5 hours for us to take the high-speed rail from Shenzhen. Friends who rent a car and drive by themselves can pick up the car in the parking lot after getting off the high-speed rail. The road is not very strenuous. The greening along the way is very good, with abundant vegetation, especially the green bamboo forests on both sides of the road. Self-driving feels pretty good too.
Use your weekend time to relax your body and mind, breathe in the fresh air, soak in a hot spring, eat a pot of Qingyuan chicken, and enjoy the scenic peaks and forests and farmland tile houses on both sides of the country road. You can also gain a lot of comfort.