Daytripper is a regular column that aims to help people get the most out of their PRD experience by proposing fun excursions that can be made in a single day to explore the local culture and nature of the region.
Equally well served by transport links from Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Huizhou is a much sleepier city than its larger Guangdong brethren. During the weekdays, when the majority of the residents are at work, it feels almost empty – as empty as a city with an urban population of about five million can feel, at any rate.
Not unpopular with domestic tourists, Huizhou lays claim to several leisure activities: a sandy bay, a holy mountain, hot springs. Most of these, however, are far from the city center – so much so that the bay is probably closer to Shenzhen and the mountain nearer Guangzhou. Such are the vagaries of municipal divisions.
What Huizhou proper does possess, however, are a pair of scenic lakes. When the sun is shining, the verdurous vegetation seems to blaze, and even in cloudy weather it’s a pleasant antidote to metropolitan malaise. For those who live in Huizhou, it must be delightful to have escape within such easy reach.
Xi Hu is the more famous option. Sharing a name with Hangzhou’s famous body of water, well-read Chinese know it from the verses enumerating its beauty by the esteemed poet Su Shi. In fact, a statue of the bard is situated amidst the collection of small temples and pagodas that inhabit the park area surrounding the lake.
Speaking frankly, these minor architectures will be of little interest to anybody who has visited similar structures in the Guangdong region, as there is nothing either notably unique or interesting about their history or construction – though leaders of several tour groups passing by when we are there seem to be weaving their followers many a pretty, if dubious, tale through their megaphones.
Instead, it is nature that makes Xi Hu worth visiting. Entering the main gate, a topiary dragon watches over ponds overflowing with lotuses. If the bridges and paths across the lake are not unique, at least they are aesthetically conceived, blending well with the scenery.
West Lake can get busy during the weekends, and sometimes the best way to escape the crowds is to hire a pedalo or a motor boat and head out onto the water. If the season is right, you may be treated to the sight of birds nesting on some of the small islands.
Honghua Hu is less frequented. Many come here to enjoy the serene, 18-kilometer cycle along a well-maintained road that winds through verdant greenery. Indeed, this activity is linked so closely with Honghua that numerous bike shops at the foot of the hill leading to the entrance rent velocipedes; more are available in the park itself at the beginning of the trail.
Prices vary depending on the quality of your mount, but on average RMB40 should be sufficient for a decent ride. Before heading off, a deposit is mandatory, as is passport identification – the universality of this latter measure suggests it is government mandated.
More athletic people sometimes run along the lakeside track, but for those who cycle it is a fairly gentle experience. There are kilometer markers along the route so you can easily keep track of your progress.
West Lake and Red Flower Lake, as they are known in English, are within a short drive (or brisk walk) of one another. Both can easily be explored in a single day, and each offers a different type of adventure.
How to Get There
From Guangzhou, the best bus to catch leaves from Tianjin Coach Terminal, as this one will drop you at the relatively central Huizhou Coach Terminal. Tickets are RMB65. From Shenzhen, buses at the Nanshan, Futian and Luohu coach stations all go to the more central Huizhou terminal for RMB53-55.
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