Journey to Baise: A Mountain and Water Adventure with Ups and Downs

During the May Day holiday, I headed to Guangxi Province to embark on a journey full of surprises. For someone like me who grew up in the plains, Guangxi's landscape of mountain peaks embracing lakes has an invisible magic that deeply attracts me. Due to limited time, I only visited two places in Baise: Jingxi Goose Spring and Haokun Lake. Goose Spring: An Overpriced "Large Park" During the May Day holiday, staff at Goose Spring scenic area arrived at their posts as early as 6:30 AM. They stood guard at the entrance, strictly requiring visitors to wait until 7:00 AM to purchase tickets, which cost 48 yuan. I strongly advise against buying tickets to enter. You can find villagers offering bamboo raft rides, normally 10 yuan per person but increased to 20 yuan during the May Day holiday, which will take you through a bridge tunnel directly into the scenic area. Compared to other scenic spots in Guangxi, Goose Spring is rather ordinary, more like a large park. My companion and I climbed to a small pavilion on the hill, where we overlooked the entire Goose Spring area, surrounded by lush greenery that was quite pleasing to the eye. However, if your time and itinerary are tight, Goose Spring can definitely be skipped. Guangxi has many more beautiful scenic areas with cheaper prices or even free admission, making Goose Spring's value for money quite low. Also, morning mist isn't guaranteed here every day—seeing it depends entirely on luck. Haokun Lake: Beautiful Scenery with Challenges There are two ways to explore Haokun Lake: either enter the scenic area or navigate to Baqi Village and follow Zhang Xinyou's hiking route. During the May Day holiday, motorcycle rides from Baqi Village to Zhang Xinyou's viewing platform increased in price to 60 yuan round trip per person, which was even more expensive than the Haokun Lake scenic area entrance fee. This immediately discouraged us, so we decided to visit the scenic area instead. During the May Day holiday, self-driving was not allowed in Haokun Lake, and visitors had to purchase sightseeing bus tickets to ride the park shuttle. Haokun Lake scenic area is very large, and without self-driving, much of the fun is lost. However, at the tunnel entrance before entering the scenic area, we met local villagers and after some negotiation, paid 150 yuan for four people in one car. The villager took us into the scenic area without buying tickets—what a bargain! Climbing to Phoenix Mountain in the scenic area, the view before us was breathtakingly beautiful. Haokun Lake is truly worth visiting! But Phoenix Mountain is extremely difficult to climb, taking about half an hour one way. The path is covered with gravel, and the soil slopes are very slippery. It's best to wear hiking shoes—I stubbornly climbed up in my Crocs. If you still have energy after climbing Phoenix Mountain, Zhulongdong Cave is worth trying. Until 2008, it was the only passage for local villagers to the outside world, with an almost 90-degree vertical slope. In Haokun Lake scenic area, you can also fish, play in the water, and camp. I saw many people swimming in the lake, looking extremely comfortable. If I could spare a weekend during normal times, staying in the scenic area for two days and one night would be absolutely delightful. Unfortunately, as tourists, we could only leave with reluctance.