From my experience car rental agencies are typically not that concerned whether you really have the right to drive. Half of them fail to turn the licence over to check the vehicles I am permitted to drive or dates of validity for vehicle types, and I have never been asked for a sharing code so they can look up if I have points on my UK licence.

The desk agent typically justs want to rent their car, and make money, provided they know who is liable for any damage or a missing vehicle.
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Much as love driving and have driven in some fairly crazy places China is not one I have been tempted to try. Not because of the local driving customs, but more because I feel a foreigner would be an easy target for traffic police, and if you really don't have the right to drive I figure that's a whole lotta trouble to get out of in China

Guilin is past Yangshuo from GZ. Why not just get off the train at Yangshuo? Or book a ticket to Yangshuo

Great idea! Having trouble finding a good English Chinese train site that lists the interim stops. Could you recommend such train booking website?
How far is Yangshou train station from town and what is best method to get into town?

Ctrip is okay for researching tickets and booking too, but I think they tack on a modest service charge.

Thank you moondog. Most of the trains on my preferred date are indicating sold out. Is that actual inventory of the train or their allocation of seats or just a game they play to entice you to book something asap?

Is there an official Chinese site in English which shows more accurate inventory levels?

I use an English version of the 12306 app on my phone; real name verification might be a bit of an obstacle for you though, and I'm pretty sure ctrip gets access to the same inventory.

What�s your date of travel? Trains are only sold 2 weeks in advance.

if outside China, use trip.com to purchase.

if desired day is sold out, just keep an eye on tickets, availability will change throughout the 2 weeks in the lead up to travel date. Change policies are fairly good, can be easier to cancel and rebook instead of changing.

Yangshuo train station is about 45 minutes away from Yangshuo city. Didi or taxi will be easiest. $14 didi. Guilin train station is about 75 minutes from Yangshuo, $32 didi.

Another option is to do a river cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo which is a classic choice, usually during lunch time. 4-5 hours. Very scenic including seeing the image on the back of the 20 RMB bill

Thanks.
Planning to go approximately Jan 25 or 26. Jan 26 a Friday so likely that's why so booked up already. My travel partner is traveling standby From USA to Guangzhou so our date would be determined by when he arrives G. Was planning on asking G hotel concierge to help me buy the tickets but I dont arrive to G until Jan 19 so likely that will be too late. From everything I've been reading Guilin seems over touristed so I'm considering 2-3 days only Yangshuo. Any feedback appreciated, including hotel recommendation in Yangshuo ($ not an issue). I'm feeling a bit lost and dont have a lot of spare days in China for errors. thanks in advance.

Guangzhou to Yangshuo on 1/25 or 1/26?

yes, likely one of those days depending upon my partner�s arrival to guangzhou.

1/25 looks pretty good to me
1/26 does seem tight (as of now... could always open up), unless you're okay with 7a or 530p.

Isn't the weekend of the 27/01 the beginning of the travel frenzy for Spring Festival ?

No. The work holiday period is February 10-17 this year.

Not thrilled with either of those times but doable.

Not married to Yangshuo as a destination. Anyone have other ideas?
We will have 4-5 days between Guangzhou and our next stop Hong Kong. I like cities. My friend likes nature. We both love museums, culture, local color, food, off the beaten track... We are open to suggestions in that general geographical area travelable by train which may be easier to book a train within 2-3 days of our outbound travel.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

I'd stick with the Yangshuo plan if I were you. It shouldn't be super crowded on the weekend of the 26th and there aren't a lot of good nature options if you head east instead of west.