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Published: September 29th 2008
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After spending a month (!) travelling through Yunnan province, I was ready to see some more of the PRC. After our visit to Lugu lake, Scott, Liu Li and I returned to Kunming, planning to go our seperate ways after a few more days in the provincial capital.
Once in Kunming Scott realised that his visa was to run out very very soon. This meant it was impossible for him to get to Vietnam before his Chinese visa expired, so we went to the PSB to see what they could do for him in the way of extensions. He had barely explained what he wanted when he got handed back a slip of paper and was told that he could pick up his one month extension in a week. He could travel with his receipt so he didn't have to stay in Kunming.
My plan was to go straight from Kunming to Yangshuo after Scott left for 'Nam, but now we had another week to do something cool. The good old lonely planet was of course consulted, and later that evening we had our new plans ready. We would catch the train to Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, see the famous waterfall, then make our way down through the province towards Yangshuo by way of some "authentic" minority villages.
The sleeper train from Kunming to Guiyang was fairly harmless and we arrived in Guiyang feeling ready for a new adventure. The city of Guiyang however, doesn't seem to have much (read: any) adventure to offer. The lonely planet was horribly out of date with their accomodation, as apparently everything in there had already either been demolished or was now something else. In one place where we tried to get a room, we were even told by a policeman that foreigners couldn't stay there! Absolutely ridiculous, just imagine the same thing the other way round when a Chinese person wants to check into a hotel in Europe.
An hour or so of wandering around with our packs later, we still hadn't got very far in our search for somewhere to stay. We decided to have a drink in a cafe and see from there. The cafe staff were really helpful and even phoned around to try and find us a place to stay 😊. In the end they found us the only hostel in the city, where we walked to after finishing our tea.
The hostel was actually absolutely rubbish, but we didn't have any other option. It was overpriced for such a dead-end destination, and we even had to put the sheets on the bunk beds ourselves! Anything to keep the cutomers happy... The shower wasn't even cubicle, just a curtain in the toilet block. It was a little disconcerting taking a shower with nothing more than a curtain shielding you from the rest of the toilet block, and the only good thing about it was the funny Chinglish on the wall.
The next day we went to visit Huanguoshu Falls, the biggest waterfall in China. Whether this refers to the height, width or volume of water remains a mystery, but the waterfall was pretty impressive. When you stand near the bottom of the waterfall you need your umbrella or a rain mac as there is so much spray you get soaked in seconds. One of the coolest things about the spray from the waterfall was that you could see a rainbow in it from some angles. Photographing the falls was a good test for my brand spanking new camera, although I
was a little hesitant to get it wet.
After walking down to the bottom of the fall, Liu Li, Scott and I decided to dish out 10 kuai (another term for yuan, like quid to pound) each to dress up in minority costumes. We looked the part from the waist up (in a totally not so kind of way). As they had only given us capes and hats, from the waist down I was still just wearing my board shorts and flip flops... After taking a rest from our strenuous walk down the mountain, we went to check out the waterfall from a little closer.
After walking right up to the waterfall in our rain macs (me in my trusty yellow one from Lao) we realised there was a tunnel that went behind it which allowed you to walk right through the waterfall essentially.. It was really impressive seeing the water plummeting down right in front of you, and it was definitely one of the coolest things about the waterfall.
The rest of the area had some more tourist attractions that weren't really worth bothering with, and after a full day of touristing it up we were ready to return to Guiyang. That night we found a cool local food place. It was amazing to see the food being cooked in woks with
huge flames coming out the top, and we had a delicious meal. As were were on our dessert (beer), a guy came round with an old taped up amp on his back and holding a guitar. We got him to play us two songs for 5 kuai a piece, although I must admit it was his pink sunglasses that convinced me 😊.
The next day we left Guiyang for Kaili, a city much closer to some minority villages. We wasted one day due to getting up too late (nothing like me) and never actually ended up going to any of the minority villages near Kaili. We were short on time, and we thought the villages that were a little less accessible to the tourist hordes would be more worth our time. Our next stop was Congjiang, a perfect base from which to explore the local villages and totally devoid of any character of its own.
Our first day trip was Zhaoxing, a not so authentic Dong minority village that required a two hour hellish bus ride to arrive there (see video). The road couldn't really even be classed as a road, it was dotted with innumerable pot holes, and to make it a little more comfortable, most of the locals were smoking and shouting on the bus too. 8.45 in the morning was way too early for that bus ride...
Having arrived in Zhaoxing, we realised that apart from the fact that it was chucking it down, it was also quite touristy. Hmm... We walked around a little after the rain stopped, but the village itself made us wonder whether we were going to succeed in our quest for an authentic village.
The next day we did a day trip to the Miao minority village of Basha. As soon as we arrived, there was a show that the villagers put on. It was pretty impressive that they managed to cut a man's hair using a sythe, but the rest of the show was really cringy-worthy and I was glad to explore the rest of the village after it had finished.
Outside the main tourist street Basha was actually fairly interesting, with loads of corn hanging to dry and some impressive views over mountains and rice terraces. I got some nice photos and we went back to Congjiang to prepare ourselves for the bus ride the next day. We were going to cross into Guangxi province and some of the guys at the bus station had already cared to inform us that the bus to Guangxi was like riding a galloping horse. Super.
That will all be covered in my next blog entry - which I won't take another month to write. As for now you can enjoy my photos from Guizhou province:
Waterfalls and villages I'm off to the wonderful Loft Hostel again, but not before sampling some more Sichuan fried rice - hui guo rou chau fan, hmmm 😊.
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