Blogs from Guizhou, China, Asia - page 17

Dinsdag 6 februari. Wij (Ria en Pieter, verslaggevers voor drie weken) hebben via Connections een vlucht met Austrian Airlines geboekt naar Beijing. Na ons vertrek in Zaventem en een tussenhalte in Wenen vliegen we gedurende 8u40 7500 km met een gigantische Airbus A300, waarop we echt verwend worden met eten en drinken naar hartelust. Rondom ons zitten vooral jonge Chinezen en de hele tijd is er geanimeerd gebabbel. Echt slapen is er voor ons die nacht niet bij. Tijdens het dalen verschijnt onder ons een dor, ruw en hier en daar besneeuwd landschap. In de luchthaven van Beijing raken we overal vlot doorheen na het invullen van een entry card, een medische verklaring en een declaration form met telkens ongeveer dezelfde gegevens. Ria wuift vrolijk met haar entry card naar de officier achter zijn balie die ... read more

Part III of the backdoor route into Yangshou. Zengchong is so small it doesn't have any proper accomodations. We were hosted by a family in the village. The family was that of the head of the Chinese communist party in the village, and they were the only ones providing accomodation. The rooms were nice enough and after a good dinner which our hosts cooked for us we retired for the night and slept on the floor (with some blankets for padding). There are no showers here. Personally, I was determined to wait with some even more basic sanitary needs until we got out of there, given the poor state of the facilities. We had learnt our lesson from the day before. No more lazy awakenings at a quarter past six. Today we would begin our day ... read more

Li Ming, Jenny and their classmates are sitting in the classroom. Mr. Wood comes in. Mr. Wood: Good morning, class! Class: Good morning, Mr. Wood! Mr. Wood: Let's begin our lesson. Oh! Look outside! It's snowing! What a cold, snowy day! (Everyone looks out of the windows. Snow is falling!) Li Ming: The snow is beautiful! But why is it snowing in April? It never snows in April in Shijiazhuang. Mr. Wood: Really? Spring comes later in Canada. But it doesn't always snow in winter. Often it is very bright and sunny. The days are short and the night are long. But the sky is usually bright and blue. What do you like to do in winter in Canada, Li Ming? Li Ming: I like to put on my winter jacket, my scarf and my mittens ... read more

When people hear "Guizhou" coming from my direction, they are quick to reply with a hearty "Gesundheit!". Guizhou is not the sound resulting from a nasal evacuation but rather the name of a province in China. But you could be forgiven for not being able to differentiate between the two. Lonely Planet China 9th Edition has 980 pages. It chose to devote 19 of them to Guizhou. Quick calculation. About 2 percent. Leafing through these pages, one discoveres that a non-negligible part of the pages are devoted to a discussion concerning the means to relieve oneself of the province, be it by train, bus or yak if necessary. I know of only one other couple, friends of mine, who actually bothered to travel here. But then they are China veterans, and one of them speaks fluent ... read more

Geo: 26.0915, 106.814I love waterfalls so off Phil and I went from Kunming on a 17hr train ride to Guiyang to discover China's largest waterfall. Guiyang is not a beautiful city and is very industrialized, making everything very smoggy. But it does have monkies! After a naughty old man sent us on a mad goose chase up some mountains we eventually found some friendly monkies just around the corner from where we had started. They're great fun to feed and everyone else has great fun watching the foreigner feed the monkies! There's also a most enjoyable 'Death Ride' to have a go on and a monastery up in the mountains.The waterfall is not easy to find. Do not believe The Lonely Planet on this one. By the time we'd actually arrived we only had about 30mins ... read more