Blogs from Guizhou, China, Asia - page 14

Guiyang: My days here in Guiyang consist of roughly 10+ hours of teaching. I teach 20+ aspiring English Tour Guides the English language (in the context of Tourism, etc...) from 9:00am-5:30pm, with a 2 hour break for lunch and time to prep for the following day’s class. Though I am tired to the point of losing all abilities of comprehension, I love every minute of this lively and non-stop existence, here in this organic, thriving city of Guiyang. In total honesty, being here in the south of China makes me want to never return to Beijing, with its grey clouds, hot and oven-like feel, and lonely distance. It’s also a blast being the only 老外in town, with the exception of Shannon, my classmate and fellow teacher here at Guiyang Normal University, situated in comfortable walking distance ... read more

Our first afternoon in Kaili included a trip to the bird and flower market; it was a fascinating regional market with baskets of spices; cages of birds, exotic animals and reptiles; interesting plants; and piles of local fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, we were caught in a torrential downpour and were not able to enjoy the market scene. The rain complicated the afternoon trip to one of the nearby minority villages, so we went to a regional museum that had minority dress and cultural artifacts on display. The most interesting parts of the museum, however, were the women artisans who were working on traditional arts and crafts. The women were weavers, silversmiths, and batik artists. I quickly became the group "batik freak." Our trips out of Kaili were delayed because of landslides, road washouts, and two meters ... read more

June 7 - 9 Morning on the train I was trying to figure out how far the bus station from the train station to catch a bus to Kaili. A girl was sitting across from me and I asked her if she knew which bus to take to Kaili. Now I can't remember if I asked in horrible chinese or in english. Probably in english but I would like to think I used chinese:) She told me she was goign to Kaili and that I could come with her. Sweet deal! She introduced herself as Rabbit. She was visiting friends in Chengdu and was on her way home, back to Xijiang. She's originally from Guangzhou but moved to Xijiang to open a shop (later, I found out that I totally misunderstood her about owning a ... read more

Situated in the hills that surround Congjiang, the riverside Chinese equivalent of a one-horse town, Basha is perhaps the most well-known and popular Miao village in the state. In terms of scenery, Basha most certainly puts the former to shame. While still touched by the hand of development, evident in one or two of the photos I posted, this village, spread through the lush foothills of southeast Guizhou province, in comparison with more easily accessible roadside towns such as Congjiang, this Miao village retains the vast majority of its original character. Our local guide and village resident Gui Yuanliang (his Mandarin namedont ask me for his Miao nameI definitely missed that one) is actually a nation-wide movie star. Dont let his stature fool you, this guy is one hardened, gun-toting, chest-puffing stack of a man. ... read more

Dinsdag 27 februari. Na het vertrek van Ria en Pieter gisteren, zal het voor de gewone reporter weer even wennen worden om voor de verslagen te zorgen. Ria en Pieter hadden er vaak hun handen aan vol gehad: tekst schrijven op de psion, daarna verbeteren op de Vaio en ten slotte de gepaste foto’s uitzoeken. De meeste foto's in hun verslagen zijn trouwens ook van hen afkomstig. Op een langdurige reis is het reistempo heel wat gezapiger en is er regelmatig 'vrije tijd'. Aangezien Ria en Pieter de drie weken zo goed mogelijk wilden gebruiken om zoveel mogelijk te zien, moesten ze veel 's avonds afwerken. Vóór hun vertrek waren al de eerste dagen van hun verblijf in China op de weblog verschenen en hadden ze tot en met 19 februari helemaal klaar. Omdat we ... read more