Blogs from Guizhou, China, Asia - page 6

Zhaoxing, in Guixhou, was a fascinating place which we absolutely loved. Another Dong village - in fact the largest of the Dong villages - it was however a little frustrating to actually get there. We left pretty Chengyang by local bus thankfully giving ourselves plenty of time to make the 11.30am direct bus to Zhoaxing from Sanjiang. However, as all travellers have experienced, plans are made to be thwarted and upon arriving at the bus station we were told firmly 'no bus' - whether that actually meant no bus was leaving that day or just that it had already sold out we were unable to find out. As there was only one scheduled bus to Zhoaxing each day we were wandering what to do next when a kindly security guard came to our rescue. He quickly ... read more

It is a good rest to spend several days in a quiet village without many tourists. Meanwhile, it is also a happy experience of enjoying a couple of days in a famous Miao village, which has good facilities and entertainments for tourists in the middle of August according to Chinese lunar calendar. Xijiang is the most famous village in Kaili area. I chose it as my first stop to get used to Miao’s life easier. Once your enter the main gate of the village, beautiful Miao girls will come to offer you a cup of traditional rice wine. It is sweet and nice. You even can’t feel the alcohol. But be careful, don’t drink too much, you will know its power afterwards. Various entertainments seemed to be hold all the time, from sunrise to sundown. Young ... read more

The bus ride from Liping down to Rongjiang was unexpectly pretty. especially between Bazhai and Zaidang. many Dong villages stood tidily along the road. the calling card of the Dong are drum tower. it shoot up significently in every village that our bus came across. reminded me of the Dai pagoda in southern Yunnan, also the symbol of every Dai village. No memories did come back about Rongjiang when I stepped into town, but strangely nothing look new here. seem like renovation was fall behind in Rongjiang. later I find indeed another new old-town is underway in town center. a wholesale market is right by the rundown bus station. there are many guesthouses offered hit and run brothal style sleeping place. the first thing when walk into the main door was the smell of shampoo！ Rongjiang ... read more

Hi All, Mmmmm. Didn't quite go to plan this trip. All went well up until I walked out of Xijiang. I got to Kaili without a hitch. I did have some trouble finding a hotel though. I walked around for an hour before I found one that would accept foreigners. The next day I was early for the bus to Xijiang and so I arrived in Xijiang at around 10 o'clock in the morning which was perfect. I had planned this trip for a while. The plan was to walk from Xijiang to Paiyang, about 2 or 3 days, but I could find no maps, only road maps and in Chinese, so I was always going to have to rely on someone pointing me in the right direction. I was armed with the name of Paiyang ... read more

After arriving back in Kaili after a disappointing night in Chong An I hopped straight on the bus bound for the Miao tourist town/village of Xijiang. The trip took about an hour passing some nice scenery along the way and then we were dropped off at the entrance gate at the top of the hill. I paid the $16 entry fee and joined about 100 Chinese tourists to have a look from the viewpoint over the town. The view was pretty good and after taking a few photos of the Chinese tourists dressed in traditional clothes I walked down the hill, across the river and eventually found a nice room in the main street above a candy shop for $11 a night. That night whilst I was having dinner at a cheap barbecue place I started ... read more