Day Three in Kaili. On our third day out with Mr Wee we were heading to the Shidong markets, one of the largest markets in the Kaili region. The market is held in a small riverside town on the riverside shingle, under the span of the long bridge. We left early and an hour later we arrived in the traffic jam of minibuses and motorbikes around Shidong. As we were getting closer to the town we stopped to watch a wedding party. Again all the men were waiting outside a group of houses, the yard full of low round tables covered with the soon to be consumed feast. The bride and all the female members of her family were walking down the road towards the group of men. That day all the women, including the bride, ... read more

The bus station in Congjiang was conveniently across the road from our hotel so, for once, moving onto our next destination was a breeze. Jerry had purchased express bus tickets to Kaili the previous day so we didn't even have to brave the queue at the ticket counter when we left. However once on the bus things got a little nasty as the bus had been overbooked somehow and when some people were asked to leave tempers flared quickly and there was a lot of shouting and finger stabbing going on. At one stage half of the seated passengers joined in - the Chinese people don't loose their cool easily but when they do it's not pleasant to around! Eventually we did leave - our last view of the irate passengers was them being handed wads ... read more

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

To get to the rice terraces of Longshen ( more commonly known as the Dragon Back Terraces) we were expecting to have to go into Yangshuo, catch a bus to Guilin, change bus stations and then catch another bus to the gateway of the area before a final bus into the terraces themselves. We were really pleased when the friendly Belgian guesthouse owner advised us to take the daily Chinese tour bus which would collect us at the guesthouse door and drive us straight to the entrance gate/ticket office. It probably cost a bit more at 180yuan each (this price did include the entrance fee of 80 yuan though) but for the time and hassle saved well worth it. The rice terraces rise from 300 metered above sea level to 800 meters at their highest point. ... read more

We made our flight connection from Lijiang to Kunming with an hour to spare - an hour we really needed as Kunming airport was enormous. Recently completed it is now China's fourth largest airport and we had one and half kilometres to walk from security to our boarding lounge - not an airport built for the elderly or incapacitated! We were pleased to land in Guilin after a bumpy flight (the first flight that day had been much bumpier) and as the airport is thirty five kilometres from the centre we caught a shuttle bus (20 yuan each) that took us to an airlines office in the centre of the city. It was after dark and Guilin glowed with strip lighting which constantly changed colour, highlighting many of the buildings. The tall buildings had each floor ... read more