China's Guizhou province is not really hot on the tourist map, including tourists from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia (but it ought to be). My first time in Guizhou, I went there with little to no knowledge about the province.
During the past 7 days, I discovered for myself that Guizhou is gifted with natural wonders, great food and unique culture that I would recommend everyone to experience for yourselves.
Day 1
GS7970 Singapore 0510am ✈ Guiyang 0915am. The Tienjin Airlines Airbus 320 flight was on the dot, on time 👍
We flew to Guiyang the capital city of Guizhou by GS7970, flying out of Singapore at 5:10am. It's a 4-hour red eye flight but the advantage was that we got a whole day ahead in Guiyang as we arrived at 9:30am.
Landing at Guiyang International Airport, we already got a preview of Guizhou with peaks stretching to the end of the horizon.
★【Jiaxiu Tower 甲秀楼 】
From the airport, we were whisked to Jiaxiu Tower 甲秀楼 in the heart of Guiyang city. 甲秀楼 which literally means "top scholar tower" was a meeting place of literati and aspiring scholars 状元 who came here to prepare for the Imperial exams. Built in the 26th year of the Ming dynasty emperor Wanli 萬曆帝 (1598), the three storey pagoda cum pavilion is set on an auspicious, massive turtle shaped rock in the Nanming river 南明河. Through the centuries, Jiaxiu Tower witnessed the history of Guiyang and today serves as a symbol of Guizhou's cultural heart.
★【Qingyun Market 青云路夜市)】
Qingyun market 青雲市集 is a popular night market located on Qingyun Road in the Nanming District of Guiyang city.
It brings together local cuisine, trendy shops, and traditional brands from Guizhou. Qingyun market is popular with the city's young people for plenty of food choices, cafes, bars, trendy photo spots, fashion shopping and fun experiences, especially eating, drinking and partying at night.
We had many dishes for dinner and I had Guizhou's sour soup fish 酸汤鱼 for the first time. It is a soup made with fermented cherry tomatoes and fermented chili pepper to make a tangy spicy stock base for fish (and other ingredients such as beef and vegetables). Sour soup fish eating places are everywhere in Guizhou and I love it.
Don't be intimidated by the orange fiery red colour as in Guizhou, the flavour intensity tend to be moderate.
Our first night in Guizhou / Guiyang was in Four Points by Sheraton Hotel 贵阳花溪福朋喜来登酒店. The hotel building is relatively young - the room spacious, clean, linen fresh and amenities comprehensive. Centrally located.
Day 2
After breakfast at the hotel, we took a two hour chartered coach ride from Guiyang city to Anshun city 安顺 which is just 90km away. The relatively long time was because our driver had kept to the highway speed limit of 80kph 🙏 and part of the route was winding between the hills.
Guizhou is blessed with literally 10000 peaks and a corresponding number of rivers. People settle in the foothills and river valleys working on small plots and terraces.
★【Doupotang Waterfall 陡坡塘瀑布】
Our first scenic spot today. Known as the "Roaring Waterfall" this is the widest waterfall within the scenic area with a width of 105m (and just 21m high).
Many people come here because Doupotang Waterfall was the set for a popular CCTV television series about the Monkey God - Journey to the West 西遊記 broadcasted in 1986.
★【Huangguosu Waterfalls Scenic Area 黄果树瀑布 】
This was the highlight of today.
At 78 metres high and 101 metres wide, this is China and Asia's biggest waterfall.
★【Tianxingqiao Scenic Area 天星桥景区】located in the lower reaches of Huangguoshu Waterfall, it has three areas: Tianxing Bonsai Area, Tianxing Cave and Water Stone Forest.
We stayed the night at Anshun Huatong Hotel 安顺华通大酒店.
Day 3
Our coach took us 220km from Anshun city to Xingyi city 兴义, a journey that used to take days now took just 3 hours.
Thanks to the countless kilometres of high quality highway and numerous tunnels that let vehicles cut straight through the 10000 hills of Guizhou. Throughout the over 1000km of this Guizhou road trip, we didn't spot or encounter a single pothole.
★【Maling River Canyon 贵州马岭河大峡谷 】is a large, deep rift valley formed by tectonic shifts millions of years ago. The deep canyon features numerous frilly misty cascading waterfalls which are majestic and breathtakingly beautiful.
Visiting the waterfalls of Maling River Canyon starts with taking the glass cliff elevator 75m down to the very bottom of the canyon.
Visiting the waterfalls of Maling River Canyon requires considerable walking up and down narrow wet steps (slippery) as well as through karst caves which can be wet and dripping with water from the ceiling. But, the reward is worth it.
I walked 9000 steps for this view.
Next stop, ★【Wanfenglin Scenic Spot 万峰林景区】has many vantage points to view the majestic peaks of Guizhou which was aptly described as a "forest of 10000 peaks".
Inside the scenic spot, buggies take visitors to vantage points that overlook the valleys and peaks.
Our guide said to look out for the Sleeping Beauty formation. There seemed to be more than a few to me 🤔
★【Ba Gua Field 万峰林八卦田】the Ba Gua shape in the centre of the field isn't obvious in this photo as we were here during Winter. During Spring when the 10000 acres of rapeseed flowers bloom, it attracts tens of thousands of tourists who come from across China and overseas for a view of the Ba Gua shape formed by the yellow flowers.
Spent the night at Xingyi Crown Hotel 兴义皇冠酒店.
Xingyi city and the misty peaks over the horizon in the morning. This is a typical Winter landscape in Guizhou.
Day 4
View from the coach window from Xingyi to Changshun 长顺 250km away. Guizhou is beautiful everywhere.
★【Wanfeng Lake Scenic Spot 万峰林景区】formed by damming the Qingshui River holds 11 billion cubic metres of water and covers 816 square kilometres (bigger than Singapore at 734 square kilometres).
Wanfeng Lake is like Wanfenglin but now we view the peaks from a boat (the ride is one hour long).
Wanfeng Lake Scenic Spot 万峰林景区 is aptly known as "Lake of Ten Thousand Peaks".
Lakeside hotel like a French chateau (castle).
The comfortable and spacious coach that took us from scenic spots to cities across Guizhou during our tour.
★【Shenquan Valley 神泉谷景區】This scenic area is mainly based on the natural scenery of karst landforms and waterfalls, with adventure attractions such as glass bridge, glass slide, river rafting, etc.
We took a train ride for an overview of the village at Shenquan Valley. We were here in Winter so we missed the cherry blossoms in March and pink muhly grass 毛芒亂子草 in August - October 😞
After the "official" dinner, we went for BBQ supper and drinks in downtown Changshun. It was a random BBQ place and turns out it was the right choice as the food and service were good. More details in an upcoming post.
Stayed the night at Chao Jing International Hotel 长顺潮井国际大酒店.
Day 5
Coach from Changshun to Libo 荔波 260km away.
★【Xiaoqikong Scenic Area 小七孔景区】is named after the pretty seven-arched Xiaogikong Bridge built in 1836. This scenic area is located at the border with Guangxi province to its south.
A 68-step waterfall flows down along a winding river for about 2km.
As the walk slopes slightly downwards, most visitors enjoy this easy yet picturesque walk.
Rezen Hotel Sanli in Libo city.
Day 6
Good morning Libo city - the misty view from my hotel room window with typical Guizhou landscape.
Coach from Libo to Xijiang 西江 200km away.
★【Kala Birdcage Village 卡拉鸟笼村】has a history of more than 400 years of bird cage making. Tourists try their hands at making bird cages.
There are also silver craft, batik and embroidery workshops in the village, in addition to Kala's traditional birdcage workshop. There are retail shops for these products here too.
The guide explained to us various Miao people culture including wedding customs.
★【Xijiang Qianhu Miao Village Scenic Spot 西江千户苗寨】the largest Miao village in China (and hence, the world).
About 1500 households of over 5000 Miao people live here.
The village is a place to appreciate and understand the long history and culture of Miao people in China.
Xijiang is famous for its annual Miao New Year's festival, eating New Year's feast and the once-in-13-years Kuzang Festival where cattle is slaughtered to offer the ancestors.
Lots of restaurants, cafes, retail shops and drinking places at the Miao Village.
Spent the night at 千云山房大酒店. Huge room, comfortable furnishings, clean, complete amenities, good facilities.
Day 7
Completing the circle, coach from Xijiang to Guiyang 220km.
★【Qingyan Ancient Town 青岩古镇 】in the southern suburbs of Guiyang was built in the 10th year of the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty (1378). To put it in context, that's the era of Sang Nila Utama's kingdom of Singapura 1299 to 1398.
Today, it is a retail and food & beverage district.
There were many 状元蹄 "scholar pork trotter" stalls serving stewed pork trotters. So-called scholar's pork trotter because during the Qing dynasty, a candidate from Guiyang scored the highest after eating the stewed trotter here. Bring your schooling children here 😄
This is just an itinerary summary article on our 7-day tour of Guizhou province. I will be writing individual detailed articles with more photos on specific topics from our tour.
We returned to Singapore from Guiyang via GS7969 Guiyang 23:25pm ✈ Singapore 04:00am. Departing Guiyang at 23:25pm means we had a full day's programme before leaving Guizhou. Good timing!
We took off on time and arrived in Changi 15 minutes ahead of schedule. So far, I had good experiences with Tienjin Airlines.
All of us enjoyed our trip a lot.
Written by Tony Boey on 1 Dec 2024
Doupotang Waterfall 陡坡塘瀑布 in 1986 edition of 西遊記 TV series produced by CCTV China
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