By Anthony Dylan Anak Frankie Jurem
This was our second trip to China this year after the first one to Chongqing and Zhangjiajie in the first half. This time, we chose to go to Guizhou, and we planned it so that it was just after the Golden Week Holidays of China.
Guizhou is known for the many tribal groups who make up close to 40% of Guizhou’s population. 60% are from the Han majority. It is the most diverse of all regions in China and has borders with Chongqing in the north, Hunan in the east, Yunnan in the west and Guangxi in the south. It is a mountainous region, and the mountains dot the landscape like little shapely mantou buns. The total population is about 38 million and it is home to famous Maotai Liquor which is named after the place it came from. It is made of sorghum wheat and water from the Chisui river. The famous brand is the one by Kweichow Moutai and has an alcohol content of up to 53%!
Our flight was via China Southern Airlines with transit in Guangzhou before arriving in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou. The previous trip to Chongqing was a direct flight via Xiamen Air. Our flight had a plane upgrade from a B737-800 to a B787-9 Dreamliner. The flight to Guangzhou took about 4 hours and 20 minutes and we had a transit wait of close to 2 hours before the domestic flight with a B737-800 took us another 2 hours to Guiyang. We left Kuala Lumpur in the afternoon and arrived at night at our hotel. There is no time difference.
Our trip this time to Guizhou was via a customized private tour as we wanted to have more time with our selected itinerary. Our guide and driver picked us up in the morning for our first day visiting waterfalls at the “Huangguoshu Waterfall Scenic Area.” The first was to the “Douputang Scenic Area” where we hiked to see the 106m wide and 21m wide waterfall in a 15,000 square meter pool which was part of film setting for the classic, “Pilgrimage to the West”. We went on to hike to next enter the “Tianxingqiao Scenic Area” to see the amazing weave like waterfall, “Silver Chain Falls.” The views were seriously spectacular. We ended the day with the final hike towards the amazing ‘Huangguoshu Waterfall” which is 101m wide and falls 77.8m from above into a 17m deep shoal.
Our next day began with the ‘Dragon Palace Scenic Area.’ We had time to partake in the spectacular “Dragon Gate Waterfall” which is the largest karst cave waterfall in China pouring from a lake in a cave which is located 50 meters high. We also took two boat rides into two parts of the colossal cave with amazing stalactite formations brilliantly lit for that impressive sight.
We also hiked up towards the Kuan Yin temple before making our way to the ‘Qingyan Ancient Town” to end our day. The town was built entirely of stone and was established during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Our stay was in the largest Miao Village in China, “Xijiang Qainhu Miao Village.” We had to take two shuttles into the village and our stay was atop a hilly slope. It was worth it as the night views were amazing.
We began the next morning walking around the village after breakfast before we headed out to another village. The ‘Langde Upper Miao Village’ seemed to be more artistic with their folk music and dance. They also have a unique welcoming ceremony where they would block your way with stations of wine drinking. This reminded me of our Sarawak Iban longhouses where you would need to pass through every ‘bilik’s’ tuak stop. After many sips of assorted flavors and strengths of wine, I think I had better stop or else I would have rolled down the slope. We were treated to the music of the long bamboo flutes, lushing. These are predominant in Guizhou.
The day ended with a road trip to the ‘Zhaoxing Dong Village’ for the night. We spent some time walking the village and walked past their glutinous rice fields and Five Drum Towers. In 2001, “Zhaoxing Dong Village” and its drum towers were listed in the Guinness World Records. Indigo dyeing is also their expertise.
Our last day of our private tour brought us to one last village before we headed back to Guiyang for our own itinerary. We went to the ‘Biasha or Basha Village” which is also known as the last gun wielding tribe in China. They are the only people, and the only village allowed to own firearms in China. They have a unique gun salute with their home-made muskets. There were no bullets used and only gun powder for the ceremony.
We were also brought to watch the villagers perform their folk song and dance. There was also an impressive display of a haircut with the sickle. This ritual is normally done for those coming of age but for this purpose, it was a live demonstration. The sickle was razor sharp.
We spent the next two full days discovering Guiyang’s museums and beautiful waterways. The city was clean, and their public toilets were amazingly well kept. This was what we also experienced along the highway rest stops and restaurant toilets. We managed to visit the Fuyu bridge, Jiaxiu Tower, and the Cuiwei Garden before taking time to walk the banks of the Nanming River towards the ‘Guizhou Cultural Palace” which we also visited. All these visits were free of charge.
After spending close to 10 days in Guizhou, we said goodbye to a wonderful tour as we headed back home to Malaysia with China Southern Airlines. We had a transit in Shenzhen before arriving in the early morning in KLIA.
Our two trips to China had been wonderful and this was also the first time we did a private tour instead of a large group tour. We were then able to eat what the locals ate as the driver and guide also joined us. We were also able to partake in the whole waterfall and cave hiking experience as well as the village visits and stays. China is indeed a place with many formidable possibilities for tourism. By the way, I had entirely used Touch N Go as my main mode of cashless payments as Touch N Go is linked with Alipay. China has become a near perfect cashless society with WeChat ay being prevalent amongst them.
