Guizhou 貴州, China, April 5 - 9, 2007

It's been a while since I last travelled with a tour group. I felt kind of bad for not having done any research. I had no idea what to expect from this trip. I never even looked at the map so I didn't even have the faintest idea which direction I was headed.

It turned out that we came across some very scenic places. Guizhou is one of the poorest provinces in China and is on a hilly highland. We were at an altitude of around 1200m. In order to get to the scenic places, a bit of walking was required, some involving minor uphill and downhill. It wasn't anything harsh, of course; though some tour mates found it quite an ordeal. The weather was a nice, cool, 8C to 16C temperature with high humidity. Three phrases describe the province of Guizhou quite concisely: 天無三日晴，地無三里平，人無三兩銀 (Not three sunny days from the sky, not three flat miles on land, not three ounces of silver from men). Out of the five days we were there, we had one day of sunshine, one day of rain, and three days of thick clouds and fog.

The highlight of the trip was the Huangguoshu Falls 黃果樹瀑布, the largest fall in Asia. It wasn't very grand when we were there, for it wasn't the rainy season. Besides, after having seen the Niagara Falls, no other waterfall could be too impressive. The Huangguoshu Falls was different, however, in that you get to view it from the bottom up, which made it a spectacular view different from the Niagara Falls.

Tianxingqiao 天星橋風景區 was also very impressive. It's right next to the Huangguoshu Falls and was a scenic walk along ponds, streams, trees, and rocks. Towards the end of the walk was the Yinlianzhuitan Falls 銀鏈墜灘瀑布. Again, there wasn't enough water. But it was still very nice and different. It actually turns out pretty interesting in the picture. By the way, you've gotta love that English in China!

The Malinghe Gorge 馬嶺河峽谷 definitely reminded me of the Tiger Leaping Gorge 虎跳峽 in Yunnan 雲南. It wasn't as stunning as the Tiger Leaping Gorge, and it was very foggy when we were there, but it was still awe inspiring with the hanging calcium deposit over the vegetation on the cliff.

Then there was my favourite part of the trip, Xifenglin 西峰林. It was gorgeous. We took a tour bus ride up the hill. Throughout the ride there was the amazing view of the fields and hills. It was a very foggy day so we couldn't see very far. We were also too late for the yellow flowers 油菜花 which would otherwise be a spectacular sight.

Tianlong Ancient Town 天龍屯堡 is a deserted town from the Ming Dynasty 600 years ago. The inhabitants there have been isolated from the rest of the world until recently. As a result, despite their ethnicity being Han 漢, they have lost touch with the mainstream Han and they are still dressed in the traditional clothes, seemingly belonging to a minority ethnic group. This place reminded me of Lijiang 麗江.

The last two places we visited were Tianhetan 天河潭 which was a cave and Qingyan Ancient Town 青岩古鎮 which also reminded me of Lijiang. I'm not interested in China's caves or water bodies because they have always been disappointments. Caves are always artificially lit up with colourful neon lights and paved with concrete. Water bodies (with the exception of waterfalls) are always better seen on postcards than in real life. Qingyan Ancient Town was nice, but not a surprise.

(Update: The full photo album has now been uploaded here.)