May 19, Thursday. Eric came by to pick us up at 12:30 pm for our 3:10 pm flight. This was an unusually early pickup for us. We haven’t signed up for TSA pre-check yet, so I wasn’t sure if we would get it this time. We did, and the lines were not that bad, so we ended up having time for lunch and a brief stop at the United Club. Flight UA179 was delayed by close to an hour for minor maintenance issue (they couldn’t get an inside door to close properly.) It was a packed flight, and I couldn’t use the entertainment system starting about four hours into the flight because the headset plug broke inside the receptacle. Nonetheless the flight was generally okay.
I have always wanted to take a screen shot of when plane is over the North Pole. This is from onboard wifi, we were above Svalbard, the northern tip of which is about 80N.
May 20, Friday. It
was relatively easy to find transportation to Shenzhen. We rode in a minivan to the Shenzhen Bay
customs point, and after clearing customs, continued to the Futian Exchange,
where we changed into a sedan to get to our hotel (shared rides). The hotel is located in the center of town,
but far from the airport. It also reminded
me of Chinese hotels from a while back: worn down, staff with bad attitude,
mediocre amenities. Since all we wanted
was some sleep for the evening, it was okay.
Rain was really coming down.
Hotel: Golden Central Hotel, Shenzhen.
May 21, Saturday.
We left the hotel at around 5:40 pm.
The heavy rain the night before made some roads impassable necessitating
detours along the way to the airport.
Our travel agent had already checked us in CZ3673, we only had to
collect our boarding passes and check in luggage. Even though the security lines were quite
long, the process was generally smooth.
It was a full plane, and our seats right behind the mid-cabin bathroom
bothered us a bit, but the flight was generally okay.
The Shenzhen Airport is quite efficient.
When we came out of the secure area at the Guiyang
airport, and the bus with the other travelers were in the parking lot. The bus went for about 2 hours before coming
to a rest stop, and we got to the “Seven Small Arches” tourist area at about
2:30 pm. We basically took the park
transportation to travel along a river, stopping along the way to tour various
sites. The most spectacular aspect was
the many waterfalls (the claim is there are 68 of them). The bridge with the seven arches was built in
1845, during the Qing dynasty.
Overview Map of Libo Zhangjiang Scenic Area (荔波樟江风景名胜区). Libo is the county, Zhangjiang is River Zhang.
Ticket with multiple stops. Each small section is torn off as it is used.
A selection of photos from the day.
The rainy season made some of these cascading falls quite spectacular.
This is the "Small Seven Arches" bridge. A bit of a disappointment for anyone not into its history (probably a disappointment even then.)
Our hotel was the Libo Scenic Imperial Resort which
consists of a main building and other buildings each with several guest rooms
scattered on the property. Our room has
a great view of two Karst hills which dominate this area. Indeed the guide told us they had to level 38
hills to build the Guiyang airport, and our drive involved many bridges and
tunnels.
Dog jerky being sold at a rest area. We saw dog meat advertised everywhere during the trip. I was told this is allowed by U.S. Customers. Clarification: didn't try it.
The main building of our Libo Hotel.
View from our room.
Dinner was at the hotel restaurant, the food had a strong
Cantonese influence. On the walk back to
our room I saw Mars and Jupiter in the night sky; the air quality in Guizhou
reminded me of that of Yunnan.
Hotel: Libo Scenic Imperial Hotel, Libo, Guizhou.
May 22, Sunday. After breakfast at the hotel, we toured
the “Large Seven Arches” area. This
refers to a larger bridge with seven arches, the original had collapsed a long
time ago, replaced by the current one.
The river is not as spectacular as that of the “Small Seven
Arches.” The high light is definitely
this hole the river cuts through, with an opening at the top. We took advantage of a short ferry ride to
get back to the bus.
The three Chinese characters read "large seven holes," referring to the large arches that supported the bridge. The bridge is either gone, or we didn't see it, our tour guide didn't make that clear.
The river cuts through the karst and leaves behind a tunnel.
Inside the hole cut through the karst rock.
View from the other direction.
Photograph of karst hills taken from this area.
Board the ferry for the return to the entrance. The raft is made from several large sealed PVC pipes, but gets the job done on this calm river.
After lunch, our bus took us to the Kaili area. Our target destination was a Miao Village;
getting there involved a 45-minute drive on a narrow and windy road, with its
share of harrowing moments. We were
surprised at the number of buses parked at the parking lot. As the guide explained it, this was a planned
project where all 1000 or so households of Miao ethnicity leased there houses
which developers turned into hotels and hostels. The main streets were lined with shops geared
towards the tourist. Both Anne and I
thought the look was very similar to Agua Calientes, except the slopes were not
as steep here.
For some reason, the vans that were supposed to pick us up at the parking lot couldn’t do it, and as getting to the hotel involved a long walk, so we took our suitcases from the bus, and picked out a few items for the evening in the parking lot, and proceed to walk to our hotel. One of the group had a bit of problem walking, and was coming down with a cold to boot, so the process was quite slow, with Anne and I helping with his small wheeled backpack. The hotel was a disappointment, but did have a nice view of the mountains.
For some reason, the vans that were supposed to pick us up at the parking lot couldn’t do it, and as getting to the hotel involved a long walk, so we took our suitcases from the bus, and picked out a few items for the evening in the parking lot, and proceed to walk to our hotel. One of the group had a bit of problem walking, and was coming down with a cold to boot, so the process was quite slow, with Anne and I helping with his small wheeled backpack. The hotel was a disappointment, but did have a nice view of the mountains.
Entrance to "Thousand Miao Villages."
Getting to our hotel involved quite a walk, in the rain.
View of Qianhu Miaozhai (Miao Village of a Thousand Households) from our hotel room.
To get to our hotel involves walking through this alley and up a pathway.
Most of these shops catering to tourists sell ukuleles, backpacks, and African drums. These Chinese signs advertise different kinds of Chinese mediciation.
Hotel: Miao Village, Xijiang, Kaili, Guizhou.
May 23, Monday.
Today was a rainy day. Breakfast
was at a local place, we had eggs, boiled vegetables, and noodles. It was a three hour ride to Zhen Yuan for
lunch, after which we checked into our hotel "River View Inn".
Idyllic villages dotted the landscape.
We spent quite a bit of time walking through this village.
Villager going about her daily life.
The city of Zhen Yuan is built on the banks of the Wu
Yang River (Dancing Sun) which makes an S turn at this location, thus making
the Yin Yang symbol adopted by Taoists. The
temple across the street, however, has shrines to Buddhist and Taoist deities
as well as other gods (e.g., the mythical early emperors of China). There are many who believe this is where Tai
Chi was first practiced, about 900 years ago.
River View Inn (Wangjianglou Hotel). There are many inns along both banks of the river. Many business also have rooms for rent.
Panoramic view from our hotel room. Across the river Wuyang is a temple.
Temple on bank of Wuyang river.
Photo taken on Zhusheng pedestrian bridge. Our hotel is behind Anne.
Instead of walking a bridge, perhaps one can get a ride on this boat?
Typical scrumptious dinner.
Buildings along the river are lit up at night. Nice treat for tourists and locals alike.
This bend in the Wuyang River leads many to think Tai Chi originated in Zhenyuan.
The main street is lined by many small shops and
restaurants, and is pleasant to walk in.
At dusk many buildings, including the temple, are lit up. The hotel is much better than the last one,
although the rooms are quite basic; for instance, there was no separate shower
stall.
Hotel: Riverview Hotel, Zhen Yuan.
May 24, Tuesday. Breakfast at the hotel was delivered from a kitchen nearby, and consisted of congee, bread, hard boiled eggs, and some stirred fried bak-choy. We then drove to the Wu Yang River Scenic Area. Our guide Jason slipped and ended up with a few cuts, but was game enough to go on. We walked a few hundred yards past some vendors of BBQ’d local river products (shrimp, crabs, and fish) to get on a boatride that lasted about an hour. The ride reminded me very much of the one we took while in Germany (Konigsee, if memory serves). I thought here the cliffs were higher, Anne thought they were higher in Germany. We passed by some piers that lead to paths into the mountains, where some minority people still live, and their means of contacting the outside consists of a long trek followed by a boat ride. There is a hot spring in the mountains which is attributed to the longevity of people in a particular village. There are several scenic spots along the cruise, among which are a fisherman and a peacock; both require a lot of imagination.
Don doing his morning Tai Chi under the pavilion.
Cruise on Wuyang River, with "peacock" in the background.
Two more shots.
One member had a hypoglycemic attack on the return. Don and I went ahead to try to get him
something to eat as no one brought along any food. He managed to recover after eating a potato
pancake from one of the vendors along the way.
The boiled corn and leaf-wrapped dumpling got thrown away.
We then headed back to the new part of Zeng Yuan to have lunch. Service was a bit slow, so we didn’t get done until around 2:30 pm. It was a three plus hour ride to Tong Ren, our next stop. There were no rest areas along a stretch of newly opened highway, which created a bit of a problem for many in the group – remember, I am the second youngest (other than the guide). One word about rest areas: while there is still a lot of room for improvement, and should be avoided if possible, they are nonetheless much better than the last time I had to use them (from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, in 2010).
Lunch!
Tong Ren is a city of 1.2 million people. We see a lot of construction with prices advertised at around Y3000 per square meter (roughly $50 per square foot.) I wonder if the city will grow fast enough to fill all these empty units; a centrally planned economy can only take one so far.
Our hotel rivals any you see in a major Chinese city, and most things work in our room. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant, and it was close to being elegant.
Like any other city, Tong Ren suffers from traffic jams during rush hour. What was curious is how all the advertisement on taxi roofs get synchronized.
Hotel: Grand Metro Park Hotel, Tong Ren (2 nights).
May 25, Wednesday. To save time, we all packed our lunches from the buffet breakfast so we didn’t have to spend time for lunch on our way to “Fanjing Mountain,” one of five sacred Buddhist mountains in China. I have heard of the other four mountains, but not this one.
The mountain consists of three different “peaks” one could visit, together with several other temples scattered in various locations. To get there, we took a minivan which traveled too quickly up a steep mountain road with many switchbacks, followed by a 5 km cable car ride that took over 30 minutes. It was drizzling at the base station, but things turned ugly about 2/3 of the way up, heavy rain pelted at our cable car and strong winds swayed it back and forth. It didn’t take much encouragement before six of us decided to go right back downhill, while the other six braved the trails. We were partially motivated by people who said the service might be suspended.
Group photo at the bottom of Fanjing Mountain.
View from inside cable car as we were making our way up. It got worse as we got higher.
Toilet regulations. Good to know!
Nice scenery at bottom of hill.
Weather at bottom hill was okay. We walked around the temple courtyard a bit.
Turns out the intrepid group only walked for 15 or so minutes before giving up. We ate our box lunches at the base station, and stopped by a temple on our way out. It was close to 5:30 pm when we got back to the hotel. Dinner was at this "Taohuayuan Customs" restaurant where the bottle of maotai liquor was opened – I didn’t have any. It was 9 pm when we got back.
This restaurant is located in a large complex. Tonight there were very few people using the facilities in this complex, which includes an outdoor concert hall.
The (supposed) concert stage doesn't look like it has been completed.
May 26, Thursday. The attraction for the day is Nine Dragons Cave. There is a parking lot that’s close by the location, but a recent landslide blocked the way. Instead we had to drive to another location, take a rickety ferry across the Jin River, and I slipped and skipped a few steps on my butt. At that time it was more bruised ego than bruised body, but as I type this in the hotel room it hurts quite a bit more. After the boat ride we had to walk over 2 miles to the mouth of the cave. One of the group members had trouble walking, so it took an inordinate amount of time to there; Larry decided not to go in the cave. This is supposed to be a big cave, but to me it just seemed so-so, with the usual stalactites and stalagmites. Per the barometer on my iPhone, it was an 800 feet climb to the mouth of the cave, and a further 300 feet inside the cave. Larry and Francis decided to come downhill on horseback. Several others slipped also, for various reasons.
Ferry that took us across the Jinjiang river. I slipped on the steps leading down to the boat, and felt the pain for several weeks.
The river was calm. We had lunch at this restaurant.
Don't be deceived by this seemingly leisurely stroll. It was a long walk uphill.
Finally, Nine Dragons Cave.
A couple of photos inside the cave.
Frances decided she would pay the Y60 or so to come back in comfort and style.
Lunch was at a floating restaurant by the river. We saw quite a few dragon boats practicing for the upcoming festival races. After a 5-hour ride to our hotel in Guiyang, we didn’t meet for dinner until around 8:45 pm (kitchen closed at 9 pm.) After dinner Anne and I walked around and managed to find a store that sold Diet Coke.
The Caucasian members of our group were very popular: here taking a picture with the kitchen staff at their request. Not too many foreign visitors in the area.
Dragon Boat on the Jinjiang. The story is different from that of the Chinese version of Qu Yuan: a version has its origin as a dragon being slain by an angry father. A guide told us being invited on such a dragon boat is a great honor for someone outside the village.
The hotel is located in a hot springs area; it is unlikely we will make use of the facilities.
Hotel: Poly Hot Spring Guiyang Hotel (2 nights).
May 27, Friday. City tour for the day. We first went to the “Red Maple Lake” where we took a boat ride to visit a Dong village with its drum tower. Several in our group paid the Y5 to hit the five different drums at the base of the tower. Red Maple Lake was created in 1958. Its area is six times as large as West Lake, the famous lake in Hangzhou. Over 100 villages with 18,000 inhabits were relocated for its creation. It serves as a reservoir for the area. Motor boats are allowed on the lake, and I was surprised to see no oil slicks where the boats are docked.
Tour boats on Red Maple Lake. The lake is very clean, I didn't see any oil slicks in the docking area.
Unfortunately the highlight was this drum tower. A tourist can pay a small fee to hit the drums.
Guizhou batik utilizes wax in the process.
After lunch at a rather non-descript restaurant, we headed to JiaXiu Tower. During the invasion by Manchurians (which established the Qing dynasty), this area was the headquarters the last holdout. Some decided to go shopping afterwards (Anne included,) the rest of us came back to the hotel to rest.
Jia Xiu Tower has considerable history behind it.
We met for our farewell dinner at 7 pm, again in the hotel restaurant. We presented Al and Judy with a card and a (future) certificate to show our appreciation. This was also a farewell dinner for the tour.
May 28, Saturday. We said goodbye to Don and Agnes before we went to the Lobby to check out and to meet up with our guide Mr. Lu (Ted). Waiting for us outside was a 7-passenger minivan that took us on a two-hour drive to Dragon Palace. This is a cave with a river running through it, with boats that took passengers inside for a 20 or so minute roundtrip ride. We could have gone further inside but decided against it since it would have been more of the same.
Water cascading down from the hole behind us.
The other side of the river.
Entrance into Dragon Cave is via small boats. Reminded me of all these Disney rides.
Typical lighted scene inside the cave.
A short drive took us to the Huangguoshu waterfalls. We first had lunch with the guide and the driver at the “Rainbow Restaurant.” HGS waterfalls is supposed to be one of the must-see sights in China. The falls measure 101 meters (wide) by 77.8 meters, was discovered over 400 years ago, but mass tourism has been possible for only 30 or so years. We walked past a bonsai garden to the top of the falls, through a cave behind the falls that offers a view of the cascading water, and down to the bottom of the falls. From there we took an escalator to get back to the parking lot level. While the distance is about 4 km, the trip was relatively easy as it didn’t involve a lot of climbing.
We passed by a bonsai garden on the way to the falls.
A short video clip of the falls. The viewing area was flooded with tourists (pun intended) as evidenced towards end of clip.
You can walk behind the falls.
All wet after the walk behind the falls.
Another view of the falls.
Both these attractions are rated 5A by some tourist authority. While they are certainly nice places to visit, I didn’t find them particularly spectacular. Indeed, Guizhou is a place that is probably better enjoyed at a leisurely place rather than as a whirlwind tour.
Our guide told some interesting stories during the day. One was the legend of creation by the Miao’s which is passed down over the generations as a song, as the Miao’s do not have a written language. It all started with a red maple tree with a leaf turning into a butterfly. The butterfly laid 12 eggs, 11 of them hatched into different animals and plants, and one into human beings. That’s why maple trees hold a special significance for the Miao’s, and every village would have one planted. (My recollection of the story is incomplete, the tree trunk also played a major role.) Another legend has to do with the Miao written language: it was lost in a lake. Some conjecture the Miao’s did have a written language, and they decided to discard it so as not to record terrible aspects of their history. Also quite interesting is that the Hmong people in Southeast Asia descend from Miao. The guide claims he has led several groups of Hmong people from the US and their and the Miao’s languages have a lot in common. Finally, he mentioned some of the derogatory sayings about Guizhou: the sky is never clear for three days, roads are never straight for three miles, people never have more than three cents to their name; meaning it’s rainy, hilly, and the people are poor. The other sayings have to do with not having skills and boastful. My observation is Guizhou has come a long way. There must have been a lot of infrastructure construction over difficult terrain that resulted in excellent highways and passable rest areas.
The hotel was offering a discounted buffet at Y78 per person. Not the greatest spread, and we avoided anything that was not cooked, but we have no complaints.
The square we see from out hotel room is buzzing with activities in the evening.
Hotel: Argyle Grand Hotel, Zhunyi.
May 29, Sunday. After breakfast at the hotel, we met with Ted for the day’s activities. The first stop was “Forest of Ten Thousand Peaks” located just outside of town. This is a collection of over 20,000 karst hills covering an area of 200 km by 30 to 50 km – of course the park doesn’t cover the entire “forest.” A small open van took us on a loop around the park, making several stops so we could view and take pictures. Drainage from the mountains flood the paddy fields before joining a river that flows along the valley; the river eventually disappears into a sinkhole. The guide tried to explain how this is related to the Chinese saying (The river and the well remain separated), but I am not sure I understand the reasoning. While the hills are not all that tall (a few hundred meters), the number is impressive; I don’t recall having seen anything close to this. The last section of the route took us through some of the villages in the valley, and we noticed the heavy rain from a couple of days ago have flooded many fields: the flooded corn plants probably won’t make it, many of the newly transplanted seedlings were washed away. The villages look idyllic at a distance, but close-up it is a picture of hardship. One great improvement over the past is famine is no longer an issue.
There are lots of these small hills in the Wanfenglin (Forest of Ten Thousand Peaks) area. The water drains underground through the circular structure in the valley.
The rating of a tourist attraction is partially based on how impressive the visitor center is. Evidently this area only rates a 4A.
Several photos taken during our tour bus ride.
Many of the formations have names. This is called "the General."
Several panoramic views of the peaks and the valley.
Paddy fields in the valley make for great photographs.
Recent rains washed away many of the newly transplant paddy seedlings.
Selling vegetables along the roadside.
We had a quick lunch of dumplings at a park restaurant, at Y8 per bowl. We stayed a little while to watch a show by native “Bu Yi” people, including “Seating Singing with Eight Instruments.” A couple of clips below:
It took us about 90 minutes to tour the Ma Ling River Gorge. Having spent a lot of time in Ithaca, we have seen our share of gorges. This one is deeper (highest drop about 300 meters), and has waterfalls of various sizes pouring down from the edges. We walked from the rim to close to the bottom of the gorge (about a 270 foot drop per iPhone) and took the elevator up. We had to walk behind one of the waterfalls from the side; Ted helpfully told us this is downstream from the city, which explains the smell of the spray.
Waterfalls cascade down from both sides of the gorge.
This is downstream from a city, so the water is polluted.
Drenched with said water after walking behind the cascade.
These are formed by a process similar to how stalactites are formed. They become prominent when the waterfall moves out of the way.
If one goes hiking in a gorge, stairs are to be expected.
This little hairy insect is most interesting. A search of the web hasn't uncovered anything like it. There is something similar called "hairy aphid."
The lady collecting tickets for the elevator reminds me of what is wrong with many things in China. She took her good time examining the tickets, the guides itinerary, and our passports (to make sure we are charged the right fare), meanwhile the elevator sat idle waiting for us. A group got so disgusted that they decided to walk up instead. I have seen good service at many locations, but that attitude is still not prevalent in many areas.
It was then time to return to Guiyang. The trip was about 360 km, and took a bit over four hours. Anne and I had dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Dinner at this local restaurant a short walk from our hotel.
Dishes we ordered.
Hotel: Poly Hotspring Guiyang Hotel.
May 30, Monday. There was a little bit of traffic congestion during our uneventful trip to the KWE airport. Things actually run quite smoothly in the city, perhaps the added security for the “Big Data 2016” conference was a factor.
Reflecting on my week’s experience (it’s been nine days), I must say it has been an overall positive experience. We certainly passed by some poor locations, but abject poverty – at least in the areas we visited – was not evident. It is amazing how much has been invested in the infrastructure. Guizhou terrain is such that you can’t go far without long tunnels and bridges; and they are common. The area of our hotel in Guiyang, called “Poly” for its developer, is only a few years old, yet many things are already crumbling, either due to shoddy workmanship or poor maintenance. Let’s hope the infrastructure doesn’t suffer a similar fate.
Building highways in Guizhou is not easy because of the hilly terrain. There are long stretches of elevated roadways, often ,,,
... leading to tunnels.
Some bridges have very long spans.
The province has also put much funding into developing its tourist attractions, and is doing quite well by many measures. I find it interesting in being upgraded from 4A (e.g., Forest of Ten Thousand Peals) to 5A (e.g., Huangguoshu Falls) what is needed are evidently grander visitor centers, more staff, and better entertainment. I have no problem with those, and a 5A restroom is definitely a plus, but would think better explanation and more opportunities to “interact” would be more important. I don’t need to visit a bonsai garden when I go to see the falls, but I would like to know more about the geology and the eco-systems of the area. We didn’t see that many western tourists, and we were told out of the 1000 or so licensed guides, only 29 are qualified to conduct the tours in English. Let me say the two we have met are barely passable (we spoke to the second one mostly in Chinese.)
Finally, some remarks on the people. This is like an opera crowd: Anne and I are among the youngest. We have a couple of expats who live in Hong Kong. Actually they have lived in the city for decades. What I find slightly puzzling (and disappointing) is their complete disinterest in learning about the language. One of them is even married to a local Hong Kong woman. Nonetheless, interacting with them was a pleasant experience.
Back to the trip. We landed in SZX a bit before noon. Anne and I took our time to have lunch. Getting back to Hong Kong turned out to be more complicated than I thought. We started our journey a bit before 2 pm. It involved a bus ride of about 15 minutes to the metro station, an hour (yes, an hour) ride on the metro, 30 or so minutes to clear immigration on both sides, and then a 15 minute MTR ride to Tai Po, and a taxi ride to the Tai Po House. With connection times, it was around 4:30 pm that we got in.
For dinner we took Minibus 23K to the MTR station. After dinner at Tai Hing, we did some grocery shopping at Park and Shop and Wellcome.
Accommodations: Tai Po House (4 nights).
May 31 to June 2 (Tuesday to Thursday). We had many meetings (social or otherwise) during the three days we were in Hong Kong. The include:
- Yum cha with Al and Judy and their son Max at Fortune Metropolis in Hung Hom. Al was the organizer of the trip, and we wanted to meet Max who is a Christian.
- Lunch with John and his wife Adeline at Korea Restaurant (27/F iSquare). John was my high school classmate and heads up a charity in Hong Kong. We knew Adeline from Cornell, although we all had problem recognizing one another at first. We had not seen each other since graduation.
- Dinner with Tim and Whitney. Alfred and Rachel also joined us.
- Breakfast with Vivien who works at a drug rehab center in China.
- Lunch with Edwin, a fellow Hope International supporter, at a Jordan MTR Japanese restaurant.
- Coffee with Nathan and Sharon at Coffee Academics in Wanchai; Nathan is looking to set up an event (A Cup of Hope?) there in August. Edwin also joined us.
- Tea with Elaine and Larry at the Jockey Club, Tim and Whitney joined us for dinner. Kenneth showed up at around 9 pm after work.
- Breakfast with Alfred at Festival Walk.
- Lunch with Nathan in Kwun Tong, after meeting with AOHK.
- Dinner in TST (a certain Macau Restaurant) with Don.
Coffee at Coffee Academics in Wan Chai.
Lunch with Edwin at Jordan MTR. Work product in foreground.
Dinner at Happy Valley Jockey Club.
Dinner with Alfred and Rachel in Causeway Bay.
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