China holiday: Guizhou & Henan, Day 5 of 9

TODO: Insert more photo

I went to china for a tour holiday and travel within Guizhou and Hunan, mainly visiting the scenic hills and waterfalls of Guizhou and going to Zhangjiajie in Hunan.

Here are the highlights of day 5: Shopping, travel from Guiyang, Guizhou province to FengHuang, Hunan province

We first visited a tea and herbal shop, then went to a traditional craft shop selling Guizhou embroidery, traditional clothing, and jade and crystal ornaments.

This is the sample tea served to us. The background is the brand and the name of the tea shop.


Here is a photo of the god of wealth at one corner of the craft shop.

And this is the mythical animal which is believed to help in attracting and retaining wealth. I guess it worked for the shop that sells them, if you believe in that.



For the ladies, and for the gentlemen to avoid.

Sleep in style with this jade head pillow. Fortunately for my bank account, I prefer mine soft, regular pillow.


Noooo... not another waterfall.


And if you like it more natural, this crystal may be for you.

Or if you prefer it to be processed (carved) then this may be it? Still no?


I like this one the best, very local. But I resist the call of the cash register, so I took a photo only.


Later we visited a Baoshutang outlet, which was famous (some people consider notorius) for selling Baufuling, the medicine which was made from golden centipede plus other ingredients to treat burns and scalding.

In my first trip in China (1998 - Guiling/Beijing/Xian) I remembered it was a guy who demonstrated by scalding his hand holding a burning iron chains. After applying Baofuling and waited for 10 minutes or so, he can clap his hand and we can see that there is no scaliding injuries on his hand.
In my second last trip in China (2005 - ChengDu/JiuZhaiGuo/HwangLong) I remembered it was a young lady who demonstrated the same thing. So they have upped the stake. May be that was a response to a skeptical audience who made a remark about men's hand have thicker skin? I have no idea but I do not want to see that demonstration again.

To our reliefs, there was no more demonstration of holding hot burning chains by the shop attendant.

We went for lunch and served Beijing GaoYa (Beijing Roast Duck). It was delicious.
Sorry there is no photo. I was busy eating.

After lunch we shopped for some fruits from enterprising locals selling their mandarin oranges and persimons to tourist who had lunch at restaurants in the city.




Just 5 minutes after we board the bus, our Singapore tour guide lady asked the bus to go back to the restaurant because she left her jacket there. She was lucky that she can still find her jacket.

Then the rest of the trip was a boring bus ride, where most of us catch up with our sleep. I was really bored as I cannot sleep in bus. My only excitement is when we came across these two chimneys that looks like those of nuclear reactors. However, I was puzzled why it is so close to the highway and residential area. I mean this is not Springfield (The Simpson), so it could not be a nuclear reactor. So what is it? Please let me know if you know, by leaving a comment below.


Along the way almost reaching FengHuang, we were trapped in a traffic jam where vehicles are queueing to buy petrol.
Anyway, the best story of that incident is the tour group having sit in the bus too long and drank a bit too much liquid, would like to have a toilet break. Unfortunately there is no public toilet nearby.
It was dark and the nearest covered place without much vegetation (for the fear of snake and other insect) is a shed where broken down trucks are being repaired. So armed with torchlight we made a pilgrimage there and take turn to relief ourself.
After the relief, the traffic start moving slightly. It took about 90 minutes for us to clear the jam. I am not sure if the local tour guides called police to manage the traffic, because I saw some policemen directing traffic because practically there is only 1 lane open due to the queue to buy petrol which is about 1 km long.

We then hurried for dinner, and then rushed to FengHuang. It was closing time already. In fact, most shops except a few are open. Most that are open are bar and karaoke kind, which we were not interested in.
Here are some night shots I manage to take.










Finally, we then went to the hotel in AngShun to recuperate and recharge our batteries (not the picture above). In fact, this hotel is the worst hotel we ever stayed during the entire travel. The bathroom leaked, the air conditioner dripped, and the bathroom looked like half renovated. But we were dog tired, and slept anyway, despite the grumble.

China holiday: Guizhou & Henan, Day 4 of 9

I went to china for a tour holiday and travel within Guizhou and Hunan, mainly visiting the scenic hills and waterfalls of Guizhou and going to Zhangjiajie in Hunan.

Here are the highlights of day 4: BuYi tribe dance performance, WangFong lake (10 Thousands peak lakes), DuPhoThang waterfall and a visit to a night market.

We stayed not at a usual hotel this time. It is more of a resort style. The lights are dim and it is difficult to read your room number pasted on the door.
I woke up and take a picture of a mosquito like insect on the wall outside my room.


The hotel has only 2 floors and is surrounded by gardens and pools. It is a shame we stayed only for 1 night in this hotel.


Guizhou is well known for its rocky lands, and here is an example of large, beautiful in its own, natural rock, unearthed and turn into a monumental art piece near the entrace of the hotel.


Talking about this rocks, in fact, many buildings in Guizhou has this kind of rocks as ornaments, and along the way traveling here and there we went pass quarry and some shops selling these rocks, that comes in many sizes. Here is the relatively larger one.

The smaller ones are usually found next to a bonsai collections.

Anyway after breakfast, we left the hotel and ready for more traveling.

This was the so called free and easy day, well ... mostly, where optional tour was being offered. Our local (Chinese) tour leader, Yuan Yuan put on her maximum charm and manage to get most of us agree to part SGD$80 or RMB400 per person for 3 additional itineraries: BuYi tribe dance troupee performance in the morning, a short cruise around WangFong lake (10 Thousands peak lakes) plus lunch of especially cooked fish with a special green chili grown in Guizhou, and a visit to a night market.
The was only one planned itinerary, DuPhoThang waterfall to cover afternoon travel time.

So here we were, at the entrance of an old family house of BuYi tribe.
I am not sure if the colourful flags are part of their culture or that is simply a decoration.

As you can see, most of the tour group members are senior citizen, which is a surprise as this trip requires a lot of walking and going up/down staircases.

First we are greeted by cute and cuddly puppies.

After playing with them, we were then ushered into a dimly lit room of a wooden house where the dance performance began. Similar to Miao tribe, BuYi tribe is also known for their singing ability. You will be able to listen to them when I have time to upload the video to YouTube, for now I can only offer these photos.



The dance below depicted the traditional courtship method where during festivals a group of young women will barter songs with a group of young men. When a lady is interested to a particular man, she will throw a decorated red pouch, and when the man reciprocates the initiation, he will catch the red pouch.


The dance below demonstrate how the women folded their traditional head dress which is made from a piece of long cloth.


Men of BuYi tribe has special dance in traditional celebration to scare evil spirits. Probably they will scare off more kids.


This musician is particularly fond of his picture to be taken. He constantly smiled and probably the most photogenic of all.

While this old man, possibly the senior of the dance troupe, does not want to smile at all.


Buyi tribes is also known for their ability to make music using a leaf.


And with that we bid farewell to the dance troupe, while some other members hanged a banner on the roadside, beside their home.


We then made our way to WangFong lake.

Yuan Yuan is in the picture (bottom right, wearing orange sweater.


Here are some shots around the lake.







There is no shot of the fish. It was over in a minute. It was HOT, and I do mean hot as I am quite a chili eater, but very yummy too.

We said good bye to WangFong lake and head to DuPhoThang waterfall.


Along the way I took quite interesting photo of the villages and villagers but I have no time to post them yet. However this photo is a representative of them:


Finally we reached DuPhoThang waterfall. It was almost dusk, so there is quite heavy editing done on this photo.


There are plenty of water fowls such as mandarin ducks and black swans as well as herons feeding in the river. I will post their picture later.

After dinner, we then make our way to the night market. It was drizzling and the night market was not that great at all. The only highlight was a long queue for rice crackers (BiPan) which was made from a mixture of rice, nuts, sesame seeds (black and white) and caramels. Locals queued up for it and we followed the crowd. No regrets on that. It was hot from the oven and really yummy.

I took this photo of the shutter of a shop after it is closed.

Thats all for day 4.

China holiday: Guizhou & Henan, Day 3 of 9

I went to china for a tour holiday and travel within Guizhou and Hunan, mainly visiting the scenic hills and waterfalls of Guizhou and going to Zhangjiajie in Hunan.

Here are the highlights of day 3: Beipan River & Bridge / Xuanrufong hills / Maling valley / Wangfongling hills

We woke up early, and after breakfast started a long bus ride to Beipan River.


The Beipan river is set deep in the valley and local government has build a suspension bridge due to the width of the bridge required.


The wind is strong and cold. We stopped and cross the bridge on foot, not due to safety reason but we just want to take a look and marvel at the steep cliff of Beipan river.


After than we went to look for Xuanrufong hills. The pair of hills looks like breasts complete with nipples. Everybody giggles and take plenty of pictures there. The locals believed that the water from the hills helped their crops to grow better and produce better harvest.


After lunch we went straight to Maling valley. Again our legs are put to a test. It is a deep valley, possibly as deep as Beipan river valley but not as wide. In fact, to cross the valley the local government simply build a concrete arch bridge.
This photo was taken from the bottom of the valley near the river, so before reaching here we have to go down hundreds of steps of staircases.


Here is the old bridge which has broken. Imagine earlier days before the new bridge was build the locals has to walk down the cliffs on one side, cross the bridge and walk up the cliffs on the other side to cross.


As you can see the abundance of water, even in autumn, cause a mini waterfall to form at the foot of one side of the new bridge.


Maling valley has numerous waterfalls and possibly in spring/summer water trickles on the whole cliff because it is all covered with ferns and moss and other climbing vegetations.




You can go to the other side of the bridge by crossing via suspension bridges build for tourist like this couple but we do not have the time to explore further.

Furthermore, the other side is more wet as well. I preferred to stay dry so that I can take pictures.


So here are more pictures of the valley (of the side we were walking) and its numerous waterfalls.






Ah, our final destination, the lift which will bring us from the bottom of the cliff to the top. Thank goodness we have technology.


However, before reaching to the lift, we had to go behind a waterfall.
Here is the entrance.

And when inside, I have a chance to take this picture from one of the "window".

And at the exit after climbing down a few steps, I took this picture.


I paid RMB 30 for the privilege of not having to climb up the stairs. Well you still have to climb up a few steps to the lift door.


We then head to Wangfongling hills. This is the second main attraction of Guizhou.

There are thousands of hills rising on the flatland. It is comparable to Guilin. However in Guilin the hills are rising around the rivers, whereas Guizhou is hills on flatland.

The town folks of Wangfongling hills are especially proud this year because they have a chance to play host to President Hui Jin Dao in Chinese New Year in 2007.


Here are some shots of the hills. Almost all of them has unique names but there are so many that I lost track very fast.
This was one stop near a viewing pavilion and the locals believes that the 6 peaks behind bestow them luck.

This small hill is called The General, despite its tiny size compared to surrounding hills. However, probably despite its size, it stands up grandly and thus the title.

This is called the fish hill. I was on a moving car so the aiming is not so good.
As you can see it looked like a humping carp, with the tail at the center of the photo and the humping back on the right of the photo.


I was a bit upset because that day was cloudy. It would have been great if it is sunny and it will be best if we started off at Wangfongling hills in the morning rather than leave it as the last destination of the day.
My only conciliation are these shots of our tour guide ladies in traditional clothing posing with my mum:






And finally, while it is almost dark, among the flowers surrounding the car park where our bus is parked, I notice there is something flying around the flowers. It was oblivious to the presence of human and it busily flew from one flower to the next, gathering nectars. First I thought it was a humming bird, but this is a tad smaller, and after analyzing the picture on a larger computer screen, I came to a conclusion that this is an insect. I just don't know the name so if you do, please let me know.



We head back to hotel to rest our tired legs and recharge our batteries (after more that 2 dozen of rapid flashing trying to photograph an insect).