The Ethnic Minorities' Towns And Villages in Guizhou (貴州) - 凱里 、鎮遠 And 西江千户苗寨
Posted On Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at at 9:35 PM by Alvin
We spent an overnight stay in Guiyang (貴陽) and admired the elegant 甲秀樓 sparkling like shining jewels against the city skylines, before moving on south to visit China's ethnic minority groups. Besides the famous karst scenery, Guizhou (貴州) had been well-known for the many colorful ethnic minority groups that settled here from time long ago. Interestingly, there are presently 56 ethnic groups which made up the Chinese nation (中華民族), the Han (漢) Chinese being the predominant grouping. Of particular note, the Miao (苗) group numbered around 10 million in China had long enjoyed Guizhou as one of their main homes where they had settled thousands of years ago. We visited the impressive Miao village of 西江千户苗寨 which was around an hour's bus ride from the pleasant medium size city of Kaili (凱里). Kaili was lively but yet retained the air of an out-grown village with quaint location names such as The Big Cross, The Little Cross etc. The Miao village consisted of over 1,000 houses built around two hills and was an instantly recognisable sight from a long distance away - an orderly mesh of black-tiled roof houses built on wooden stilts. Miao villagers went about their business of canola farming, cattle raising and of course now and again they sold a few souvenirs to the throngs of tourists.
We also visited the ancient town of Zhen Yuan (鎮遠古城 ) which had been a major military staging post since the Qin (秦) Dynasty over 2,000 years ago. The visit to the ancient town was a pleasant day trip and we enjoyed a peaceful stroll along the beautiful river of 舞陽河 and admired the impressive Taoist cave of 青龍洞, before heading back to Kaili to enjoy yet another delicious mega dinner ! BTW, Zhen Yuan had been ranked consistently as one of the Top 5 most beautiful ancient towns in China and we could not agree more, especially considering that the town was pleasant and tranquil and did not ooze the rampant commercialism commonly found in these well-known destinations.
We also visited the ancient town of Zhen Yuan (鎮遠古城 ) which had been a major military staging post since the Qin (秦) Dynasty over 2,000 years ago. The visit to the ancient town was a pleasant day trip and we enjoyed a peaceful stroll along the beautiful river of 舞陽河 and admired the impressive Taoist cave of 青龍洞, before heading back to Kaili to enjoy yet another delicious mega dinner ! BTW, Zhen Yuan had been ranked consistently as one of the Top 5 most beautiful ancient towns in China and we could not agree more, especially considering that the town was pleasant and tranquil and did not ooze the rampant commercialism commonly found in these well-known destinations.
Bright Colors of Guizhou 貴州 - Waterfalls 黃果樹, Caves 織金洞 and Canola Fields 油菜花田
Posted On Monday, March 19, 2012 at at 7:19 PM by Alvin
Spring time was an ideal time for us to visit Guizhou (貴州 ) - the southwestern province of China, as we didn't mind extreme weather changes too much. But at one point, the temperature dropped 20C overnight, luckily we bought enough warm clothes ! The sites and journeys across Guizhou was a kaleidoscope of bright Spring colors as we visited the famed Waterfalls (黃果樹瀑布), Caves (織金洞) and Canola Fields (油菜花田) ! But first thing first, Guizhou Airport (龍洞堡) was playing major catch up to other cities' development and we felt our plane landed in the middle of a construction site ! Our trip to the city of Anshun (安順) offered us the first glimpse of Spring in the province - there were canola fields in almost every plant-able farm space ! It was a nice day trip to the waterfalls of (黃果樹瀑布) and we had our fair share of the beneficial negative ions in the air. Moving on to the even smaller (but seemed to us nicer) rural town of Zhi Jin (織金縣城), we were absolutely awed by the sights and colors of the famed limestone caverns of (織金洞) - 13km of explored and charted underground cavern system cleverly lit to maximise the dramatic effects; 2 hours of "oooh", "ahhh", "look at that" had left us with indelible memories ! One piece of advice when travelling in Guizhou - taking a train could be more direct and might save time as the roads could wind through some very remote hilly areas, without going much distance !
