What's Up Al ? 遊記隨筆 生活點滴

A few of the quirky, eccentric, eye-opening, iconic, down-right funky to the weird and wonderful photos from Guiyang.

We spent a much hurried fly-by-night 1-day in Guiyang last time in 2012 and we knew very little of what this provincial capital could offer. First of all, the picturesque ancient fortress town of Qingyan (青岩古鎮), a major stronghold guarding Guiyang since the Ming Dynasty was on our must-visit list. The city bus only took an hour to reach the southern gate of the fortress and on this casual weekday, there was hardly any visitors around. We scaled the fortress walls and took over an hour to walk around the four corners before we took a much deserved lunch break in a out-of-the-way restaurant which had a front row view of the ramparts. Next up was the spanking new Guiyang Museum which showcased the many ethnic groups in the region and the museum was HUGE, as we took over one hour in each exhibition hall and there were four of them ! The history, culture, clothing, decoration ornaments, festivals were on display with detailed explanations in the form of larger-than-life models, short description films and interactive screens where one could take "live" screen shots using different colorful costumes from the ethnic groups. We also walked our limbs to the ground in the enormous city park of 黔靈山公園 where we visited the interesting karst grottoes of 麒麟洞 and steered clear of the hundreds of macaques who effortlessly stole drinks from passers-by, take a look at the cheeky thing in the photo below ! Tiring but rewarding days in Guiyang !

Having spent the whole morning and most of the afternoon in the excellent museums in Guiyang, our tired limbs told us to go home for some well-deserved rest but by a complete fluke we got lost for a bit and bumped into the Guiyang Chrysanthemum Show (貴陽金秋菊花展) ! We thought we knew the species (Chrysanthemum) well enough as the flower had been around back home for years, little did we know that there were LOADS of different varieties of amazing different shapes, sizes and color combinations; all vying for the attentions of passers-by. It was a sunny Autumn afternoon and the lights played amazing shadows and brought out the best of the colors from these smiling and inviting flora. It's good to get lost sometimes ...