Guizhou - entry 1

I wish I kept a better log or a journal of my trip to Guizhou. However, I was down with the flu for the entire trip and my greater need for a good night's rest everyday won out over my desire to keep a better log of my trip. That is definitely one of my bigger regrets left over from the trip.

Anyway, I'll try and work from memory and I hope I get the names of the places and the sequence of events more or less correct.

I arrived in Guizhou in the early hours of the morning on a rainy Sunday morning on the 3rd of Dec. It was cold and wet and I was glad that I had carried my trusty winter jacket with me on the plane.

A total of approximately 140 people were onboard the Silkair plane I'd traveled on and all of us had signed up for this tour package. The agency split us up into 4 different groups and labled them A to D and I was in Group B and would ride the B Bus for the duration of this trip.

Since it was something like 3am in the morning, all 140 of us were quickly ferried to our hotel in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou, to get some shut eye before the tour began in earnest.

To facilitate the movement of such a large group of tourists, the agency had decided to further group A & B together and C & D together and each of these larger groups will act as one tour group. They also decided to tweak the travel itinerary for each group in such a manner that the two larger groups seldom meet up at the same location. The only times I remember coliding with them was mostly in Guiyang where the hotel was bigger and the restaurants tended to be bigger too. Mostly, they were either there before us or we were somewhere before them.

Anyway, moving on... the next day, all of us crawled out of beds and made our way down to a not terribly wonderful breakfast before boarding our respective buses where our 8 day tour of Guizhou will begin in earnest.

The local guide who was assigned to Bus B was a pretty and young native of Guiyang who's family name is Ou and we called her Xiao Ou. I was actually quite impressed with her and she currently she ranks as the best local guide I've ever met on all the packaged tours I've been on. She's very knowlegeable and spoke well, spouting bits of information and poetry with aplomb. She also seemed to really loved Guizhou and seemed genuinely interested that we leave Guizhou with a good impression of the province. I liked her loads.

Our first destination is perhaps Guizhou's most famous and most visited of attractions. The Huang Guo Shu Waterfall is China's largest waterfall and although we were way past the rainy season, the waters that gushed from the falls were still plentiful and powerful. We had lunch at a small restaurant which boasts a spectacular view of the falls. And after lunch we made our way to the the Huang Guo Shu Waterfalls.

The Huang Guo Shu Waterfall, or the Yellow Fruit Tree Waterfalls (direct translation), is 74 meters tall and 81 meters wide (source: http://library.thinkquest.org/20443/guizhou.html). It may not be the largest, tallest or the most spectacular waterfall in the world but what the falls offer is the opportunity to get up close and personal with the falls. There is a Shui Lian Dong, a cave or tunnel, behind the falling sheet of white water and it is at the same time a most humbling yet most miraculous experience to be able to stand there and experience the relentless rush of the white waters over head, the wind in your hair and the constant and refreshing fine spray of water on your face and clothes. I was fascinated and although I have seen the Nigara Falls, albeit only from the US side, I was instantly in love with the Huang Guo Shu Falls. I felt like I could reach out and feel it's mystical power unlike merely gazing at it from afar.

Anyway, I'm rapidly tiring as my flu medication is beginning to make it's effects felt. So I'll end it here and add a couple of pix for your viewing pleasure.

cheers :)