Guizhou might not be the obvious choice for the average traveller, trust me it wasn’t my first choice either, but let me tell you this, Guizhou will soon become one of China’s most popular travel destinations.

This fairly unknown province offers some breathtaking scenery, proper street food and an interesting, friendly and diverse population. Furthermore, hiking up into the fresh green hills between the rice paddies is a great way to escape the crowds. Allow me to convince you why you should travel to Guizhou before everyone else does.

Journey to Guizhou

Together with three friends of mine, I wanted to plan a trip for the National Holiday in October. However, since the whole of China is on the move to get home that week and it was already halfway through September, there were no train tickets left to any of the popular travel destinations. We decided we didn’t want to stay in Beijing all week, so we checked which provinces still had tickets left.

Two weeks later, with very little preparation we got into a sleeper train to Changsha where we switched trains and got into a K train. If you know anything about trains in China, you would know that K trains are super cosy and usually full of 老百姓 (common people) from all over China.

Next to me sat a 60-year old woman and she started speaking to us in heavy accented Chinese. I had trouble understanding her, but she asked where we were going, whether we had booked a hotel yet and about a thousand other questions. When we answered that we hadn’t booked anything yet, she urged the girls who sat across from us to help us book a hotel in Zhenyuan, our first destination. [Read more…]

Located in the southeastern part of China, Guizhou Province is formed by rice paddies, soft hills full of terraces, villages that stand out of the clouds and the songs and colors of the minorities that populate the region.

Even though the province is considered one of the poorest in China, both from a gross internal product per capita point of view, as well as the condition of the numerous rural villages that compose it, it is still a source of pride for the Chinese. In fact, of the 55 ethnic minorities who live in the country that are considered an important resource by the Chinese people and government for their customs, dress and traditions, a good 18 ethic minorities live in Guizhou; and it’s therefore counted among the provinces with the most minorities!

Another source of pride for the province are the Huangguoshu waterfalls. Besides being the largest waterfall in Asia, it is said that from a rock of the falls Sun Wukong was born, symbol of classic Chinese literature and protagonist of traditional opera.

Why go to Guizhou

What Guizhou Province lacks is a large and modern metropolis, the capital Guiyang is neither a tourist destination nor a metropolis; so if you decide to travel in the province it is to immerse yourself in nature.

Letting yourself be captivated by the awesomeness of the small villages and attractive scenes in the eastern part of the province is one of the reasons I recommend that you travel to Guizhou, discovering the smiles and songs of the various ethnic minorities can’t help but do you good and make your trip all the more pleasant.

It doesn’t lack a historical part, and the old city of Qingyan, a military outpost of the Ming era won’t disappoint your expectations.
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