Guiyang(450 views)

Release date:2010-01-08 09:48:54

The land-locked state of Guizhou lies east of Yunnan and north of Guangxi, barely south of temperate Sichuan and Chongqing. With its own airport, its capital city Guiyang is well-connected to many scenic sights in central and southwestern China. The bus and train systems are improving rapidly, making it much more convenient for inter-city travel.

Most travelers drop by Guiyang on the way to the grand waterfalls at Anshun, to the southeast. A day at Guiyang is sufficient to cover its highlights. Although Guiyang is one of the poorest in the region, the city has areas worth exploring and famous street food redolent of strong Chinese influences.

Local Attire
Guizhou attire is distinctively simple, with villagers from the outskirts weaving their own hemp cloth and creating their own clothing dyes. This was a reason why some villagers avoid the rain, for fear of getting drenched and having their dye run. The minorities have elaborate designs embroidered onto their costumes, which possibly indicates their social status in their community.

Qianling Park
Located northwest of Guizhou, the somewhat lofty Qianling Park can be scaled via a cable car linking ground level to Hongfu Temple near the 1300m peak. Constructed in the 17th century, the Qing Dynasty Temple is surrounded by forest. Like many Buddhist temples in China, it has a vegetarian restaurant in its backyard, near the monastery. Qianling Park also happens to have a tourist bus station nearby, just opposite the entrance along Zhongshan Road.

Other Sights
Renmin Square, home to a huge saluting Mao statue, is a good place to start exploring. Along the meandering Nanming River that swerves past the south of the city, Renmin Square is about 1km away from Jiaxiu Pavillion and Cuiwei Park, where the river curves northwards, perpendicular to Xinhua Road.

Guizhou Cuisine
Home to minority tribes such as the Miao and Dong, Guiyang naturally has stores selling traditional cuisine which appeals to the adventurous gourmet. Miao cuisine consists of spicy flavours and is redolent of Sichuan while Dong cuisine is characteristic of pickled flavours. Local Guiyang district delicacies include hotpot combinations of meat and vegetable over a small flaming pot, sour fish soup and silk babies (assorted pickled vegetables wrapped in thin rice pancakes).

For an exotic out-of-town treat, try some offerings from the foreign vendors hawking Muslim food such as lamb kebabs. These Central Asia immigrants add a new dimension to the spread of Guizhou cuisine available in the region.

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