Thomas Hopkins snaps a photo of the stunning Bawang Valley in Guizhou province. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Prior to landing at Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport and being quickly shuffled off to catch a train to Tongren, I knew nothing about the province of Guizhou or what to expect from the five days I would be spending there.
A detailed guide had been provided to me, but besides skimming the itinerary — going to a mountain, cool; experiencing matcha culture, sounds fun; playing basketball in a cave, all right — I didn’t read it because, well, I didn’t feel like it.
I was on vacation in the days leading up to this trip, and, hey, I like surprises. To put a more philosophical spin on my laziness, in a day and age when it’s common to live vicariously through online content, I think there is virtue in going into a situation blind.
While cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an in Shaanxi province, and Chengdu in Sichuan province usually top China’s tourist destination lists, Guizhou offers an environment that feels unique: vast, inescapable mountains covered in lush, endless green forests, with pristine, teal-blue rivers cutting through it all, and a truly countless number of caves and waterfalls waiting to be explored.
Thomas Hopkins snaps a photo of the stunning Bawang Valley in Guizhou province. [Photo provided to China Daily]
To sharpen that point, Guizhou boasts its many UNESCO World Heritage sites — Libo Karst, Shibing Karst, Chishui Danxia, and Fanjing Mountain; and there’s also the Shuanghe Cave system, which is recognized as the longest dolomite cave system in the world.
Of course, I didn’t know any of this going in, but as I sat by a window on the train and watched this beautiful, picturesque landscape — mountains near and far, little clusters of homes nestled in valleys in between, mighty rivers parting rising rock formations, and terraced grass fields — fly by, I began to wonder if I had gone through some kind of wormhole and been transported to a fairytale-like wonderland.
I skimmed the materials again, my eyes settling on the second sentence: “Guizhou is defined by its breathtaking landscape, where mountains and hills cover over 92 percent of the terrain.” That explained it.”Bro, this place is over 92 percent mountains,” I texted my friend back home in the United States, as if I were now an expert on the region.
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