Pipa concert

In Guiyang, we went to the pipa (Chinese lute) graduation concert of Cai Yina, Yixin's cousin. The concert took place in the music hall of the Guiyang Normal University. We were all asked to help a bit with the preparations and did some roadie work during the concert. While I did not see that much of the concert from the audience, I can say that it sounded exquisitely. :)

For the last performance, 5 other musicians joined.

The presenters for tonight, both in Chinese and English. Although there weren't many English speakers in the audience.

A picture backstage. The agitation was visible.

One of the many, many group pictures.

Participating in such a local event was an amazing experience.

A couple of pictures from parks and waterfalls...

This post is going to be a long one. The main reason therefore is that I did not have decent internet acces in Guiyang, so I will be covering multiple days at once. The second reason this post is a long one, is the high amount of pictures. But, I suppose those are the most interesting after all... :)

First up is ... park in Guiyang. The park is quite large and offers many stone paths up the forested hills that split the town in different districts. Although not the most beautiful park, it has a lot of interesting things to offer. The biggest attraction here is definitely the monkeys. There are many of them freely wandering around the park. They are not shy of humans and might even try to steal your food. Although I would not dare to touch them, it is great to be able to stand very close to them.

Picture above: one of the many activities you can see in parks. This game is particularly interesting. The goal of the game, mostly played by elderly men, is to keep the top spinning for as long as possible by hitting it with a whip. I regret not filming it, because the noise really makes it complete. (It's loud!)

Next park we did was a park in the vicinity of Duyun. It was still quite a long bus ride away, but well worth it. Here, we witnessed some of the more untouched, wild nature of Guizhou.

Xiaoheche Park (小河车公园) in Guiyang is a new park with lots of things to see and do. You won't find any authentic ancient buildings here, but they did a very good job imitating the old architecture. The park is more fit for a sightseeing tour than an actual walk in the park, because, as is the case with many things in China, it is built on a massive scale. You can hop on what looks like a golf buggy limousine to get around more quickly.

In one part of the park, some of the many minorities in Guizhou province are in the spotlight. On the picture below, you see a pavillion constructed in Miaozu (苗族) style. While they rock some cool, unique ceremonial clothing, their architecture and culture looks similar to that of the Han majority. Not so very different from the majority after all, but isn't that the case for most minorities?

Like a dream...

The last trip we made from Guiyang was Huangguoshu Falls (黄果树). Rated AAAAA by the Chinese government, this view is definitely worth it. 很漂亮的景色！

Chinese feasts

Being friends of Yixin, Jan and I had the privilege of being invited to many family dinners. About his family and about the Chinese people in general, I can say that they care a lot about their guests. They will urge you to try every dish on the table and are interested to know where you come from and why you are travelling in China.

We enjoyed a variety of both local and national dishes. Guizhou cuisine is generally quite spicy. People here eat everything with a bit of extra chili pepper. The dishes are very tasty, but oily. The pictures below show some of the meals we've had so far.

Moutai, a famous baijiu from Guiyang. 干杯！

Of course, street food could not be left out from this list. O dear stomach, you might have to hold on tight for this tasty deliciousness.

At a fancier place in Kunming.

Suantangyu (酸汤鱼), a famous local dish. You pick the (living) fish you want to eat upon arrival in the restaurant.

Weird drinks: #2

Time for some more weird drinks. Today: these two nice looking citrus drinks.

They were quite similar, but the left one was better overall. The one on the right tasted very artificial and was way too sweet. The one on the left did not taste strange after all and could be compared to Schweppes Agrumes, but without the bubbles.

Seems pretty neat, right? Well, we think it was... ;)

Guiyang: de eerste dagen

Disclaimer: this will be in Dutch, future posts will be in English again. Why, you're wondering? Well, simply because I started writing this in Dutch. ;)

02/07/2015 – Beijing - Guiyang

Vandaag was een reisdag. We zijn opgestaan in Beijing na een korte nacht, hebben snel iets om te eten gehaald op straat en zijn dan met de metro naar de luchthaven vertrokken. Al het gehaast bleek echter voor niets te zijn, aangezien onze vlucht drie uur vertraging had opgelopen (vermoedelijk wegens het slechte weer). De rest van de voormiddag en de hele namiddag hebben we gewacht op onze vlucht en gewacht in het vliegtuig zelf.

’s Avonds kwamen we dan uiteindelijk toch aan in Guiyang. We werden zeer gastvrij onthaald bij Yixins tante, die ons op een heerlijk – en voor de eerste keer ook gezond! – avondmaal trakteerde. Na het avondmaal waren Jan en ik even alleen bij haar thuis. Ze deed duidelijk haar best om Engels met ons te praten en ik probeerde mezelf tevens verstaanbaar te maken in het Chinees, wat leidde tot enkele moeizame maar leerrijke gesprekken. Daarna hielden we ons rustig bezig totdat Jemoke, een Britse expat en tevens onze gastheer voor de komende dagen, van z'n werk terugkwam. Deze überchille kerel laat ons een week lang gratis verblijven in zijn appartement. Many thanks!

Jemoke.

Ontbijten met 汤面 (noedelsoep), met veel 辣椒, (chilipeper). Heel lekker!

Plein in het district van Guiyang waar we verbleven.

03/07 – Uitgaan in Guiyang:

Gisterenavond zijn we samen met enkele expats iets gaan drinken in een hippe bar in het centrum. Hun zelfgebrouwen bier is het lekkerste bier dat ik tot nu toe in China heb gedronken. Daarna zijn we gaan dansen in een nogal marginale club in de uitgaansbuurt van Guiyang. Als Westerling wordt je daar… zeer goed onthaald. Iedereen wil met je op de foto. Jonge kerels trakteren je op baijiu of bier. En de dames willen maar al te graag met je dansen. Het geheel heeft iets surreëels. Sommige Westerlingen genieten maar al te graag van de aandacht die ze hier krijgen. Ikzelf kom hier waarschijnlijk niet meer terug. :p

De Grote Muur

Disclaimer: this will be in Dutch, future posts will be in English again. Why, you're wondering? Well, simply because I started writing this in Dutch. ;)

Geen reis naar Beijing is compleet zonder de Grote Muur gezien te hebben. En aangezien onze topgids Yixin nog niet was toegekomen, waren we voor één keer bereid om mee te gaan met een toeristische tour. We hebben ervoor gekozen om de Muur te gaan bewandelen in Mutianyu, in plaats van in het meer toeristische Badaling.

De Grote Muur is zijn status als één van de bekendste wereldmonumenten helemaal waard. Laat je vooral niet afschrikken door locals die claimen dat het “maar een hoop stenen” is, aangezien zulke mededelingen vooral zijn ingegeven door het feit dat ze de Grote Muur al te vaak hebben gezien. Wanneer je in je achterhoofd houdt dat de bouw van deze muur meer dan 2000 jaar geleden begonnen is, kun je enkel bewondering hebben voor dit 6000 km lange titanenwerk. Het stuk dat momenteel nog overeind staat dateert weliswaar van de Ming-dynasatie (1400). Hieronder enkele fotootjes van de muur.

 Jan en ik, bovenop toren 23.

Weird drinks: #1

In China you can buy some strange drinks. Jan and I will try all of them. Today, we picked Hei Doujiang 黑豆浆 (black soy milk). This was nothing like the Alpro soy milk you can buy in Belgium. Instead, it tasted as if someone added too much water to bread flour until it became a slimy and viscous drink.

The drink on the right is the black soy milk. The drink on the left is sweet cold tea. It is very popular in China. We thought it was way too sweet, but it was drinkable.

And what about the black soy milk? ... I think this reaction says it all.