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We woke up before 7 a.m. and immediately got onto the hotel wifi to announce our new honorary goddaughter! Looking out the window, we could see the People's Square with the Lusheng Flute stage. It featured a large floral arrangement in honor of today's Labor Day celebration. We had explored that park on our last visit.
We showered and went downstairs to the buffet breakfast. It was good but the quality of the service was not as stellar as we had remembered. It was hard to even get coffee. Nonetheless, we enjoyed cheese, bacon, sausage, French toast topped with fresh jam, dumplings, muffins, juice, and corned beef hash (a comfort food favorite that I don't eat very often these days). At 9:30, we checked out and met Wang Jun. He gave us 2 jars of Lao Gan Ma chilis (a local woman's recipe that has now turned into a booming business - she is now the #1 taxpayer in Guiyang). He knew that we would miss this wonderfully spicy food when we went back home. We said good morning to Mr. Zhou and got into the van. As we were driving away from the hotel, I was finally able to get a photo of the cute ladybug sculpture on the median near the hotel. Today we were heading about 140 km outside of the city to view some beautiful natural wonders at Huangguoshu Waterfall National Park. Because today was Labor Day, everyone had the day off. Also, highway tolls were free in recoognition of the holiday. As a result, pretty much the entire population of Guiyang was on the G60 highway on their way out of town for a long weekend. There was a lot of traffic, but our lively conversation made the ride pass quickly. We arrived at Zhenning Buyei and Miao Autonomous County to find that an area was closed to traffic due to the influx of holiday tourists. Mr. Zhou found a parking spot within walking distance to the shuttle buses which provided access to the park. We stopped into a nearby restaurant for lunch. Wang Jun announced that he is continuing his self-imposed challenge to never repeat a single dish when ordering or preparing food for us. This is something that he insisted on doing on our last visit, and it was wildly successful. He did say that there would be one repeat at lunch today, since he knew it was one of my absolute favorites. This was tang yuan. They look like donut holes, and are filled with a liquid mixture of sesame powder, peanut powder, sunflower seed powder, and soybean powder. Absolutely delicious! Wang Jun indulged Craig's love of hot peppers by ordering a beef dish with chilis, and a pork dish with chilis. We also had pork with flat noodles and some greens. Craig enjoyed a Snow beer, and I had a JDB. Several families in the restaurant wanted to take photos with their little kids with us, and we happily posed. There were two little kids in particular who were very curious about us, and they flashed the peace sign when I snapped a photo of them. After lunch, we walked to a shuttle bus stop and took the bus to the entrance to the first of two waterfalls which make up Huangguoshu Waterfall National Park. This was the smaller "thundering" waterfall, called Doupotang. We got off the bus and walked on some nice walkways to the waterfall. Like Da Qi Kong, which we had visited last October, this park was very well designed, with well manicured grounds and safe walking paths and observation platforms. Lots of families were visiting the waterfalls today, and we saw some ladies from the Buyie ethnic minority dressed in their traditional indigo clothing. It was a sunny, hot day. Girls and young women were wearing flower crowns. The waterfall was very beautiful, and though "small" in relation to the main attraction, it was nonetheless impressive. It was 105 meters wide and 21 meters tall. Some young ladies who spoke English offered to take our picture in front of the falls. We were the only Western tourists to be seen, so we attracted some well-intentioned attention. Then we walked for approximately one kilometer along the Baishui River to the large Great Waterfall, the park's namesake Huangguoshu. It is 77.8 meters high and 101 meters wide, one of the largest in Asia. We passed a statue of a Chinese geologist Xu Xiake who first "discovered" the waterfall in 1638. As we walked along the path, we got a glimpse of the cascading water. Then we reached an pbservation platform that was crowded with tourists. The waterfall was absolutely stunning! Wang Jun seemed (rightfully) concerned about Craig's ability to walk further in the hot sun, and gave us the option of only viewing the waterfall from the observation areas, or actually walking behind the curtain of water. The latter would require braving the crowds and walking much further. Craig was feeling good, and we couldn't resist the chance to walk behind a waterfall. So we decided to give it a try! But we really appreciated Wang Jun's concern for Craig's well-being. So we continued down the path until we got a to a point where we could no longer pass. We had encountered the queue to the waterfall. It was not single-file. People were crammed in the width of the walkway, shoulder to shoulder, as close to one another as possible. Nobody seemed bothered by this. They were all patiently waiting their turn. The direct sun was very hot, and people were doing what they could to shade themselves while they waited. People held up umbrellas, which were just at the right height to poke us in the eye, so we had to be vigilant. Fathers could be seen wearing their wives' frilly hats or their children's animal-shaped hats, just to get the sun off of their heads. The ebb and flow of the crowd caused Craig to get a bit separated from us, and there was no way of regrouping, so we all just went with it. We drank our water and hoped not to get dehydrated as we sweated just standing still. Some people weren't able to take it any more, and park security guards helped them up out of the line onto the hillside so that they could go back to the entrance (there was no "swimming upstream" in this queue!). At times, we had a very nice view of the falls with a rainbow shining brightly in its spray. After an hour packed in like sardines, we got to a spot where the path narrowed and park security controlled how many people could pass at one time. We felt like we could finally breathe when we got to this point, and we regrouped. Wang Jun told us to enjoy the experience, and that he would meet us at the other side of the waterfall when we were done. We walked behind the limestone into a cave which was lit with colorful lights. The water thundered over the falls, and we could see curtains of water rushing past holes in the rock face to our right. We were so overheated that it felt great to feel the cold spray of water. I had a small moment of panic when I realized that my bag was also getting splashed, but it is water-resistant and unharmed. We could look back across the ravine at the queue, and it was only getting longer and stretched as far as the eye could see. Wang Jun would see later on the news that there were 43,000 visitors here today, and he said that the numbers double on National Day in October. Wow! He said that he normally wouldn't take guests to a place like this on a national holiday because of the large crowds, but it was the only day that he could fit it into our itinerary. We didn't mind; in fact, it was kind of exciting. Despite the crowds, we felt very safe and everyone was very friendly and well-mannered. And out of all of those guests, we never saw any other western tourists. Because of this, we found that many people wanted photos with us in the spray of the waterfall. We obliged and they kept switching out, one after the next. We felt like rock stars and we wanted to give back to our public. After we had our fun with our new friends, we reunited with Wang Jun. He seemed relieved that we were ok, since we had taken so long to emerge from the cave. We explained that we had just been making new friends, and he shook his head, saying that only we would extract something so positive out of a very crowded destination. We walked down to rejoin the main path. There were two options here...you could walk back up out of the ravine (up a seemingly endless set of steps), or you could take the "Grand Escalator". We were all tired after waiting so long in the hot sun, so we didn't want to walk all the way back out. So we bought tickets for the self-proclaimed longest siteseeing escalator in the world. It was billed as an attraction unto itself within the park. As we rose 350 meters on the escalator, we saw many local people sitting on the escalator steps against the warning of all of the signage. We hoped that we wouldn't witness some kind of horrific accident. When we reached street level, bonsai gardens and flowers shone in the late afternoon light. We passed hawker stalls on the way to the bus stop. We took a crowded shuttle bus back to where Mr. Zhou had parked the van. There were no seats available, so we were prepared to stand. The very courteous Chinese tourists made a seat available. Craig graciously sat down, as his MS makes it difficult for him to stand on a moving vehicle. I was perfectly happy to stand, but a nice lady and her young daughter insisted that I perch on the end of their seats. Everyone was so friendly and kind to us! We met up with Mr. Zhou and drove the short drive to the Tunpu Guizhou Huangguoshu Hotel. We checked in at 6 o'clock. This was a new resort complex consisting of many small chalets. Each chalet contained a common TV room and several guests rooms with private bathrooms. It had a lodge/camp feel to the architecture, and there were various restaurants, a swimming pool, and a bar on the premises. Wang Jun said that he would make a dinner reservation for 7 o'clock. With all of the tourists who were staying here for the holiday, we wondered if that was even possible. We got settled into our roo, and took quick showers to freshen up after our day in the sun. I washed some waterfall dirt off of our pants and shirts. Wang Jun stopped in at our room at 7 o'clock, and we met up with Mr. Zhou and walked to one of the on-site restaurants (The Homely Dish Diner). Although they had taken Wang Jun's reservation, they did not actually have a table for us (that Seinfeld rental car episode comes to mind). It was smoky and crowded inside, but there was an outdoor deck. We preferred sitting outdoors, so we could either wait for a fancy outdoor table, or we could barbecue at one of the round wrought iron tables which had a charcoal grill in the middle. When presented with this choice, we opted for the barbecue, as it was a new experience. The whole atmosphere was kind of like camping anyway (though the rooms were quite nice), so it seemed appropriate. Since Mr. Zhou didn't have to drive tonight, the three guys enjoyed some beers. Ganbe! We sat drinking while the staff prepared our barbecue by cleaning out the ashes, adding fresh charcoal, and lighting it. It was the first time Wang Jun and Mr. Zhou had barbecued with guests, and said that any guests other than us would have complained about such a thing. We can't imagine why. It was like sitting with friends around the campfire, which is one of life's treasured experiences. Restaurants in China often give out small packets of tissues to be used as napkins. Usually, these are branded with the restaurant's logo and contact information. Here they gave us a packet of tissues branded with Angry Birds. It was too funny and we had to take it home as a souvenir. When the fire was hot enough, the servers brought over plate after plate of food: tofu, lettuce, bacon, spare ribs, egg plant, potatoes, fish, and beef. Mr. Zhou coated the grill grate and the the food with a marinade, and he and Wang Jun cooked it. We each had a plate of chili powder. As food was ready, we picked it off the grill with our chopsticks, laid it into the chili powder, turned it over so that every bit of surface area was coated, and popped it into our mouths. It was absolutely delicious. Darkness fell and the flames from the center of the table lit our faces. We lingered over the delicious meal, chatting and bonding. Mr. Zhou showed us photos of us that he has kept on his phone since our last visit. It was nice to know that he recalled our prior trip as fondly as we do. We thanked them for the experience, and Wang Jun told us not to say thank you. We are family now. He had been saying this last night as well, when we had thanked his family for the lovely dinner. But we feel so sincerely thankful, that we automatically want to express it. Wang Jun explained that saying thanks among family and close friends seemed fake; people do things for one another because they want to, and as long as it makes the other person happy, no thanks are required. We said it would be hard for us not to thank them, but we would try, as we wanted to respect their cultural norms. We asked them not to be offended if we relapsed by accident. Wang Jun suggested that whenever we feel the urge to say thank you, we we should simply say "Good!" It became an in-joke. The busy restaurant had emptied out. We outlasted the other diners. We were feeling full but there were still entire plates of food which had not yet been cooked. And it was so good we just kept eating until it was gone. We kept refilling our plate with chili powder, covering every bit of our food with it and devouring it. Everything was delicious and we had a lovely evening enjoying one another's company over a leisurely dinner. At 9 o'clock, we said our goodnights. We could hear Chinese rock music coming from nearby, so Craig and I walked over to the pool / bar area where a band was playing. As I took photos, and man and his young daughter approached Craig. She was carrying a small lantern. They said hello and offered Craig a cigarette, which he politely refused. The man then mimed having a drink and gestured for us to follow him. As much as we would have loved to have had a drink and chatted with him, we explained via sign language that we really should get to bed. It had been a long day in the sun and we should play it safe. It also seemed like they were on their way back to their room to put the little girl to bed. But we were genuinely touched by this man's friendliness. Many people were out and about as we walked back to the room, and they all said nihao and smiled. When we went into the common room, a young man was watching basketball. We wondered if it would be noisy overnight. Luckily that wasn't a problem, and we fell asleep immediately when we went to bed at 10:30. |
 Lunch with Mr. Zhou and Wang Jun  Duopotang Falls  Duopotang Falls  Queue to walk behind the water of Huangguoshu Falls  Huangguoshu Falls with a rainbow in its mist  Huangguoshu Falls  Steph behind Huangguoshu Falls (note the long queue for the waterfall in the background)  Craig and his new friends behind Huangguoshu Falls  Mr. Zhou and Wang Jun barbecue a delicious dinner  Steph grilling up some delicious food  Craig, Mr. Zhou, and Wang Jun after the barbecue  Friendly tourist and his young daughter at the resort  |
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