Wuyang River – The Kinetic Canuck

This weekend was a little exhausting, but still managed to be a lot of fun! I think I’m FINALLY getting over my 4 week cold (the joys of teaching my little germ infested monkeys!), and I finally got to participate in the school’s cooking activity Sunday night! I made deviled eggs, Guiyang style. I substituted paprika for La Jiao and boy were they a hit! I had a couple of hecklers in the front row (kids can be so cruel!!) telling me they smelled bad and were going to be gross, but BOTH of them tried coming back for thirds, so I was pretty pleased with myself!!

The event involved all of the teachers cooking western dishes for the students; A brilliant marketing activity on the part of my boss! Not only did the kids learn some new words, but they got to taste western food they’d never heard of before. A full western experience!

1386014_10152817209946488_475755466912213924_n — My sous-chef, Maggie, and I. She is a teacher at the JinYang branch, and she is lovely 🙂 Behind me, you can see a fellow Canadian Lao Wai…I keep telling him his face is going to get stuck that way….

As much as we would have loved to spend another weekend in another corner of Guizhou province, Dave and I opted to spend this Monday and Tuesday recovering our health and tackling the daunting task that is ‘cleaning our kitchen’. We still haven’t gotten around to cleaning it since we moved in a month and a half ago. It took nearly a week to get the rest of the place sanitized, and we needed some pretty heavy duty degreasers to get the layers of filth off the walls, so until now, we’ve just kept the door shut and avoided that room.

Of course, cooking on Sunday made me miss having a kitchen SO much that we’ve decided to make that our project tomorrow. So here I am, doing the next best thing to actually traveling: writing about traveling!

After a gorgeous and relaxing night in Zhenyuan Ancient town, we set off for our River Cruise Tuesday morning. A van picked us up at the hotel at 8:30am and we traveled to the Wuyang River dam with 2 other couples (both Chinese), which is located about an hour from the Ancient town. The road there was bumpy and pretty scary at some points, but we got there in one piece, perhaps thanks to our Chinese friends in the van, who continually told the driver to slow down because they didn’t want the Lao Wai to think badly of Chinese roads or drivers! One of them spoke English, which was great. I’m very proud of the amount of Mandarin I can speak (Dave told me about a month ago that he was SHOCKED when we got here…all of a sudden I could speak a 3rd language!), but it’s so nice getting a bit of a break now and then as well!

A pagoda with Guizhou mountains in the background :) — The pagoda where our boat docked

We were the only La Wai on the cruise, which was both nice and a bit of a nuisance. It was nice being the only westerners because so many of the people we’ve met on cruises in China have been very closed minded and extremely judgmental of the Chinese. But on the other hand, because we were the only light skinned occupants on the boat, we became a tourist attraction ourselves. Although the views from the boat were terrific, people seemed to be more interested in snapping photos with US…instead of with the scenery. We obliged for a few people (the ones who had been in the van with us), but then hid away from the crowds, where it was warmer and where we could enjoy the views, just the two of us 🙂

The most famous rock formation near Zhenyuan.

Beautiful Guizhou mountains, and our boat's flag :) — Beautiful Guizhou mountains, and our boat’s flag 🙂

Roughly 3 and a half hours after the van picked us up, we were dropped off at our hotel, where we had to check out. The hotel’s owner was kind enough to hold our luggage for us while we walked through the ancient town once more. This time, we viewed the south side of the Wuyang River during the day time, which turned out to be just as beautiful of an experience as it was at night!

The gorgeous pagoda we’d visited the day before

Steps lead into the water all over the ancient town

My favorite shot of the whole trip. I nearly dropped my camera in the river while taking it…but it was worth the scare!

This was the first time we’d felt sunshine in about a month. We were so excited that I quickly snapped a picture! The sun is a wonderful thing!!!

We had supper on the other side of this bridge the night before. Like I said…just as beautiful as during the day 🙂

Eventually, we found the old city wall, that was built around 2000 years ago, and has since been restored. As the sun shone down on us, we walked along the clean path and enjoyed the gardens and the sounds of the river.

We took the north side of the river back to the hotel and enjoyed such a contrast in environment! After our serene walk along the old wall, we were met with the hustle and bustle of a Chinese city.

A construction site. Notice the lack of any safety gear…

Chickens…they’re everywhere. Today, in Guiyang, we saw a woman carrying a live on in a bag over her shoulder…oh China!

There were children playing under this mess of wires. I can’t help but cringe, and wonder what the stats are on random electrocutions due to an insane lack of safety regulations in the country!

Squatter toilets for sale!! Get your squatters here! On discount, today only! Get your squatter toilets here, ladies and gentlemen, you won’t regret it!!

Still, as we wound our way down alleys and smaller streets during our final hour in Zhenyuan, we enjoyed unique sights and absorbed all the ‘new’ we could. There’s nothing quite like traveling, and I feel so incredibly lucky to be in a situation where I can just pack up for the weekend and experience something like Zhenyuan Ancient Village. I’m living the dream 🙂

Another one of my favorite shots from Tuesday. This was the view between two random buildings on the way back to the hotel. Just beautiful.

An alleyway we explored, in search of a hostel we'd seen a sign for. We have every intention of returning to Zhenyuan (there's so much we didn't have time to do!), and although we'd love to stay at the same place again, a traveler knows that back up plans are a must! — An alleyway we explored, in search of a hostel we’d seen a sign for. We have every intention of returning to Zhenyuan (there’s so much we didn’t have time to do!), and although we’d love to stay at the same place again, a traveler knows that back up plans are a must!

I can't be certain...but I'm pretty sure Bowser is waiting to fight me on the other side of this door....unfortunately for him...he has NO IDEA how many hours I spent learning how to defeat him in my youth!!! — I can’t be certain…but I’m pretty sure Bowser is waiting to fight me on the other side of this door….unfortunately for him…he has NO IDEA how many hours I spent learning how to defeat him in my youth!!!

Thanks again for tuning in, and check back soon! I still have so many posts to write!

There’s nothing quite like sitting down to some tea after a productive day. Guiyang saw sun and blue sky today for the first time in over a month and the whole city seemed uplifted. The scooter ride to work had less honking than normal and it seemed that anyone who was able to, spent their day outside, soaking in the vitamin D! Thursdays are my ‘get stuff done day’ though, so I spent most of my day indoors cleaning the teacher’s office, chatting with my fabulous coworkers and then teaching my wonderful kindergarten students whom I love very much!

This little monkeys are my heroes :) Not only are they a tonne of fun, but they are incredibly sweet too. I went into a coughing fit today in class and little Sufei (the cutie in the middle) came over and put her hand on my arm and asked "Marie, are you ok?". Teaching is just so.......rewarding!!! — This little monkeys are my heroes 🙂 Not only are they a tonne of fun, but they are incredibly sweet too. I went into a coughing fit today in class and little Sufei (the cutie in the middle) came over and put her hand on my arm and asked “Marie, are you ok?”. Teaching is just so…….rewarding!!!

What is this sudden shift in mood, you might be asking yourself? My last few posts have been centered around how I’ve been ‘getting through’ this part of living overseas. October and the first half of November were tough. Culture shock, finding my ‘place’ at work and being constantly sick had definitely been putting a damper on my mood. Dave is my rock, but even the best couples get nippy with each other when stresses run high for long periods of time, so we decided to do what we do best: travel! What better way to improve moods and remind us WHY we’re here! So Monday morning (I teach all day Saturdays and Sundays so my days off are Monday and Tuesday) we packed up, hopped onto a train and headed down to Zhenyuan Ancient Village!

Zhenyuan is located in the eastern part of Guizhou province. This is roughly the route we took by train to get there. The trip took just over 4 hours but the scenery was beautiful and time fly by

We arrived shortly after noon, and caught a taxi to the old part of town, where our hotel was located. After a few minutes of waiting to check in, a woman arrived to show us to our room. I took out my passport so that she could match my reservation but she just laughed and told me that ‘she knew’ (as it turns out, not many Lao Wai visit this town).

She lead us outside and down an alley, to a locked door. She called for someone who was cleaning his mop in the river, and he came and unlocked it for us. As it turned out, he was the hotel’s owner. He had just finished cleaning our room (which was spotless!) and he came up to welcome us to the hotel. He spoke roughly 10 words of English, but he’d gone ahead and written down several things for Lao Wai to do in the town in English. Judging by the way it’s written, he probably copied it down from something he translated in Google, but it was such a thoughtful thing to do and it really impressed us because China isn’t exactly famous for its customer service.

He wrote this all out in English, after translating it all through a website. Such amazing service! — He’d memorized it as well, so he could point to thinks when we asked questions.

Dave, sitting on our room's balcony, overlooking the river — Dave, sitting on our room’s balcony, overlooking the river

A little girl being taught how to row a boat by her grandfather. This was happening right under our balcony :) — A little girl being taught how to row a boat by her grandfather. This was happening right under our balcony 🙂

After planning out our days in Zhenyuan with him, we sat down and had some lunch at a local restaurant and then set off to explore the town a little. I can’t really say we did anything terribly exciting, but there were so many beautiful things to see that it all felt like such an adventure! Zhenyuan is a 2000 year old town, and the buildings have been built and rebuilt in the Miao minority style. We wandered down cobblestone streets and eventually found our way to the busier part of town, where citizens there work, go to school and shop. It was such a beautiful mix of old and new.

One of many stone archways in Zhenyuan. This one led to an area where several tour boats (built in traditional Miao style) were docked for the evening.

A woman loading up her horse with gravel. She was one of several people we saw with horses in downtown Old Zhenyuan, where taxis also cruise the roads

This bridge was the object of many of my photos. It connects the north and south ends of town, which are divided by the Wuyang River

After our stroll in the afternoon, we head back to the hotel for a much needed nap. After all, what is a vacation if you don’t get to rest a little?? The view that greeted us as we left our room to find supper was incredible. I’ve told my family and friends more than once that China, at nighttime, is too beautiful to really explain. Here are some photos to back that up.

The same pagoda we walked by during the afternoon, lit up for the night. All the red lights on the right are lanterns and the blue lights are of the boardwalk along the river

Fishermen's boats under the bridge — Fishermen’s boats under the bridge

For supper, we enjoyed one of Guizhou’s most popular dishes: Sour Fish Soup. It came with an assortment of vegetables, tofu and of course, rice! We enjoyed Chinese beer, a spectacular view and fantastic food. I’d recommend this restaurant to anyone…if for no other reason than the location!!

Our view while we ate — Our view during dinner

Our waiter was kind enough to take a photo while our food was being prepared 🙂

After this feast, we head back to the hotel, taking the North side of the river back. We got up close to the Green Dragon Cave (which is actually a temple..not a cave), and got to see the pagoda to the west of our apartment lit up. No pictures could ever really capture the beauty we saw in Zhenyuan Monday night, but I think my camera did alright in showing what it was like 🙂

The west pagoda. Behind it, is a mountain. Guizhou is famous for its rugged countryside, and its mountains are stunning.

We met fishermen all along the path back to our hotel. I thought of my dad every time I heard a line hit the water :) — We met fishermen all along the path back to our hotel. I thought of my dad every time I heard a line hit the water 🙂

Stay tuned for part 2! I always think I can fit it all into one post, but I want to share so many pictures so I always run out of time! I suppose I’ll have to get my butt back online soon to tell you about our Wuyang River cruise and our lovely afternoon walking along an ancient wall 🙂

Tag: Wuyang River

Zhenyuan: Guizhou’s Eastern Gem – Part 2

Zhenyuan: Guizhou’s Eastern Gem