Highlights

Minority peoples, buffalo & wet markets, Yangshuo Cooking School, cultural performances, old stone town, hiking, rice terraces, ancient paper making, drum towers, wind & rain bridges, river cruise and rafting.

Duration: 18 days
Start: Guiyang August 24
End: Guilin September 11
Maximum Group Size: 14
Style: budget
Cost: CAD$1995/person (airfare not included)

Join photographer, Brian Smith, and travel writer, Rick Green, as part of the first Canadian group to visit the minority regions of Guizhou and Guangxi in Southwest China. We'll meet Dong, Gejia, Miao, Shui, Yao, and Zhuang people who continue to live a predominantly agrarian lifestyle in the temperate highlands on the margins of the Han Chinese heartland. We'll then visit the Karst region of Guilin District, the birthplace of Chinese landscape painting and immortalized on China's 20 yuan bill.

Itinerary

Day 1 Arrive Guiyang
No activities scheduled as group members may be arriving throughout the day. Assemble at hotel, stay overnight, then depart the next morning.

Day 2-3 Kaili
Drive from Guiyang to Qinyan, an old stone town with Buddhist temples, a Taoist temple, and a Catholic church. Continue to Kaili where we will stay for two nights.

In the morning of Day 3, we drive to Matang to visit the minority Gejia people. Lotuses should be in flower – great for photos. In the afternoon, we visit the Miao village of Qinman and Shiqiao, where residents make paper using traditional techniques.

Day 4 Xijiang
Drive from Kaili to Xijiang, the largest Miao village with 1,000 families. Along the way, see a local buffalo market and visit the Miao villages of Pingzhai, Nanhua, and Langde, where we will stop for lunch. In Xijiang, we will see a Miao cultural show and then have a group dinner in a wooden house, along with some entertainment.

Day 5-7 Rongjiang
Drive from Xijiang to Rongjiang, passing through small towns such as Taojiang, Rongle (where we will have lunch in Rongle), Tashi, and the Shui village of Qiaobon. We will stay three nights in Rongjiang.

On Day 6, we will go to the Sunday market in Rongjiang. It's colourful as the market is very popular with the local Dong, Miao, and Shui people. In the afternoon, we'll visit the large Dong village nearby.

Tour the surrounding Miao villages of Sanpan and Wujiazhai, and the Dong villages of Gaochuan, Xingdi, and Zengcong on Day 7. Zengcong is the site of a 330-year-old drum tower, China's oldest.

Day 8 Gaozeng
Drive from Rongjiang to Gaozeng, with stops in the Miao village of Basha and the Dong villages of Darong, Gaozen, and Xiaohuang. Xiaohuang is not an entirely traditional village, but it has five drum towers and we will see an internationally-acclaimed cultural performance with dancing and singing.

Day 9-10 Zhaoxing
Drive from Gaozeng to Zhaoxing, the region's largest Dong village with five drum towers and five wind & rain bridges, where we will stay for two nights.

Hiking around Zhaoxing on Day 10, amongst the Dong villages of Jilun, Jitang, and Tangan.

Day 11 Chengyang
Drive from Zhaoxing to Chengyang, a collection of eight villages on the Linxi River. We will stay in a guesthouse right beside the town's famous "Wind & Rain" covered bridge that is listed on UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List. There are good photo opportunities in the Chengyang area and a daily Dong cultural show.

A change of bus will be required when we cross the bridge from Guizhou into Guangxi.

Day 12 Huang Luo
Drive from Chenyang to Longsheng to see the impressive rice terraces, mostly built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Continue on to the Red Yao village of Huang Luo, whose women are the Guinness World Records holders for the longest hair. This is where Brian Smith had Christmas dinner in 2009.

Day 13 Tiantouzai
Trek from Huang Luo to Tiantouzai via the No. 1 scenic spot overlooking the Longsheng Rice Terraces. Excellent photo opportunities along the way.

Day 14 Guilin
Drive from Tiantouzai to Guilin, renowned as the birthplace of Chinese landscape painting due to its unique Karst topography. Rest of the day open to sightseeing around the city.

Day 15-18 Yangshuo
Take a cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo, through the magical limestone landscape along the Li River. We'll spend the remainder of the trip around Yangshuo, engaged in various activities, such as attending the Yangshuo Cooking School, taking a bamboo raft on the Yulong River, seeing the Impression Liu Sanjie show produced by Zhang Yimou, and depending on people's mood, cycling and spelunking.

On Day 18, drive to Guilin for your departure.