Apr 5, Sunday, Guiyang and Swallow Karst Cave

Today we drove 3.5 hours to Ziyun to visit the Getu River Scenic Area.  The scenery was pretty but very hazy.  We saw rice terraces and much of the area was also planted with vineyards for the growing wine industry.

 

New Vineyards

It was also "Tomb Sweeping Day" when people returned home to tend to the graves of their ancestors.  We saw tombs on the sides of mountains and occasionally people tending them.

After checking into the hotel in Guiyang we took a walk through a local market.  Many people set up the products on mats or in baskets along the street.

There was also a large building that also contained vendors (most of the butchers were in here).

The market included a butcher with fresh meat and cages with live chickens waiting to become a meal.

They had pretty much anything you needed to make dinner including all types of fruits, vegetables, mushrooms and spices.

The market seemed almost as much a social venue as a market.  People were busy visiting, in between making sales.

Then we were off through the countryside to our next natural scenery site.  Very long stretches of the road were under construction and were very bumpy. They were in the process of building up the area with new roads and hotels, to draw more tourists. 

We stopped for lunch at a “road side diner” where it was us and four ladies playing mahjong.  They had an automated table and at the end of a “hand” they pushed a button and a center disc rose up allowing them to shove all the tiles into the hole under the disk.  The table then scrambled the tiles.  In the meantime four slots opened up, one in front of each of the ladies, and a long row of neatly stacked tiles, two high rose up in front of them and they were ready for the next round.  They were playing for money and they were playing serious.

This is a pretty river valley but the main attraction was a gigantic cavern – the Swallow Karst Cave.  It is call the Swallow Cave because thousands of swallows nest in the cave and fly out in the morning and back in the evening.  We could see a few swallows flying around but weren’t there when the thousands are present.

We got there just in time to see one of the famed “spider men” climb the cave’s steep wall in bare feet and no ropes or safety equipment.  After climbing a couple hundred feet up the wall he beat on a drum and then proceeded to climb back down (providing a bit of drama by staging a “slip” at one point). 

Look closely.  Can you see the climber?

We then hiked 1000 or so feet up the walkway inside the cave.

The hike up the stairs had some beautiful views of the cave and the river flowing through and out of it.

The river cascades into the main cave.

The hike lead to an elevator that was used to go up and out of the cave.

Then it was more hiking and stairs and then a long trek down to the river.  Estimates were at least 3000 stairs total. 

Mountains behind the cave

The upper cave

Johnnie said that we were the first American’s to visit the cave.  We sort of doubt that, maybe just the first he has escorted to the cave.  On the other hand we did seem to be novelties. 

From the mouth of the upper cave you could see the river valley and the mountains beyond. A really breathtaking view (panting from all the stair climbing).

Once to the river we boarded boats to ride up to Da He, a Miao (pronounced Meow) minority village.  The guides pointed out the coffins that are placed in small openings or caves high on the side of cliffs.

Note the Wooden Coffins high on the cliffs

This Dai village has a beautiful mountain backdrop and the architecture is supposedly the original/old Dai architecture.

We got there too late for the show but one man did do a demonstration of a climb up a perpendicular “ladder” with fairly sharp rungs and barefooted.

The path from the boat dock to the village was lined with shops selling snacks.  Anyone for crisp fish on a stick?

Then it was back down the river and over the bad roads and back to our hotel.  The guide decided that the restaurant at the hotel did not serve “delicious” food so he and the driver drove around trying to find a place for us to eat.  They eventually settled on a restaurant with four small private dining rooms flanking a small central room.