Guiyang, China Part I

I had to go to Guiyang (贵阳), China for work recently. It was not a trip that I was dying to go on for the following reasons:
- I just spent the week before in Hong Kong and I didn't want to travel again so soon;
- It was for me to give a presentation and to provide some kinda update to all the Financial Controllers in China and I was expecting them to "kill" me on stage; and
- I didn't want to disrupt my jogging schedule.


The trip did not get off to a good start. The travel agent booked me on the wrong flight that was flying me to Guilin instead of Guiyang! By the time the mistake was discovered, all the SG-HK flights were fully booked already and I had to fly SG-Guangzhou with a 6 hours transit! I took 14 hours door-to-door!

I didn't know where Guiyang was before I went and none of my family and frens either. It is the capital of Guizhou province and the city has an elevation of 1,100 meters. Population is about 7 million, made up of 23 different minorities in addition to ethnic Han. Its GDP is only USD1,500 per capita in 2003. It is mainly an agricultural and coal mining place; and is not known for tourism. Temperatures ranged from 16 in the day and 8 at night when I was there.


I spent a total of 3 days 4 nights in Guiyang. Two days were for work and I could not get a seat on the domestic flight the next day; so I stayed an extra day. I spent the extra day going on a excursion with some of the China Financial Controllers to this famous (mabbe the only one) tourist attraction in Guiyang.

Let me start with the usual pics of Guiyang food and then follow with another post on the touristy part :)

The beef hor-fun I had at Guangzhou airport during my 6 hours transit

I was in Business Class for the domestic Guangzhou - Guiyang leg. This is the appetizer they served in a domestic airline.
This is the main course: rice with fish ball, pumpkin & sweet potatoes
One of the hotpot dinners. They always have hotpot due to the cold weather there. A typical Guiyang dinner will have a hotpot with various ingredients to cook in the hotpot accompanied by countless side dishes.
Side dish: Beef brisket with peanuts

Side dish: Veggie wrapped in Chee Cheong Fun

Side dish: Braised bean curd cooked Guiyang-style

Side dish: The service staff said this is duck; but it didn't taste like it to me!

Side dish: BBQ meat. They were BBQ-ing it on the floor near the entrance of the restaurant. The service staff told me it was lamb but later someone else told me there was rabbit meat in it too!

Side dish: Fried tang yuan

Side dish: Braised pork on gui-cai (typical Guiyang dish)

Side dish: Some kind of veggie root - its a typical Guiyang dish

Side dish: Beef with some radish (I think!) strips

Side dish: Mei-cai with peanuts

Side dish: The service staff said the black strips are pork....but I really don't know...

It's a kind of dried fruit that the locals eat. I tried it and it's something I won't eat again :P

I was so overwhelmed by my 3 days of Guiyang food that I had Mac during my transit at Guangzhou airport on the way home. Mac didn't taste this good before!