Report on a trip to Sichuan and Guizhou in China

Individual trip for two people

China roads organiser: Jeremy Devaux, for services:

– itinerary/advice/hiking
– hotels and meals on wheels, accommodation with local people
– car/train/plane internal flight
– English-speaking driver and guide

Overall assessment :very good level of service, good value for money, excellent follow-up of the file beforehand, very good follow-up during the trip, constant contact during the trip with excellent responsiveness. We recommend (will recommend) Asian roads to our friends and we agree that Asian roads may use our comments (without giving names and contact details). roads to use our comments (without giving names and precise contact details).

Detailed assessments :

Hotels/guest houses

Zen Buddha in Chengdu: excellent. Comfort, staff, cleanliness, location, restaurant, all very good.
Teddy bear in Emeishan: very good if you accept the backpacker atmosphere. Spacious room, clean, kitsch, very good sanitary facilities. Ideal location for visiting the temples below, taking an evening stroll and taking the bus to Mount Emei. Very Chinese breakfast. Bring your own bread, sugar, cream and black tea…. unless you like noodles in broth! This comment applies to all establishments outside Chengdu.
Holidays inn in Dujiangyan: very comfortable, good location for restaurants in town and strolling around the ‘old’ central district. Breakfast purely Chinese, no tea! Guyang (night between two TGV trains) very good comfort, purely Chinese phone staff! Pdj….
Zhènyuan: very comfortable, heating, purely Chinese staff, no breakfast. We did our shopping for the next few days. Great location.
Langdé: homestay, comfortable but spartan. WC, hot water, very hard bed! Heating. Food for dinner very good, breakfast good as it was brought by the guide and us, which was true for the rest of the trip.

Guide, driver and car, transfers

Sichuan: the guide in Chengdu (Paul) was very good: he spoke and understood French at a good level, was erudite, friendly, considerate, efficient and resourceful. Taught us a lot about Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese history. Guided us perfectly on our visits to the archaeological museums and temples.

The driver for Leshan/Dujiangyan/Jinsha/Chengdu was very good, friendly and careful. The driver for Sanxingdui was hanging on his phone while driving. He was not tipped and was told why.

Transfers (airport and station) were trouble-free: efficient and on time.

Guizhou: the guide, Célia, had absolutely no knowledge of French, culture or experience. She taught us nothing about village life, trades, cultures… and, worst of all, nothing about minorities. All she did was give us our passports at the hotels and stations, start our air-conditioning/heating system three times and tell us what to eat – and even then, it would have been easier to go straight to the kitchen! This service really wasn’t done properly and should be compensated. We strongly advise you not to use this service again. His tip was very small.

On the other hand, the driver (Roi) was perfect; if he spoke English or French he would be a great guide. He accompanied us on all our walks. He knows the paths, the village restaurants, the markets… Without him, we would never have been able to do the trek through the villages and rice fields. (see below). We did him a favour.

The transfer from Guillin station to the airport was perfect, as was the transfer from Pudong to the Shanghai hotel. Overall, we were pleased with the escort but very frustrated by Celia’s service, which deprived us of a lot of the information we were hoping for from these visits and walks in the villages and countryside of deepest China.

TGV travel :

Three journeys with no real problems. It’s very convenient, efficient, on time and inexpensive. We would recommend it. Easy to access and use. Everything in English, including the announcements on the trains. This opens up infinite possibilities for organising trips to China. The Guillin-Shanghai flight was on time, with no surprises.

Itinerary and excursions

Overall, we were very satisfied with the itinerary we drew up with Jérémy’s help. A good balance between culture and discovering the countryside and villages. Lovely walks and hikes. We walked between 140 and 150 kilometres during our stay (pedometer on our iphones).

Sichuan

The only possible change would be to cancel the visit to the Leshan Buddha, which was of no interest whatsoever, and go straight to Emeishan to visit the Baoguo temple (which we visited at the end of the afternoon), and the Fuhu temple. And go for a walk in the surrounding area.

The visit to the mountain is very interesting, but it is possible to descend early enough to reach Dujiangyan in the late afternoon to visit the irrigation system and the superb Er Wang temple.

We didn’t do Mount Quingcheng because of bad weather, but we’re glad we didn’t, because instead we had a full day in Chengdu to visit the Jinsha museum and its beautiful park, and have lunch in a simple, typical restaurant with people who work there. Afternoon visit to the Quingyang and Wenshu temples. Not done on the day of arrival because it was too late and we were tired from the flight. The next day was a beautiful day at Sanxingdui, a magnificent museum, and at the pandas, with a return trip at the end of the afternoon which allowed us to visit People’s Square by taking the metro.

The free day allowed us to visit the university and its museum (very interesting, like the Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions) and then to revisit the Quingyang temple and the superb popular park next to it. The metro makes getting around very quick and easy (all in English) and cheap.

The TGV journey between Chengdu and Guiyang was very easy and not very tiring despite the hard seats. We would have preferred the 1st. A little too much safety margin at the start, we lost an hour.

Guizhou

Our week in this region completely fulfilled our expectations: to discover life in the villages and countryside, and to get to know the minorities without lapsing into overrated folk tourism. The Kaili-Zhènyuan road: quick, but of no major interest. Zhènyuan village: worth the diversions for the site, the temples in the cave and the atmosphere on the river in the evening. But don’t miss the climb up to the Great Wall and the pagoda overlooking the town. A very nice walk.

Zhènyuan-Langdé route: fairly long, but the visit to the (weekly) market in Shidong, which took us two hours, is a must and very interesting for those who want to get a feel for everyday life, small trades, products, the costumes of the elders, bird fights, dyers…. the rest of the route was an opportunity to meet people (returning from a wedding, stops in villages for typical scenes). All in all, an easy road to bear.

Langdé: superb village, touristy but at our time no foreign tourists, only a limited number of Chinese. So we had a nice walk through the streets, a show without crowds and we enjoyed the costumes. In the evening, a two-hour walk along the path above the villages: beautiful scenery, many scenes of peasants on their plots of land or carrying straw, grass and manure (men and women). This village is a great place to stop off for an evening with the locals at a time when it’s not very busy.

Langdé-Rongjiang road: this is the longest stage, with a magnificent road, but don’t be afraid of the bends! and plan several stops. Thanks to our driver, it went well. The stop at Païka (luscheng) to see a factory almost came to nothing due to the lack of an open workshop. Saved by a small family factory, cold welcome. Then a stop at Datang and its granaries. Ceremony

tea, very nice. Then a chat with some vegetable sellers. Stop for the batik village. Interesting, but what about the crowds? Then a long but beautiful drive. The Rongjiang stage is of no interest other than to rest. We did, however, hang around a very popular market and enjoyed a variety of local scenes.

Rongjiang-Zenshong road: no problem. This day was devoted to hiking in the villages. It got off to a bad start because the road to the starting village (Gui-liu) was cut off by a large landslide, which we passed on foot and hitchhiked afterwards to get back to the start. It was a good two-hour walk through the rice fields. Great, despite the grey weather. We visited a second village (Zeng Ying). Then the guide, who didn’t know the route, took us down the wrong path. We had a picnic on the side of a concrete road with no idea where we were going. Fortunately, our driver found us and put us back on the right path. The rest of the walk, 2-3 hours, was really superb and we met some lovely peasants and charcoal burners… and visited a third village (Rong Fu). All in all, a very nice walk, but in the future we’ll need a guide who knows the route. Without the driver, this walk would have been a complete waste and we would have walked a long way for nothing.

Zenchong-Jiabang route: a beautiful route with village visits and wonderful discoveries (weaving, spinning, mushroom cutting, carpentry, etc.). The climb up to Jiabang is beautiful and the arrival at the rice fields sumptuous despite the grey weather. Visit the village of Jiajiu and walk above the rice fields.

Route Jiabang-Zhaoxing : au départ la route bloquée par des travaux nous a permis (sous le soleil) de refaire à pied la route qui surplombe les rizières et de faire de belles photos en attendant que la voiture nous rejoigne. Visite de plusieurs villages Dong avec leurs tours Tambour. Arrivée à Zhaoxing balade et spectacle. Ambiance sympa sans trop de touristes.

The next morning, we took a superb two-hour walk down from the village of Tang’An through the rice fields on a beautiful but sometimes difficult path with steps. A walk to be recommended, it’s one of the major attractions of a visit to Zhaoxing.

Return by TGV to Guillin for our flight to Shanghai. Short journey, transfer in Guillin from 45′ to one hour. Very quick transfer to our hotel in Shanghai.

Just so you know: our trip to Shanghai was very easy with a three-day metro pass that allows us to get around wherever and however we want, including Pudong to catch our flight back. We found tickets for a concert at the Grand Theatre! Our hotel was excellent value for money.

In conclusion, this was a trip that brought us closer to the people, without the tourist crowds, and was highly instructive, giving us a better understanding of the reality of the country, with all the questions that this raises. Not forgetting the cultural aspect, which is very present in Sichuan.

Marie Odile & Christian