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[likwid_777]

Has anyone worked in Guiyang or anywhere else in Guizhou province? Alternatively, has anyone visited as a tourist? What were your experiences, thoughts or impressions?

Please be "Zhenyuan" in your responses

[mysterytrain]

[likwid_777]

[mysterytrain]

[likwid_777]

The Russian style architecture around Harbin is nice, don't get me wrong, but it's not Chiiiina.

Thanks for the photos of Tongren. Hahah, I guess that the stats weren't joking where they suggested that this province be ze poorest!

Which city are you in now out of curiosity's sake? If you care to tell, that is.

Yes, if I go the adventurous route, I'll probably get myself a CELTA upon completion of my Ed degree and hopefully be set for a while (qualification wise).

[fat_chris]

[Trebek]

I spent a week in Guiyang a couple years ago. I was pleased with the cooler temperatures which was nice after spending part of the summer in Guangxi. The city was fairly compact, a bit hilly, one decent hostel, and a very large statue of Mao in the center. I saw two westerners the entire week and they happened to own a decent coffee shop that featured some western food. Its a good place to live as long as you don't mind the Chinese only experience.

[wuliuchiba]

The coffee shop mentioned in the previous post was most probably Highlands, which is right next to People's Square where the Wal-Mart is, just a short stroll across the small Nanming River that runs throughout the city. The big statue of Mao is across that street, in front of the Minority People's museum that is the dominant architectural building of the city.

I just finished a year teaching in Guiyang.

Pros first:

1) Though it's a provincial capitol of 4 million people, as it's crammed between mountains, it's quite compact. You can easily walk from one end of the city to the other within a few hours and most anywhere is within walking distance of the center, and walking is often faster than traffic.

2) Due to the elevation and constant rains, it keeps cool throughout the year, even in summer. It gets little chilly in the winter but only a little.

3) The pace of life is extremely laid-back compared to other cities in China. When other cities are bustling in the mornings, it seems as if most people in Guiyang stay in bed until they're ready to get up, as the streets are eerily deserted in the mornings. The locals don't seem to be in much of hurry and take it easy at work. But this might be true of most of China outside of Shanghai/Shenzhen/Guangzhou/Beijing?

4) Guizhou is a beautiful rustic province, full of awesome hiking opportunities. Lots of mountains.

5) Related to #3 - Guiyang has a very active nightlife. It has an unusually high amount of bars for a city of its size, and since the city is compact, there are at least a couple of bar streets (Qianling, Guangming near the train station) with a dozen or so bars all crammed together.

Now for the cons:

1) Good luck actually experiencing some of that natural scenery, because it literally rains every other day. There is a 50% chance of showers on any random day. I am not exaggerating.

2) I forgot to mention it's the home of Maotai in the pros, because Maotai like all Chinese spirits is foul and evil. Guizhou is a small and quite boring city and the locals seem to drink to compensate. If you have a problem with alcohol, this is not the place to go. See #5 in the pros -- it has an unusually high percentage of bars because it has an unusually high rate of alcoholism. There is really nothing else to do in the city on your weekend nights.

3) There's no metro and traffic is so bad during rush hour that you're better off just walking instead of bus/taxi, as I said before. But this is really no big deal since most everywhere is walkable to.

4) Because it's isolated in the mountains, most everything has to be imported. Which means that even though Guizhou is one of the poorest provinces in China, it's one of the most expensive. Food is actually more expensive than in Shanghai, and I mean local food from street vendors! You pay twice for meats and vegetables what you pay in most other cities in China, because those are all imported. The cheapest decent food to eat in Guiyang, aside from noodles and rice with eggs? Subway, surprisingly or not.

5) This can be either a pro or con depending on your perspective. There are very few foreigners (one of the Chinese teachers at my school said it was because most foreigners who come here don't seem to like it very much), and the level of English among the locals is one of the lowest I've encountered in China. Since only 1 out of 1,000 speaks any English beyond "Hello. How are you. I am fine, thank you. Giggle." you MUST speak SOME Chinese in order to get around.

Oh, you'll get a lot of stares . And a lot of attention from girls who've never met a real live foreigner in their life Hardly any of them will speak a word of English, of course, but look at it as an incentive to practice your Chinese. Since the locals aren't used to foreigners, the girls are very approachable and friendly. Especially if you speak at least a little Chinese, which is absolutely essential -- they're very curious about foreigners, but will be afraid to talk to you since they don't speak any English.

[wuliuchiba]

A good site with lots of info and a Guiyang For Expats pdf you can download:

http://www.tourguizhou.net/

The main expat hangouts are

1) Highlands Coffee near Walmart
2) Tripsmith in an alley off of Qianling. Serve the best burgers and fish'n'chips in town, and becomes a packed, lively pub at night. Very hard to find, though, as it's way down a little alley, so you'll need someone to guide you there the first time.
3) The Paulener German restaurant attached to the Kempenski hotel. Pricey but great German food, and good homebrewed beer. Across the street from the Hunter Mall with the Carrefour, Starbucks, and an arcade in the mall that has pinball! (the only reason I went to the arcade)
4)Right next door to the Paulener is Muse, the main dance club in town. If you want to meet the entire foreign population of Guiyang, go there on Saturday night. Why? Because on Sat. nights they have a special for foreigners: FREE BEER. The first time I went there, I asked for a beer, and they told me I had to sign up for a VIP card. After waiting around for half an hour and getting impatient for one beer, they came back with an ice bucket stuffed with a twelve-pack and told me it was on the house. You can request a bottle of wine or a big bottle of vodka/gin/whiskey if you'd prefer (there's a large crowd of Ukrainians in town and they always grabbed a liter of vodka as their freebies). This only applies to Foreigner Night on Saturdays. You'll see half the expat population that night, for the obvious reason.

[mysterytrain]

[wuliuchiba]

I forgot to mention my #1 complaint about Guiyang: the local cuisine has to rank as the worst in China. It's oily, greasy, and they pour red pepper sauce over everything. I have a theory that they serve it so spicy to cover up the poor quality. This theory has been confirmed by my eating some of the local food "bu yao la jao" and it was quite bland. So since then I just added a little of that red spice (they even serve you side of red spice at fast food joints like Dico's -- it's like they're drug addicts or something to the spice). Guizhou cuisine is little known even in China, and for good reason. The one local delicacy is some spicy dumpling balls known as siwawa. Like I said, most of the food has to be imported, and most of it is of poor quality.

There is a long alley full of vendors near the train station, next to the mall with the Burger King/Walmart, that's probably the best spot to go if you want to try a variety of local street foods.