Guizhou II - Xijiang Qianhu Miao Zhai
A visit to a village of the ethnic minority Miao, in Guizhou province in southern China.
Free shots at the entrance to the village.
We arrived at the Miao Village in late afternoon, and proceeded to check into our hotel for the night. We had to take two separate buses to reach the stop nearest our hotel. These large silver crowns depicted on signs and buildings are distinctive to the Miao culture.[1]
There is beautiful mountain-shaped wood housing that lines either side of the river. I was a bit tired, and still full from lunch, so I chose to relax at the hotel when the others went out for dinner. Here are some lovely photos from my balcony.
In the evening, we had a tea tasting at the site, as part of the learning process about Chinese teas we had many afternoon or evening tea tasting sessions after the day’s main activities. At breakfast we were joined by this lovely spider who was busy at work rebuilding his web after a very windy night. I’ve uploaded this arachnid to iNaturalist but don’t have a confirmed identification yet. Right after the spider finished building its web, the hotel owner came with a broom and wiped it away - saying it wasn’t good. I guess many guests wouldn’t find it as charming as I did.
Miao village spider…
As we were leaving the village I came across a fruit I had never seen before, so I bought one (10 yuan). You eat it by mushing the insides and sucking the juice through a straw. The fruit has been identified as a Kiwano Horned Melon (Cucumis metuliferus). This is an African fruit that has been cultivated in southern China. It was very delicious! I also purchased this lovely carnelian charm (below, right) as a memento.
All in all it was a lovely stop, and an opportunity for a more relaxed day, to help participants get over jet-lag. We departed after breakfast for Jiaoyao Village.
You can also see more information about this site on my pre-trip research post on Guizhou.
[1] Zhang Lei (2012) Southern silver. China Daily. Posted online December 28, 2012.
