It isn’t until you actually start exploring China that its immensity hits you. Most travellers visit Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin, Xian and Hong Kong on their first trip into China. We (ex-Marine, husband Steve and I) did right after the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989 when tour operators were offering “moment-of-madness sales” (another article altogether) and fell in love with the incredible sights and diversity China offers.

Many trips later, there are still so many areas to explore that rarely see a Western visitor. With all this in mind, and knowing my love for off-the-beaten-track destinations, Shi Ming (Cindy) at Shanghai Far East Expeditions recommended Guizhou Province.

Guizhou is a mountainous province of China with karst (limestone terrain), steep gorges, warm summers and mild winters. It is located in the Southeast of China, not terribly far from Vietnam. The reason to visit? About 35% of Guizhou’s population is made up of over 80 different ethnic minorities in remote villages: Miao, Bouyi, Dong, Yi and Hui to name a few. The majority of China’s population is Han.

The minority villages of interest were both West and Southeast of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province.

Cindy, has arranged several independent tours for us in China. And a trip planned for two persons doesn’t necessarily cost more than a package tour and gives a lot more flexibility. No standing around waiting for your group when a sight doesn’t excite you…eating dinner later than perhaps you wanted along with unpalatable food…time to really do what you want and planned around your interests! You can contact her via e-mail at: marketing-sha@china.com, or cindy@shfareast.com, and Cindy has my complete confidence. Even if this is your first trip to China and you only want to see the highlights, she can tailor a trip for you. Some of the other areas we have worked with her on were: The Silk Road; Southern Yunnan including Lijiang and Xishuangbanna (which extends down to the border of Laos); Northwest Yunnan (read detailed articles on that trip which ran from April 7 to April 14.)

Unless you speak fluent Chinese (Mandarin, preferably), you must have a guide! Even speaking Mandarin, the majority of the people have their own dialects and even in Beijing, few people speak English.

The e-mails and itineraries started coming from Cindy with options galore, and decisions to make. There were two main factors we had to work around:

- My proposed travel dates fell during China’s National Holiday (“Golden Week”) – one of the three paid National holidays per year where almost the entire country goes on vacation for seven continuous days. The PRC (People’s Republic of China) started this in 1999, and everybody travels. No matter where we went, bus loads of Chinese travellers were on the move but we saw only a few other Westerners during the entire trip.

- A Lusheng Festival was going to take place in Guiyang (the capital of Guizhou). That had to be incorporated into the trip.

It took time but eventually we agreed on an itinerary…..