Baizi Bridge, Duyun

Duyun city is the south gateway from Guangxi Province to Guizhou Province. Provided that Venice is the city of water, Duyun is absolutely the city of bridges. With the Jianjiang River and its nine tributaries joining together here, Duyun has more than 100 bridges in the urban areas. If you have a chance to visit Guizhou, you may think about a two days side trip to Duyun from Guiyang, which is pretty convenient.

You can take coach at a cost of CNY45.00 net per person from Guiyang Passenger Station (Add: No. 32West Yan'an Road, Guiyang City) to Duyun City. The coach is available every 20 to 30 minutes and the transfer takes only about two hours. Upon arrival, you can take a taxi to the Ganglong Hotel (Add: No. 134, HeBin Road, Duyun; Tel: 0854-8222896). It usually takes CNY5.00 net to travel by taxi around in the city from one site to another. After a short break, you are advised to explore the city area at leisure first for those various bridges, bridge of majesty, of gracefulness, of modern, and of a suggestion of the antique. Among all those bridges, the Baizi Bridge of long standing should be a must for you. Your next destination should be the 300-meter ancient flagging, which was initially built in Ming Dynasty. Both sides of the flagging were constructed with old ethnic houses. The local Buyi Minorities often hold their wedding ceremonies, festival performances and celebrations here. In addition, the West Hill Garden attracts tourists' attention by its peculiar inner city natural Karst landscape and exquisite pavilions. No admission fee is required for this garden. You can conclude the day tour by visiting the Wenfeng Park if time permits (Admission Fee: CNY20.00 net per person). The Wenfeng Pagoda inside the park is the major scenery, for it was first built of wood with five-storey in Ming Dynasty and then rebuilt of stone with seven-storey in Qing Dynasty on the basis of the original one. In the evening, you may have dinner at the hotel or at the local restaurant nearby. You are advised to prepare enough food and mineral water for the next day tour, since the relevant resources on the Cloak Mountain scenic area are quite limited.

Ancient Shiban Street in Duyun City

The next morning, you can take tourist bus from the railway station bus stop to the Cloak Mountain, which is just about 20 kilometers away from Duyun City. The admission fee for Cloak Mountain is CNY51.5 net per person including the insurance. Primitive forest covers almost 90% of the mountain, so it provides a suitable environment and habitat for some rare plants and animals. Climbing along the mountain, you will be charmed with the beautiful waterfalls, clear streams, magic Karst Caves and etc. If you want to reach the heaven lake on the peak, you need to hire a local guide at a cost of CNY30.00 to CNY50.00 net. You'd better go down the mountain before 16:00, since it is quite easy to lose one's way because of possible fog. Return to Duyun City by the same tourist bus.