Lianzhou - an ideal long weekend break
Take a scenic area with an ancient town and some special features in Guangdong province, add an accommodation package at a reasonable price, and that’s the recipe for a popular long weekend break from Hong Kong! I joined such a long weekend package tour to Lianzhou by myself last Friday. There were 40 people in the group but what an activity-packed 3 days I had!
Lianzhou is in the city of Qingyuan in north west of Guangdong province, about 400 km from the Hong Kong border. Our base at Liannan was fairly close to most of the sights.
Guangdong Xia Tianxia Scenic Area
This is an “eco-tourism destination” in the heart of the Yangshan Karst Grand Canyon.
A neat path along crystal-clear water leads to Yanwo Cave, the main draw of the scenic area. From a distance, I could see the Tianyun Glass Suspension Bridge but I wasn’t mildly tempted!!
Yanwo Cave (Bird's Nest Cave) is estimated to be roughly 20 million years old. At the entrance to the cave, there’s a massive natural cave-through opening roughly 200 metres high and 80 metres wide, known as Heavenly Gate
It's famous as China's only inland swiftlet habitat — that's exactly why it's called "Bird's Nest Cave"! The traditional skill of climbing to harvest nests there is quite legendary, though it's now strictly regulated to protect the swiftlets.
Beyond the grand natural archways, the cave inside is a light show.
Millennium Yao Village
Founded in the Song Dynasty, Nangang Millennium Yao Village is the largest, oldest, and most distinctive Yao village in China and even the world.
According to our guide, the Yao people used to communicate by song and dance, rather than in writing. So inevitably we were treated to a performance depicting how courtship was traditionally conducted.
Unfortunately when we visited this place it was drizzling. I resisted the temptation of venturing up nearly 500 uneven slippery steps for a bird’s eye view of the town. Even walking to the theatre was a bit hazardous.
Ginkgo Forest
The Ginkgo Forest is located inside the Guangdong Liannan Wanshan Chaowang National Stone Desert Park, which is Guangdong's first national stone desert park.
The forest features an area of 1,000-acre with thousands of Ginkgo trees. We were taken on a 5.5 km round-trip on electric carts. Some trees were already over, some were still green, but we found a small area where the trees were golden yellow.
Among the trees along the road, I noticed these tree-shaped lights. The driver told me that some of these artificial trees are for surveillance cameras with microphones to warn people off misdemeanours.
Oujia Terraced Fields
Formed originally during the Qing Dynasty through generations of local farming, these are the largest original rice terraces in Guangdong Province, located in Oujia Village. It’s recognised as the largest, best-preserved pristine terraced field system in Guangdong Province, covering over 1,000 acres.
Wanshan Chaowang Viewing Platform
The platform offers a breathtaking view of a unique geological marvel: nearly a hundred karst stone peaks aligned facing southwest. It was rather misty when we visited, but it sort of added to the atmosphere.
Lingbei River
For our final activity of the trip we had a cruise on Lingbei River on a large boat that looked like a barge. The calming scenery set us up for a long drive back towards the Hong Kong border.
No fridge magnet on this trip as my 2 magnetic boards are running out of space and I’m saving them for big cities!! I just have to settle for my own souvenirs
