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Sanjiang Dòng Minority Autonomous County is 7 hours northwest of Guìlín, just south of the border with Guìzhou Province . The Dòng comprise over 50% of the county's 300,000 inhabitants. Many visitors head immediately for the lovely Chéngyáng Wind and Rain Bridge about 20km (12 miles) northeast of town, but also attractive and worth exploring are the many Dòng villages around Sanjiang. The Dòng are known for their spectacular festivals. Sanjiang's main attraction however are the neat, indigo-clad Dong themselves, a people renowned for their wooden houses, towers and bridges which dot the countryside hereabouts. It's well worth roving the region with the help of minibuses and converted tractors known locally as "Dong taxis".
The Chéngyáng Qiáo Zhaodàisuo (Chéngyáng Bridge National Hostel; tel. 0772/858-2468; tim_hostel@hotmail.com), a well-run hostel located on the other side of the Chéngyáng Wind and Rain Bridge and favored by foreign travelers, is the best place to stay in Sanjiang. This traditional wooden Dòng-style hotel has rooms for ￥20 ($2.50) per bed or ￥40 ($5) standard, fitted with beds and mosquito nets and clean communal showers and toilets. An upstairs porch offers some of the best views of the Wind and Rain Bridge . The friendly owners speak some English and can organize tours of the surrounding Dòng and Miáo villages. They cook up excellent traditional Dòng, Chinese, and Western food; a meal for two costs ￥30 to ￥60 ($4-$7.50). Internet service is available.
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Other Minority Villages--For a unique day trip out of Sanjiang, visit some of the interesting Dòng villages on the way to Dúdòng (48km/29 miles northwest of Sanjiang) that have not been sanitized for tourists. Take the bus to Dúdòng and hop off along the way at any village that interests you; or arrange a day tour with the Chéngyáng Bridge Travel Service at Jiangfeng Jie 14 (tel. 0772/861-6820) or at the Chéngyáng Bridge National Hostel if you're staying there. About 30km (20 miles) from Sanjiang, Baxié Zhài has the oldest standing village entrance in Sanjiang, complete with faded paintings of dragons and phoenixes, a seven-tiered drum tower, and an impressive four-pavilion wind and rain bridge. Píngliú Zhài is famous for its bull fighting during the Dòng Bull Fighting Festival. A little further on, lovely Batuán Zhài is unique for having a double-passageway wind and rain bridge (rénchù fendào qiáo), with an upper level for humans and a lower level for animals.
Off the Dúdòng circuit but about 48km (29 miles) directly north of Sanjiang is the village of Mapàng , famous for its superb tapering nine-tiered wooden drum tower, which was built without any nails. |
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