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| Detian Waterfall on the border of China and Vietnam |
One of Guangxi's most famous landmarks is the Detian Waterfall, located exactly on the border between China and Vietnam. In fact, when you visit the waterfall, the land on one side of the river is China, and the other side is Vietnam, with groups of tourists able to wave at each other from either side. Nearby Detian is a beautiful canyon with caves and yet another stunning waterfall, called Tongling Canyon. Both are a few hours drive from Nanning, making them a fun day trip from the city.
A group of us foreign teachers at the university enlisted our friend Kobe, a Didi driver (essentially the Uber of China), to take us out to both places one weekend in the fall. Driving around the Guangxi countryside would be worth the trip all on its own, as you get to see plenty of the karst mountains that this region is famous for.
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| Karst mountains in the Guangxi countryside |
The first stop was Detian Waterfall. The park is not that big, so you probably only need about an hour to walk around it, possibly even less. But it is an impressively large and beautiful set of cascading waterfalls, with various viewpoints around the park to admire it from different spots.
Next up was Tongling Canyon, which you will probably need 1-2 hours to walk through (less if you go quickly and don't stop for photos or souvenirs). It has some steep stairs at the beginning which descend into the canyon through the jungle and lead into a large, LED-lit cave. What is it with Asia and decorating caves with a rainbow of LED lights? The lighting is kind of tacky but the depth of the cave is nevertheless impressive.
Finally you get to the bottom of the canyon (it takes around 10-20 minutes to walk down). Here you can follow a small river to a tall, beautiful waterfall at the end of the canyon. The abundance of ferns lining the cliff walls is incredible. There's a small cave at the base of the waterfall that you can walk through; it's worth seeing, but prepare to get wet! You will definitely get a little damp from the spray of the waterfall as you pass by it.
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| A family from Guangxi I met when taking a break along the trail |
On the way up there is another cave you can walk through that opens up into a large grotto-like space at the end, and then you just have to follow the path back to a road that leads around to the parking lot.
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| Following the river through a cave on the way out of the canyon |
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| Even more tacky LED lights on the way out! |
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| The exit of the cave into the jungle |
On our way back to Nanning that evening, we stopped in the city of Chongzuo for dinner. Chongzuo is not as big as Nanning and maybe not so interesting for tourists, but it's a good spot to get some cheap food and one of our friends even owns a restaurant there! We happened to run into her when we were out getting food. There are a ton of interesting Guangxi landmarks around Chongzuo, which we visited on another trip to stay with our restaurant-owning friend, and which I wrote about in this post.
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| Stopping for some dessert after dinner in Chengzuo |
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