Kunming, China's 'City of Eternal Spring'

As we entered Guizhou, "Butterfly Lovers" played over the carriage loudspeakers. However, night had fallen, a pity because I was sure we were going through stunning scenery. Next morning the train pulled into Guiyang, a city so different to the one I visited last year, 2017. Ahead lay a smooth journey toward Anshun along a dry, high plateau with many egg-shaped limestone hills. Villages were scattered with ducks and geese waddling between small ponds.

The route was increasingly spectacular; at times following narrow ledges cut above deep valleys as we seemingly crawled towards the clouds. Piercing the hills, tunnels, mostly constructed between 1965 and 1966, were connected by short viaducts. At each gap I could look down on parts of the railway we had been following.

Liupanshui is a border city between Guizhou and Yunnan. There, people often in ethnic costume, crowded the platform. Continuing beyond, railway engineering appeared even more impressive as we followed one side of a deep valley before going through what seemed spiral tunnels to emerge on the other side before gradually climbing onto a more level plateau. Villages now more numerous, rice fields dotted the land along with a growing number of small industrial towns. More and more the scene became busier until finally the train pulled into Kunming. What a journey that only rail travel could provide!