The little, wooden village of Dehang sits in a dramatic gorge, and it’s home to the Miao ethnic minority group. The area offers some fabulous hiking routes, so it was an easy add-on to our itinerary. 

Our hotel in the nearby town gave us a complimentary shuttle service to the scenic area, and it turned out to be in a very futuristic car. The front dash was one long screen that even displayed all the obstacles down the road, like it was using sonar to display parked cars and people crossing. 

We soon left the modern world and arrived in Dehang, which was prettier than I imagined. The rock formations surrounding the village were fabulous, rising as lone pillars from the jungle foliage. 

The village itself had been developed a bit too much, with concrete hotels built instead of wood. It’s a shame to see these places losing their charm, and it’s becoming all too common. 

Our first walk was to one of China’s tallest waterfalls which we reached by following the river out of the village, towards the cliffs. Many years ago it was a hiking route, but now the path is covered in tarmac so that battery-powered carts can deliver tourists just a stone’s throw from the falls – perfect for the Chinese who hate walking. 

We enjoyed the relatively flat walk though, which took us via a smaller waterfall and dozens of butterflies. 

I’m not overly phased by waterfalls, but there was no denying the impressiveness of this one – plummeting 216m over the sheer cliff. 

A large pool of emerald water sat beneath the falls, which was almost wavy like the sea due to the power of the falls hitting it and causing wind gusts. 

Stepping stones led across the edge of the pool, offering a superb place to take photos and show the dramatic size of the falls. 

We noticed a faint trail led behind the falls, but no one was taking it, so of course, Craig gave it a whirl. I was following him through the viewfinder of my camera, watching him run along the grassy ledge, when suddenly he vanished. 

I wasn’t worried that he’d fallen, I was just trying to scan the area because I knew he had to be hidden behind the gushing water. Eventually, I spotted his tiny figure rushing left with a hunched back in an attempt to keep water off his face. He kept running until he was safely past the water flow. After I saw how wet he was I decided to give the walk behind the falls a miss. 

Once we were back in Dehang, we checked into our homestay where we booked to stay for one night. We just brought a few bits with us and left our main luggage in the nearby town. The room was nice, but the bed was rock hard and the bathroom hadn’t been cleaned.

Trying to forget about the germs, we set off in search of lunch, winding our way through the narrow alleys where we met some of the village elders. From our experience in other ethnic villages, we’ve been free to wander, but on a couple of occasions, we were shooed away, so we just stuck to the main path, not wanting to offend anyone. 

It was a bit of a weird place in that sense as there was a paid entrance fee, and it felt like the village was divided, some wanted tourism, while others wanted their peaceful village back – and I don’t blame them. 

The sun shone brightly as we arrived at the main square, encircled by unusual rock pillars. We found a place for a rather disappointing lunch, and then the sound of drums ushered us to a group of Miao, all dressed up and ready to perform. 

We waved at one of the performers as we’d met him the night before while having dinner in the nearby town. He had asked if he could sit with us and then proceeded to use a very efficient translator app to communicate perfectly with us in an American accent. 

Just as he was about to start asking us some questions, an eruption of firecrackers filled the air. We couldn’t hear anything and waited patiently until they stopped. 

He had a good sense of humour, and after it fell silent, he spoke into his app and said “Well, those firecrackers couldn’t have started at a better time!” Which caused us all to laugh. 

He told us he was in charge of performances in Dehang, and it was clear that he loved his job as he moved with so much enthusiasm, banging the drums while swaying red fabric in the air.

After enjoying the show, we set off on another hike which led us through a narrow gorge. Unlike the previous route that ended up being a road – this one was a delightful trail which crossed streams and passed waterfalls. 

The route had a gentle elevation until we arrived at the foot of another mighty waterfall. From then on, we traversed a series of relentless steps until we reached our end goal – which was a viewing platform built on the edge of the gorge. 

While our route didn’t have road access, there was another, higher, route which did, so there were a few Chinese tourists at the platform as they had their necessary easy access. 

It was still an enjoyable hike – minus the uphill part which was very hot work. There were a few different varieties of butterflies, with large black ones being the most common, and they looked fabulous against the fuchsia pink flowers.  

We found a little riverside location that sold cheap meals for dinner and picked fried noodles to keep it simple, but they were so bland and verged on inedible. Oh well, at least the view was nice. 

After a restless sleep in the bed that felt like it was made from stone, we realised the toilet was leaking raw sewage out of the base – Lovely. 

Today we planned to hike back to the main town, taking the rural route. First, we climbed above Dehang, to see the neatly tiled roofs all clustered at the bottom of the gorge, and then we searched for an irrigation system to lead us through the agricultural land.

We meandered through farmers’ fields, but we ended up at multiple dead ends. So we tried again, walking further down the river in the hope of finding a place to cross. We did eventually rock-hop over, but the few steps we needed to take to the start of the irrigation were slippery and flooded. So, again, we retreated. 

Our final attempt involved wading across a ledge in the river. We kept our boots on as the ground was very slippery and we were absolutely shocked that our feet remained bone dry. 

Once we were on the correct side, we could observe the locals farming the land in conical hats. The main reason we wanted to access the other side of the river was to visit a little Miao village which we did eventually reach. There were some lovely, old buildings, but it felt a bit abandoned as there wasn’t anyone in the village. 

The route gradually led us back to town where we grabbed a meal and checked back into our comfy hotel with a toilet that didn’t leak sewage and offered the most incredible view – all for just £11.40.