A naturally elevating trip

Taking the high road

I really enjoyed driving in Guizhou. Landlocked and known for extensive karst landforms, the province has developed rapidly in terms of its expressway infrastructure in the past decade.

By the end of 2021, the expressway network in the province exceeded more than 8,000 kilometers. Expressway journeys tripled from 2,630 km in 2012 to 8,010 km in 2021, and now rank fifth in the country. Nearly half of the world's 100 highest bridges are located in the province, according to the provincial government.

From Guiyang to Panzhou, a county in the southwestern corner of Guizhou, the drive was almost completely on the expressways, and we certainly crossed some of the high-altitude bridges.

It was hard to tell when we were driving on a bridge, as many sections of the Guizhou expressways are elevated, giving a sense of floating above ground.

As we traversed the expressways, we frequently caught glimpses of majestic karst pinnacles, with many towns' high-rises appearing dwarfed below.

Through the car windows, we would occasionally see clouds gracefully drifting by, adding a touch of ethereal beauty to our journey. We encountered few vehicles and it was a challenge to keep driving below the speed limit. After nearly four hours, and more than 300 km, we reached the county town of Panzhou.