Start here: Guizhou Journal
The following brief journal outlines our route - many more pictures in seperate galleries are found if you click on >China 2010 above (comments welcome)
GUIYANG (A) to Yangshou (K) on the map in 14 days. The ‘team’ consisted of four keen amateurs (one Englishman, one German and two Australians), our leader, instructor and raconteur Ewen Bell and (when we reached Guiang) our ever smiling resourceful driver Mr Li.
We all met and began our China journey in Chengdu, so we had time to get lost and find our way again (thanks Jules) in a big Chinese city, visit the panda sanctuary (twice) and then get the overnight sleeper train leaving at 6.30pm and arriving at Guyang at 8am. The train, all 24 carriages of it, was considerably more comfortable than I had expected, we did have a 4 bunk compartment to ourselves (Ewen next door) and it did help that our carriage was next to the restaurant car!
An afternoon snack of bamboo..... what else is on the menu? - more bamboo of course!
Click on >China 2010 at the top of this page and open the Panda gallery for more.
Sandstorm today Tuesday, visibility poor within Chengdu, we catch a train tonight to Gueyang
The red pandas were considerably more active than their white cousins; much smaller and dog like in many of their activities with the added bonus of being adroit tree climbers. They were not interested in bamboo, eating root vegetables when we visited.
First stop after the train journey was a Sister’s Rice (Meal) Festival, taking place in Shidong, about 4 hours north east of Guyang. It was the only time we encountered many other tourists as it was quite close to the main highwy and was a bit of a photographer’s scrum as there were busloads of photogeeks there - not us of course!
This girl was being dressed by her family away from the scrum and was really enjoying the fuss they were making over her.
Overnight in a very well preserved (or rebuilt) picturesque town of Zenyuan (see more in the gallery: > China 2010 > The odd landscape)
Surprisingly, potato is a major crop in the region east of Guyang. The people in the fields, rice terraces and villages are really friendly and welcoming, I was glad to be in such a small group, and visiting an area not frequented by tourists.
Jules gets the thumbs up from this farmer for her picture of him but declines the offer to have a go at ploughing!
Nothing like doing a bit of farming in your best jacket! Preparing the surface for rice planting.
The rice planters thought our appearance on the edge of their terrace hilarious but carried on regardless. Planting would probably take all morning …. standing in the mud bent at the hips … obviously no health and safety executive has advised about back care! (more pics in > China 2010 > People: as we found them)
After several days travelling we reached Xijiang (E. on the map). This all wooden town built on two hills is changing fast; with a new main road recently built it is no longer cut off from the tourist route, as a centre for the Miao culture it is bound to become a major attraction. (many more pictures in > China 2010 > The odd landscape)
It's not often complete strangers are invited to a wedding ceremony. We were... and plied with copious refills of rice wine. The small room was crowded, full of family, well-wishers and neighbours all sampling the food and atmosphere which was thick with cigarette smoke.. the children were even bringing round bucketfuls of cigarettes for all the guests. The rice wine was probably about 60% proof... I'd obviously had a few at this time as the pic is ever so slightly blurred!
Lunch!
One of many friendly Xijiang residents ... or is it Jack Straw?
Early morning mist in Xijiang after overnight rain.
We were staying in a guesthouse on the hill to the west of the town, so this was our breakfast view with Mr Li and Ewen.
Gradually the town comes to life as the sun burns through the mist. This is not HDR but has been tweeked in Lightroom
7.30 am ...... breakfast fires are heating up the noodles.
peek a boo! One can only guess what is in the bucket!!
Mr Li, driver and so much more. He made our trip just that much better (unless you were sitting in the back of the van when the inevitable pothole found our wheels!)
... a new line in Free-Range hens? Cock and Bull fighting at a village 'fete'.
The winning cock. NB for the squeamish, there were no blades, hooks or sharpened claws etc on their feet, the ‘fight’ was just a lot of argy bargy and a squabble as if for the rights to the best hen… it was a colourful and fast squabble though! (other pics in the cock and bull gallery)
The crowd is entertained! ….. no safety barriers here..... there was the added enjoyment I suppose of being part of the action ......... as a buffalo decided to leave through the middle of them… no one got injured but it was amazing how fast they move when a few tons of buffalo decides on a detour.!
A village buffalo fight close to Xijiang contested on a dried up river bed (there was also cock fighting there too!) (see http://agbr.smugmug.com/Travel/China-2010/Cock/12356719_Vh8fN#883369470_NDi9P for more). This was a great village event with contestants bringing their prized multipurpose agricultural vehicle for a testosterone charged scrap on the river bank. Many ran off at the first sign of trouble chased by their distraught owner who would lose prestige! Some of the ‘vehicles’ however, banged heads for several minutes before being dragged apart .
I wonder what they would be thinking the next morning languidly dragging their plough through the mud ‘……urrrr.. that must have been a good party last night in the barn, I don’t remember a thing… must have been a lot of rice wine in my feed, ‘coz I’ve got a whopping headache!’ (translated from buffalo talk.)
Traditional May festival at Da’tang. At this festival the performers were really enjoying themselves (at 11 am on a damp morning... it must have been all that the rice wine !).
In this tiny village 'square' (it was round!) hemmed in by 2-3 story wooden houses, there were about 75 brightly dressed 'performers' having a whale of a time in a well choreographed series of dances ........ and singing too!. They don’t do it for free, the village gets about 800yuan but the five of us had at least 45 minutes of great entertainment, and when they had finished....... they came out again and practiced some new dances. (lots more pictures in the China 2010 > Da'tang gallery or at http://agbr.smugmug.com/Travel/China-2010/Datang/12356730_tDH2R#882935441_wRGcz)
Morris dancers with a difference! This is a novel use of the traditional Chinese stool, who needs drums and pipes when you can bang these together ……the timing was impeccable!
... and so many smiles!
Soggy terraces in the warm clouds.
Mother and grandmother......... High in the clouds and hill terraces just north of Rongjiang
Cloth: it has to start somewhere……. and here in a village beside the Duliu Jiang (river) the ladies were winding the thread ready for the loom (see more in > China 2010 > Guizhou Cloth or http://agbr.smugmug.com/Travel/China-2010/Guizhou-Cloth/12367916_YZeLb#887613212_KuW5o)
There was a lot more line this in the gallery: China 2010 > Food and potential food or at: http://agbr.smugmug.com/Travel/China-2010/Food-and-potential-food/12346838_inLYe#882087776_4SRFQ
Dong Women sit outside their houses in Yintan... their calves are bound with a cloth that is dyed with indigo. It has an amazing sheen. More on the processes involved in its production in >Guizhou Cloth.
The main drag through a village just south of Chongjiang. This was not the main road but the road surface was only slightly rougher than the road we had been on for the last two days!
Zhaoxing, a lovely wooden town in South East Guizhou, we spent 3 days here, this was the view from my room in the guest house, the guest house like all others was wooden, clean and close to the centre of town beside the river. more pictures are at > the odd landscape or at: http://agbr.smugmug.com/Travel/China-2010/The-odd-landscape/12351202_hHHsp#882697608_da9um
I've heard (and had) chicken in a basket - usually with chips!
These (there were about 5) were chicken in a bag! We had watched them being weighed and purchased in the market an hour before, next time we saw them they were rolling around as each tried to be on top and get its head out of a hole. Their new owner was eating a hearty breakfast nearby.
Zhaoxing cloth dripping after it's indigo soak!
A misty morning in Zhaoxing. Our guesthouse is the last building on the right by the log bridge.... OOps I left my windows open!
The rice terraces above Zhaoxing.
The red is 'duckweed' which will be harvested for the pigs (who in return supply some of the nutrients).
The cycle for a rice paddy starts in spring with flooding then ploughing in organic waste (manure), then the paddy is reduced to a fine squelchy and very level surface, after this planting rice occurs (can be sprinkled seed but often as germinated seedlings) . There may be a transplanting phase where seedlings are thinned for a more effective crop; harvesting is about three months later. The paddy is then flooded again, fish (in some paddies) and ‘nutrients’ are added so the duckweed grows whilst the rice stalks and ‘fertiliser’ rot beneath the water, then it’s time for the cycle to start again (after the fish have been eaten or moved and the pigs have had their fill!)
To get to the Longi rice terraces there is a huge climb from the road, there are no roads in the terraces so everything ranging from building materials to tourist's bags (and sometimes tourists themselves) is carried up the hills.
And to think that airports complain at the size of my bag!! Next stop, after a 2km and 1000+ metres climb, is the guest house.
These Yao women could do the work of two baggage handlers and have time for a chat on the phone! Mind you they only do this once they have retired ...... when they are young they work on the rice terraces.
Someone who has not worked on the terraces for a little while!
The Dragon's back rice terraces Longsheng. On a wet and misty morning. A view from our guesthouse
It's hard work once the rains come to clear the weed and plough it in, plant and then harvest.
These terraces are about to be flooded (she did smile when she got closer!)
Dragon back rice terraces at 6am with a sun that did not want to come out from behind cloud. It was still worth the 45 minute trek from our guesthouse to the top for this view. Our only chance as it pored with rain the morning before.
Ewen Bell uses Nokia (don't tell Canon!) The Li river at sunset... our last night.
A couple of ND grad filters helped here - as did my little Gitzo!! ;-)
The very best way to see the river is on one of these small (4-5 person) bamboo rafts during those golden hours at dawn and sunset. We were so lucky this evening as all day it had been dull and overcast, then at the last moment, after about an hour on the river we got this...... I was a happy very bunny! Ready to catch my plane the next day.
Waiting for the evening fishing to start. Not quite the traditional clothing but the cormorants are real enough. Shame we couldn't wait and see the fun... we had planes to catch!
(many more pictures by clicking on > China 2010 above - if you have a free half hour or so)
