As expected we woke to pain – Shoulders, legs, backs – guess what doesn’t kill you… After a ‘Chinesey’ and expensive (£5.30) breakfast at a hotel a few doors down we started the task of bussing it to Sanjiang. We are out in ‘rural’ China now so it’s local busses without aircon (and possibly steering and/or brakes) but it’s good to be away from the insane crowds of the big cities and popular spots. The bus left relatively empty from Dazhai and we started chatting to Raffaele and Simonetta, a much older and very sweet Italian couple that first travelled in China 25 years ago and are now back for more rough backpacking. The changes they have seen sound incredible and it must have been quite an adventure – China had opened to tourism only 2 years prior to their first trip. The bus fillled quickly as we stopped to pick up anyone willing to wave at us including a guy with his ‘lunch box’ consisting of a couple live chickens. Our conversation with the Italians was brought to an abrupt halt when some ladies in the front of the bus started a heated argument with a man in the back of the bus. Possibly 5 people shouting at the top of their voices constantly for an hour with our seats in the cross-fire. I would love to have understood what they were on about and it was an impressive display – they seem to be able to shout without stopping for air !

In Longshen all four of us transferred to another similar bus for the longer journey to Chenyang – longer, but quieter, I dozed. With the Italians going to same direction as us we were happy to just follow their lead. The options that greeted us at Sanjiang where a 1km walk and a 40p bus ride, a 20p tak-tak and a 40p bus ride or a £1 taxi to our final destination. Our meager attempts to renegociate the price where rebuffed and we agreed to the taxi. As it turned out the taxi was a tak-tak ! The 25km bone-jarring and insanely loud ride in a tin can attached to a converted motorbike (maybe 125cc) took around an hour. The only plus being that because he could not go fast I was sure we could escape with minor injuries in the event of a collision. My hands were shaking for an hour after from the vibrations transferred while holding packs on the back of the ‘vehicle’.

Another entrance fee (£6) to get into the preserved villages area and we were at the Ma’an/Chengyang bridge – an impressive piece of architecture and engineering. Our hostel (which lacks aircon, wifi and resturant) has a perfect location overlooking the river and bridge – we decided immediately to spend two nights.

The Ma’an village was devoid of tourists and is tiny – took us 30 minutes to stroll around it. This is a wonderful place to just chill out and catch up (that included washing some very smelly clothes and my backpack ! which all honed from the hike to Dazhai). We spent the evening in one of possibly three resturants in the village and chatted away to another Italian guy (Luca) that we had met in Dazhai and probably the only Italian who loves the food in China. Luca, who has travelled extensively in SE Asia was telling us about his recent trip trough Myanmar – sounded interesting but very difficult and surprisingly safe – maybe another time – we are too chicken for that.

An easy day of travel and a great evening. Excellent.

[Pictures: The ‘Wind and Rain Bridge’ at Ma’an village in Chengyang]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi