Up early for us today – we were at the nearest bus station at 7:15 and already our LP guide was letting us down – it was to be a day of mis-information from Lonely Planet. The guy in the ticket office could not give us a ticket to Zhinjin and we guessed that what he was telling us was that we needed to be at a different bus station. Asking (with gestures, pictures and symbols) a few people around we got some Chinese symbols written down and a taxi got us to the north bus station (slight rip off: £1 for a 60p ride we would later discover) where we got our bus. Windy but good roads led us through farmland and small ugly (concrete) villages as we listened to Scientific American pod casts (V thought the book ‘Eaarth’ by Bill McKibben sounds interesting – I’m more interested in the biography of ‘Paul Dirac, “the strangest man” in science’).

There were a few delays on the road due to traffic blocking up the narrow roads in the villages, water buffalo crossing and roadworks but we soon realized that the LP’s estimate of 2 hours was way out. The bus slowed to a snails pace as we climbed into the beautiful karst mountains. I started to worry about making it back by the 6pm cutt-off. We did not want to spend a night out here. In the end it took 3 hours to get to Zhinjin where another problem needed solving. To quote the LP ‘Mini-buses will be clamoring to take you to the caves” umm… nope nada ! We started to think that the cave had collapsed and was closed. We approached a taxi but the cost seemed high – at least he understood where we were going and once again we got lucky. A lady with her son and mother (we assume) got hold of us and stuffed us into the cab she had arranged for herself (She could not speak any English but I guess it was obvious we wanted to go to the caves). Not far down the road she excitedly stopped the cab and got the lot of us running to a local bus – at this point we had no idea what was happening, just going with the flow. An hour of mountainous scenery, steep climbs and traffic jams later we arrived at the caves to find it full of tour buses and cars that MUST have arrived via a different route.

The LP claims that the Zhinjin caves (I need to read more about them sometime and get a GPS point) are reminiscent of Tolkienesque mountains and mines and in this they are, for a change, correct. As part of a Chinese tour group it was a little loud and the lighting was cheesy but the cave made up for it with it’s stunning beauty and enormous size. The Kango caves have nothing on this boy. Massive caverns and mind boggling formations. The windy pathways and step twisting staircases gave the feeling of passing through the Mines of Moria (except for the lighting, electronically amplified Chinese guide and the occasional cell phone conversation – yes China Mobile has the INSIDE of the caves covered !). At the more popular formations you can pay for ‘professional’ photos – we opted out and spent a lot time trying to stabilized our little camera on any accepting platform – hope the pics will look okay. Not being able to understand the guide as she pointed out interesting formations we let pareidolia run wild spotting mushrooms to cave trolls.

The tour lasted around 1.5 hours and cost £14ea. It was amazing and worth the four hours to get there (maybe not the additional four hours to get back though). We followed a similar route back using a mini-bus to get to Zhinjin (the ticket collector tried to charge us £2.10ea but a couple in front of us would not let him get away with ripping us off – we ended up paying the correct 70p ea. The same couple also helped us navigate across town to the long distance bus station – people have, in general, been very kind and helpful.

It was a long day on the buses and our butts were aching by the time we got back to Anshun. Unfortunately we are back on another long bus tomorrow grrr. Both of us are feeling a little tired from long days and sleepless nights (you would think that with all the time I have spent in hotels I would know to ask for a room facing away from busy streets – its been like sleeping in a bus stop the past two nights). We are also in need of a good meal sans consequences – looking forward to Kunming in a few days.

[Pictures: some iPhone photo attempts inside the cave]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

Huangousho falls is one of the reasons we came to Anshun They are supposedly the largest in Asia and our goal today was to go visit them and possibly the massive Longgong caves as well if there was time. We knew that these two places would be very Chinese touristy but figured they would be worth the look anyway.

The day didn’t get off to the best start as we inadvertantly bought 3 bus tickets to the falls instead of 2 (don’t ask). Then when we were almost at the waterfall area ticket office the bus driver stopped next to a group of taxis on the side of the road and shouted for some people to get off, us included. After showing the driver a picture of the falls and getting ‘yes yes’ from him, we got in a taxi with another Chinese couple. We should have just stayed on the bus as the taxi took us to the ticket office and car park where a hundred other taxis were parked AND where the bus stopped next anyway. As far as we can figure, it must be that the bus driver has a deal going with his taxi driver mates to get a one up on the other taxis and grab people before they get to the ticket office. We’re not sure but we think the idea is that you buy an entrance ticket then get back in the taxi who then takes you around the falls and other ‘scenic spots’. At least that’s what we think the set up is as we never got further than the price board at the entrance and never paid the taxi driver anything.

The prices, in our view, were astronomical. £18 per person to get in and another £5 each for the bus that gets you from the entrance to the falls. It was Wutai Shan all over again. We only wanted to see the one waterfall and not that badly. We stood staring at the prices and debating whether we should cough up the £46 or give up when a young girl came up and asked if she could help us out. Turned out her name was Penny and she would show us the falls from outside the park for a fee of £10. We didn’t even bother to try bargain and just took her up on her offer.

We walked out of the ticket office and down the road for what must have been about 20 or 30 minutes until we reached a tiny parking lot :gps:(GPS)::25.99304::105.66449:gps: amongst the shops and buildings lining the road. Maybe 4 cars could fit in the lot and at the back there was a little blue door and a flight of stairs leading down to what turned out to be a fantastic viewing point directly opposite the falls.

The falls are very pretty, cascading down the limestone cliff into a green pool at the bottom. We spent maybe half an hour taking photos, admiring the falls and watching the very long trail of tourists on the official park paths below us. We were envious that they could follow the path all the way around the cliffs and behind the falls themselves, but since we got to see the falls for a fraction of the price they paid, we weren’t that dissapointed.

We decided against going to the caves on the way back to Anshun on the basis that they would probably also be very highly priced and even more crowded. Instead we will try to go to Zijin caves which is somewhat further out of town and will hopefully be a bit more of an adventurous day trip.

[Pictures: Very pretty Huangguoshu falls]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

3 Months on the road today !!
We can hardly believe it ! Still having a great time here in China even if it has been rough lately – it’s still an incredible adventure.

The roosters have been replaced with various power tools – the construction gets going early here and this morning was no different. V is back up and running so we decided to head out. The 9:30 bus apparently left at 8:30 so we waited for the 11:30 one to fill up. Normally buses leave on time in China but only when leaving from a proper bus station. While waiting we started chatting to the only foreigner around. Marcus (a Swede) has been living and studying in China for a couple years. He was interesting to chat to but most importantly was heading the same way and can speak Chinese.

The first leg to Kaili was an hour. The driver used the downhills and good roads to his advantage, turning off the engine and coasting. Good thing the brakes aren’t assisted. It was a pleasant trip but V was stressing about her missing motion sickness pills.

In Kaili we had a short 20 minute wait for the next bus to Guiyang so we crossed the busy street get some supplies. With V’s recent food poisoning we opted for sealed goods including bananas. Marcus (who must be used to food in China) spent some time haggling over the price of some good looking grapes. The Chinese language often sounds like a fight and it’s really funny to watch when one party is a foreigner. The bus was all shiny and new – we even got free drinking water. We were back on concrete highways but shortly after setting out we hit roadworks and traffic. The 2.5 hour trip ended up taking 4 hours but was at least comfortable – not really for me and my stomach. Last night’s meal turned out to be +6 for taste, -5 for consequence 🙂

In Guiuang we said goodbye to Marcus who was flying north to Chengdu and after eventually finding the ticket office got on the last bus leg to Anshun. No delays and a good highway meant the trip only took 1.5 hours before depositing us in the mid-sized, cleaner than most, but not too attractive city of Anshun with our only Information being a small section in our 5 year old LP guide.

People are often amazed how we manage to travel without any Chinese language, but we always seem to get by and today was no different. A young lady traveling on the bus said hello in passing when we got off and as we stood trying to orient ourselves she came back to us with a friend and her mother to ask if she could help us. We tried to decline but eventually accepted the offer and followed as the ladies headed down the main street in search of a hotel for us (Anshun is not geared for travelers – there are no hostels and budget accommodation is rare). We chatted as we walked. Charlin is a student in Hong Kong who is back home for the holidays and her friend, Sandy, has just completed high school. We felt terrible that they were traipsing up the main street with Charlin’s luggage looking for a hotel for us when her mom and friend probably hadn’t seen her for ages. After stopping in at one hotel and being shocked at the price the girls were even more keen to keep looking – Charlin’s poor mom less so. We walked together a couple blocks to the far end of the street and eventually found a typical Chinese hotel at a reasonable rate (£14). Charlin and Sandy were wonderful. They translated for us, made recommendations, drew maps to buses and invited us to the spend some time with them at the city’s night market (if Charlin could get permission from her mom).

After a quick shower we called Charlin to see if she had gotten permission – she told us which bus to catch – they would wait at another stop and jump on when they saw us (we are easy to spot here – very few foreigners). The night market was huge and packed but what a difference it makes being able to ask what things are. This area is famous for braaied fish and we could see why – it looked fantastic on the coal and gas fires – wish I could enjoy fish. The entire braai section of the market smelt surprisingly appetizing. Having heard that this area eats a lot of dog we wanted to stay away from any meat and the girls recommended mini rolls for dinner. That was to be an odd experience. We sat down in front of 10 or so bowls of various diced roots and vegetables (we could only identify bean sprouts and cabbage) and were given instruction on how to wrap ingredients inside little pastries and add copious amounts of chili sauce. It filled the gap, but not really our speed. Wandering the market we came across a guy making sugar stick art. With his randomizing spinning wheel for choosing a design and his skill it was entertaining to watch. He told our guides that he would make a special one for V since we were foreign and proceeded to squiggle a beautiful dragon (on a stick). We were very impressed.

The girls wanted us to try some more local snacks so we sat down at another spot and were presented with mango and banana sorbet followed by various deep fried things from jelly to tofu and more unrecognizable vegetables. We had said that we enjoy spicy food, but wow, it was way too hot for us and made everything taste the same. We were stuffed. As we were about the leave, an American couple (teaching English in the city) said hello – they used the word ‘awesome’ around 10 times in two minutes 🙂

Before getting us back to the bus the girls presented us with a little gift (a small purple doll – purple being the color of love here) and we posed for photos – the V for victory sign that most Chinese make when posing apparently indicates happiness. They were absolutely tremendous hosts – a wonderful experience, thank you Charlin and Sandy.

[Pictures: Making V’s dragon. Will upload lots more photos from the market asap]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

V is not dead and is feeling a little better this morning but still weak and very tired. We have decided to stay another night and have moved to more comfortable accommodation on the far side of the river where most of the new guest houses are. As you can tell from the posts we have WiFi (but it is a little iffy). Today will be a day off and will update this evening.

We had to say goodbye to our new friends this morning. Thank you Raffaele and Simonetta – it was fantastic traveling with you for the past days. We’ll miss the laughs and the company very much. I’ll try to remember the valuable lesson in using matches 🙂 All the best for the rest of your trip. Take care. We hope to see you someday in Florence. Ciao.

PS. Thanks to all for the recent comments – we love getting them.

[Pictures: Crossing the river to the promised land: Air-con, WiFi and an ensuite bathroom]

[UPDATE: After spending most of the day in bed V is much better but we’ll decide in the morning if we are going to get on the road again. The next leg is a day long string of buses to Anshun. I just had an excellent beef, mushroom, ginger and chilli dish – V had a go at it too. I think we’ll start reviewing meals in 2 steps – taste and consequence. Pic added – the view of the village from our new hotel – ‘Full View Guesthouse’.]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

It was great to wake up feeling refreshed for a change. My legs have been taking strain lately with mosquito bites (they leave V alone when I am around) and being in a ‘hotel’ last night gave me a much needed break from being munched. We caught the 9am bus (£1 – BTW when I write prices they are normally per person) out to Xijiang – another hour and a half on windy roads with stunning views but at least the road was in perfect condition – we were obviously on our way to a popular place.

The village is a bit of a mix. It is obvious that the lower flat section along the river was once rice paddies but has been converted into a typical Chinese tourist trap with trinket shops, restaurants and continuous ‘traditional’ performances. It’s not bad but a million miles from yesterday. The upper part has held onto a lot of its charm and character while being kept clean. Upgrades have been done carefully so as not to destroy the aesthetics (eg. rubbish bins look like tree stumps, concrete structures are painted to look like wood).

Raffaele and I headed uphill into the old village in search of a guest house recommended by friends of his and after finding someone who could speak English were able to locate the place (we walked straight past it on our way up !) Mama Lee’s Inn is really a very basic hostel with three tiny dorm rooms and a shared bathroom, but since it was empty we figured we would end up with two rooms to ourselves and for £1ea we could not hope for cheaper (well it was higher but Raffaele got it down).

Drumming in the new part of town attracted us to the main square with some traditional performances but the volume of the sound system quickly chased us away in search of lunch. Fried noodles and various other bits – there was no reason to fret (hmmm). We spent a few hours wandering around the old village and surrounding hills looking for good photos and just enjoying the place, its people and our friends.

Unfortunately V started to feel a little I’ll and by the time we got back to our Hilton was decidedly green. She has definitely contracted a bought of food poisoning and wasn’t even able to keep a few sips of 7up down. We attempted to walk down to the square and do a little more sightseeing in the late afternoon but aborted the attempt. V was limited to her bed and the nearest toilet. Definitely the most I’ll either of us have been – my poor little V.

Obviously V could not join us for the dinner that Mama Lee had prepared for us. I got to try some rice wine (basically Saki) and the food was very good (I’ll take R&S’ word for it on the main dish since the fish head hotpot was not my cup of tea). The three of us had an entertaining meal chatting away while V was curled up in a ball waiting for her meds to start working. Hopefully she feels better by the morning – if not we will stay another day here.

[Pictures: V at yet another bus station ticket window, Negociating at the Hilton (Mama Lee’s Inn), A view of the old village from up on the trails]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

I regret not ordering the rooster for dinner last night as the one in the kitchen decided we should wake up at some ridiculous hour and was not going to rest until we were moving. The four of us managed to scrape a breakfast from the meager supplies we had on us thereby avoiding another price war with our host before heading out to find a viewpoint. From high up on the rice paddies the village looks beautiful, traditional and pure but at street level you have to accept the conditions of rural life and all the consequences to your stomach that go with it. I think V and I prefer places just slightly less rough.

We initially planned to stay until late afternoon but by 10 we had exhausted the potentiometer for exploration leaving us with the problem of getting out of town. Hitching was out of the question as we had not see a single vehicle all morning and ordering a taxi from the city would mean a two hour wait if we could make a call and get someone to understand. We were desperate enough to consider hiking the 7km to the next village but thought it too hot. The only option was to ask our host for help again. Thankfully he was not holding any grudge after last nights disagreement and with the help of a cell and his brother he arranged another mini-bus within 20 minutes. The vehicle was in shocking condition – seats in the rear were all broken and the most essential piece of equipment for driving in China (the hooter) was missing. We didn’t care – we just wanted to get out of there. I sat on my pack for the entire bone crunching ride while R&S tired to utilize the collapsed seats. V had the ‘comfy’ front seat which was probably the most terrifying going around hairpin blind corners with a 1000m drop just centimeters away.

Once back in Ronjiang we arranged a bus to Leshan and walked about in search of food. With a 4+ hour bus ride ahead of us V and I opted for any food as long as it was sealed in a packet. R&S braved another Chinese mix and match meal at a restaurant alongside the bus station – they have far more experience at this sort of thing.

The bus ride turned into a 5 hour marathon up, over and down numerous extremely high (higher than I have ever experienced) mountain passes on roads slightly better than yesterday’s. It was an amazing trip with beautiful scenery, rushing rivers, quaint villages and endless rice terraces that, in our opinion, are far more impressive than the Dragon’s Backbone due to their immense scale. It was incredibly windy though. I reckon that at least 90% of the time we were not moving in a straight line and the people vomiting upfront only served to confirm my estimate (really it was THAT windy).

Coming into Leshan we noticed something strange – Tarmac ! and a centre line on a road wide enough for 2 cars. We were all completely spent when we got off the bus but had to face the possibility of yet another hop. Fortunately (two bumpy days of buses and we have had enough) we were too late and the bus terminal was closed for the day. Raffaele and I were nominated to find a hotel in town rather than taking an expensive mini-bus ride one and a half hours in the dark up into the mountains to our next destination. The town was a complete surprise. Neat, perfectly clean, wide roads and pavements all pristine with buildings that made me think I was back in Europe. We walked around for half an hour checking prices. Raffaele drew a set of stick figures to show we needed two rooms for four people which seemed to at first cause confusion but adding a dress to one member of each couple of stick men generated laughs and eventually some understanding. For £8 we could have taken a western style holiday inn clone but in the end we opted for the convenience of the cheaper hotel next to the bus station which was clean, quiet and had hot showers so everyone was happy.

Dinner in town with R&S was a real laugh. Raffaele kept insisting on seeing inside kitchens and the ingredients before accepting a venue. We eventually settled on a chicken hotpot – much better than last night and much cheaper too, but I have had enough of chicken for now – I think it’s the shattered bones, heads and feet in the pots that I am struggling with.

[Pictures: The view of Zenchong from up on the hillside – not much to look at is it ? New road coming soon in the background]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

The intel we acquired about the buses was as good as what you would get from any Russian spy – utterly useless. The 11h30 bus had apparently left at 10h15 and the buses mixed in amongst the Sunday market along the main street were all heading in the wrong direction. Eventually we were called to a bus which proceeded to trawl up and down the street a few times to make sure there was no one else in the village heading in the same direction.

If the roads yesterday were 10/10 bad, today started at a 15 and got worse – you could not have done more damage with heavy artillery. After 45mins of dodging potholes the bus pulled over at a crossroads :gps:(GPS)::25.96122::109.11547:gps: in the middle of nowhere and we were escorted off and vaguely directed to wait for a bus heading in another direction. I was nervous about the prospect. 20 minutes passed and a mini-bus pulled up asking a price that was unreasonable. Raffaele and Simonetta (R&S) tried in vain to negotiate a better deal so we decided to wait. It wasn’t long before we were on another local bus and bouncing our way through the potholes towards Congjiang. It was a tough ride with being at the back of a bus which lacked functioning shock absorbers, but the rural countryside was pleasant.

Arriving in Congjiang we decided to follow R&S in their plans to visit a the small Dong village of Zenchong. Our timing was perfect as the ticket desk lady led us through the station to a bus about to pull out (actually it would have been good to have taken a short break and found some supplies – but what can you do). Again the roads were terrible but the scenery was quite dramatic and mountainous. Riding these roads is pretty terrifying and you soon understand why they love using their hooters as much as they do – to warn oncoming traffic around blind corners when the roads are barely wide enough. Two and a half jarring hours later and we arrived in another dive of a city – Ronjiang. Unfortunately it seemed to us that the ticket lady mis-understood where we wanted go – but it would shortly become clear.

Another city, another ‘conversation’ with a bus ticket clerk for V. It seemed that there were no buses going where we wanted to go and we were directed to the mini-buses across the street. An extended negotiation ensued with R&S managing to knock the price down from £30 to £24 before we accepted. This was still very high but we were running out of options with evening approaching. Just outside Ronjiang we turned off the ‘road’ and it became clear why there are no buses. Our little mini bus (the one that could) climbed (painfully for it and us) the most rocky, bumpy, narrow, windy and utterly stunning mountain pass that I have ever seen. I am apparently pretty gushy when I write sometimes, so here I’ll just say “GUSH” and leave it at that. A broken down truck on the road delayed us a little more but eventually, after about two hours, reached the village of Zenchong as daylight was fading – that was a long day on the ‘road’ !

Zenchong is tiny (possibly 0.25sq km) village tucked up against a hill and surrounded by a river. It is well off the beaten track and is relatively untouched by tourism meaning there are no hotels or restaurants. We started walking through the narrow alleyways in the dark and came across a ‘shop-front’ that was open and lively with kids running around generally excited by foreign visitors. Asking for a place to sleep (using gestures) the shopkeeper seemed happy to help and got on his cell to his brother who was able to translate what we wanted. There was a lot of confusion but we eventually secured a small room for the four of us. The home (attached to the storefront) was beyond basic and without a shower or reasonable sanitation. I was nervous.

The translator (I think the family name is Wan/Wang) arrived from the next village a little later and things were looking up. He is an English teacher at a local school and was a great help and and all-around nice guy (too good to be true maybe?). We now had a room with a bed and an extra mattress on the floor which Raffaele immediately set about converting into a boudior. From his pack he produced white sheets, mosquito net, electric mosquito mat and a kettle element. V is never going to let me forget that… Thanks Raffaele 🙂 Dinner was also on the go – we agreed on chicken – and the lady of the house wasted no time in retrieving a live one from a basket in the kitchen and, well, cooking it. I seem to remember something about avian flu starting in this kind of place when chickens, pigs, horses, dogs, cats and people are all living on top of each other with poor sanitation… This is precisely where we found ourselves – oh well – no way out now !

Dinner was far from good. The chicken, which due to the lack of meat I can only assume was anorexic, was prepared in the traditional Chinese way: whack it into small pieces with a cleaver so that each morsel contains more bones and splinters than meat, then fry the entire thing, head, feet and all. The locally farmed and freshly roasted peanuts where the only part I found palatable and the look of fungus on my chopsticks gave my stomach the jitters. Anyway – we ate.

Up until this point we were truly enjoying the adventure of being immersed in real rural Chinese life. The dodgy food and accommodation just added to the story. That all changed after dinner when we managed to pin the Wans down on cost. Raffaele had repeatedly asked for costs all evening and was consistently told ‘everything will be fine’. They wanted £11 for the meal and another £9 for the room. For that price in most places we would have gotten two rooms with private bathroom and shower (possibly with air-con) and a good meal. It was outrageous. R&S led the charge (V and I are still terrible at bargaining and we hid in the background). It was really uncomfortable and soured what would have been a wonderful end to the day. Our negotiating position was terrible since it was so late and in the end the price was reduced to a total of £16. We headed up-ladder to our room feeling genuinely discontent.

[Pictures: At a crossroads close to nowhere, V and R return after checking out the broken down truck on the way up to Zenchong]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

We were woken early by our first thunderstorm of the trip this morning and the heavy rain made us nervous to be spending the day out on the road. Out by 8h30 and nothing was open in the village so we skipped breakfast and flagged down the first mini-bus heading in the direction of Sanjiang. He dropped us on a main street in this awful town and with a vague hand gesture pointed us towards the bus station. We walked around for 20minutes – no bus station ! The few shopkeepers we polled could not understand what we were asking so V drew a bus and found the name of our destination in the LP – the ladies at a cell phone shop understood and pointed us in the right direction.

Shortly after arriving at the bus station Raffaele and Simonetta walked into the dingy terminal – good to have some travel companions again. Turns out that Simonetta teaches Nutrition in Florence and Raffaele is a Physics Professor in Bologna – a truly fascinating and entertaining couple. I could not resist getting Raffaele to tell me all about what he is working on. I did a lot of head nodding but it sounds amazing. OLED screens that are dirt cheap, super thin and flexible but his passion is material modeling. I guess that is coming up with new materials for electronics and other applications using complicated maths.

The road conditions were the worst we have seen yet. The bus bumped and ground its way along a large river and through mountain passes for a hour or so before we were ushered off the bus. The road ahead was impassable so we needed to walk 500m on muddy paths and across a rickety bridge to a bus waiting on the other side. Our new bus and driver had even less respect for Newton’s laws. A buttock tightening ride led us up, over and down treacherous mountain passes finally grinding to a halt at Zhaoxing terminal (an arb spot on the ‘main’ and only road through the village). We were happy to be once again in control of our direction and speed ! On the way we had seen new tunnels and massive bridges under construction – the rivers of concrete flowing as fast as water once again.

Zhaoxing is a bit of a dive. Not very charming and in a state of flux between new concrete, rebuilt drum towers (from the 80’s) and traditional cloth production. We watched a performance (singing and dancing) at the drum tower next to our hotel that had been prepared for a bunch of bussed-in domestic tourists. We were chased away by their guide who was asking for £5 to watch it – a bit cheeky in a public area we thought. We took a slow stroll around the village and up to the school/viewpoint.

The villagers seem to be almost completely involved in the production of dyed cloth. They extract a solution from plants which turns deep indigo after it oxidizes. Fabric is then dyed, dried and pounded with a mallet until it is shiny (ends up looking a bit like silk but not quite). No matter where you are in the village you can hear mallets endlessly drumming cloth on top of stone tablets – there has got to be an easier way. The ladies dresses are all pleated in a similar way. The fabric is carefully folded in ~10mm pleats, bound to a board and hammered. It’s a noisy place and not much escapes the dye – the hands of most are stained and even the dogs have the odd patch.

With not much else to do we had an early drink and a terrible dinner at one of the only restaurants offering WiFi before heading to our hotel. The included fan was not working so I repaired it with a piece of string and a bit of force but at least the beds were comfortable – the softest we have had in weeks. We’ll definitely be leaving in the morning – if only we can find out when the buses leave, and we won’t be alone, the Italians will be with us for at least another day.

[Pictures: V’s brilliant pictograms, One of Zhaoxing’s rebuilt drum towers, The view of the village from the school]

– Posted from my iPhone via Wifi

[UPDATE: Added some photos in the ‘Longji Terraces to…’ section]

The first night in ages that I have slept without my ear plugs – this place is very peaceful – the beer didn’t hurt either. We got a late start and strolled around the collection of tiny villages in the area for a really relaxed morning. I managed to get a hair cut in a shack on the side of the road but turned down the straight razor (phew). It’s sad to see that many of the old wooden buildings are being replaced with concrete monsters (even if they are clad in wood) but I guess that is progress. Luca mentioned that the Chinese don’t understand the difference between ‘restoring and rebuilding’ and this is obvious almost everywhere.

We crossed a few more ‘wind and rain’ styled bridges and passed old drum towers without bumping into any tourists. The local community also appears to be very small and are all involved in either building houses or farming rice. Another favorite past time is to solicit donations for ‘maintainance’ on the bridges. For a small fee you can have your name carved onto wood or stone plaques at the old bridges – the trend has spread like bora to most of the bridges in the area. V did a quick estimate – it seems from the lists of donations that they should have plenty of funds for restoration. Possibly the labour costs here are higher than in Norway – you never know.

We spent the hotter part of the day relaxing on our balcony enjoying the peace. V is ploughing through her book on Mao (and finding it hard going at times due to the shocking nature of the story) and I have been typing posts (as you can tell). Just relaxing… and thinking… We are both having such a wonderful time.

To stress the point. This is a great little spot. They have put in enough to satisfy western travellers and without a chair lift and neon lights on the bridge the domestic tourists stay away. It’s full of charm (although the concrete is encroching) without the pushy hawkers – the villagers just go about their lives barely affected by the few tourists.

When it cools down we’ll take a walk up to a view point and later I’ll upload posts on the WiFi connection at Yangs Guesthouse. Tomorrow we are moving again – 5 hours by bus to another small village.

[Pictures: Me and my drum, View of Ma’an village in Chenyang]

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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]

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We had every intention of being up at 5 and hiking by 6 to escape the heat but the entire village was shrouded in cloud so we took it easy and got a decent breakfast in us before slowly climbing our way out of Ping’an to the start of the ‘contoured path’ to Dazhai. The walk on top was pleasant – it was early with few tourists and we were not harrassed by the Long Hair Ladies in their traditional costumes. Shortly after passing over the ridge we came across a large lake/dam and the first fork in the road. In our defense both paths looked equally well used, there was no indication and all the maps we had seen were equally shocking. We went right – that turned out to be VERY wrong !

For an hour and a half we followed the path randomly chosing directions at forks through thick forest, past long since abandoned rice terraces and buildings and over rickety log bridges until we were well and trully concerned. The largest living thing we had seen since the Ping’an valley was an unidentified black snake – no locals or tourists, nothing ! Faced with retracing our steps and spending another night in Ping’an we pushed on again. Fortunately we came across a lone farmer on the trail and managed to discern that 1, We were a VERY long way from Dazhai and 2, at the next fork in the trail we should turn left. It was good advice that eventually led us to a tiny village (albeit with at least one satellite dish) and the hope of being on the correct trail.

The village was almost entirely deserted but an old woman in traditional get-up sensed our presence. Asking directions we could not decipher her replies but it was obvious we should follow her – to her house as it turned out! She wanted us to eat – we were only interested in directions – I would have emptied my wallet for directions – she just wanted to sell us food. We declined as enthusiastically as possible before continuing up and out of the village (possibly she was just being hospitable – it’s so difficult to tell). Shortly after leaving the village I was considering SMSing Dad with our location and requesting the position of Dazhai but we spotted a large village possibly 5km across a massive valley – that must be it – and we started following the trails that loosely followed the contours now doubling back towards Ping’an. The trail dissapeared on an exhausting climb up to the top of a pass. Reaching the top we plonked ourselves down in the middle of a well worn trail. Within 10 minutes two French girls ambled by and confirmed our error – we had added a 3 hour loop to our hike and the town we had seen across the valley was not our destination but the half-way mark ! (seems we are getting very good at wandering AND getting lost).

From this point we crossed paths with a lot of hikers (all Western) and the walk was rewarding. Although our packs were feeling very heavy and our legs tired, the cloudy conditions granted some respite. We passed through the halfway point village quickly grabbing some snacks and trying to get away from the villagers heckling us with food, accomodation and trinkets. The last section of the walk was incredible (even when completely spent). We walked through endless picturesque rice terraces that extended from the valley floors to the upper edge of the Dragons Backbone range – in our opinion, this part is more impressive than Ping’an.

Arriving in Dazhai on jelly legs we caved at the first tout that came our way and within 10 minutes I was in a shower (with a gas heater that looked like it would explode at any second – so we turned the supply off at the bottle when we were done). The hostel/hotel had the architectural aesthetics and structural design of a tree house that I would build – but we really didn’t care. We successfully turned a max 4 hour hike on contoured paths into a 7 hour slog up and down mountains – an impressive days work 🙂 Tomorrow is going to hurt. PS. V is just plain amazing.

[Pictures: Some of the Terraces (once we had actually found the trail). The view of Dazhai from our ‘treehouse’ – the terraces extend to the top of the hills]

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We had a wonderful time in Yangshuo and it was great to relax and recharge (almost too good – we didn’t want to leave). The travel today (5 hrs of busses) was easy as we are on well known tourist routes so were instantly ushered to the correct busses. We got a bus to Guilin and then waited a couple hours for another bus to Ping’an and the ‘Dragons Backbone Rice Terraces’. Both busses were good but V had to delve into her stash of motion sickness pills for the first time. Guilin was boring and we just ended up killing time on the streets. The bus ride out to Ping’an was full of western tourists but again way too many Dutch people, KLM must have a special to China at the moment, and at least 80% female (we have noticed this trend all over China) – don’t know where all the boys are but they are missing out 😉

As we started climbing in altitude the rain clouds rolled in. The roads up to Ping’an are a work of art and wind their way up kilometers of vertical cliffs. It was something to see and obviously dangerous as ‘even’ the driver was taking extra care. As we neared the top of the climb I made the mistake of looking down as we passed a number of washed out gullies below the road – you have to wonder how long before that road slides the 900m to the valley floor ?!

We had to walk the last 20mins up to the village and in the rain it was very dramatic. The village is too cool. Nested in, and hugging the valleys it has contoured paths linked by endless stairs all surrounded by the immaculate rice terraces. Plenty of buildings have real character (ie: possible risk of collapse). We dumped our gear at the hotel (what a view we have from out room!) and headed out immedately to catch the views just as the rain was stopping. We took a leisurely hike around the rice paddies and the two well known viewpoints up on the hills around the village in search of good photo ops. Stunning, and even better it was empty !

On our way back to the hostel/hotel we got competely lost in the charming maze of stairs and alleys but did stumble upon an excellent dinner. Good thing we took our headlamps with us, otherwise the last section home would have been a interesting with a whole beer in each of us 🙂

Tomorrow we plan to hike 15km or so to the next village (Dazhai).

[Pictures: 1) The terraces]

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We have caught up with sorting and tagging the image galleries. In fact the galleries are now more up to date than the posts ! Will sort that out shortly though

[UPDATE: Done – Below]

One annoying thing we found is that our snazzy new camera that can tell you exactly where in the world it is with it’s GPS cannot tell you which way round you are holding it – so we have to rotate any portrait photos – can’t believe they left out such a simple feature ! We will try to keep on top of the galleries from now on (maybe).

Tomorrow we are off moving again to Ping An. Today we did nothing but blogging and housekeeping – it’s been great to be sitting still for a week, but we are both keen to get moving again.

So round 2 on the bikes. Unfortunately it turned out to be a sunny day so we had no excuse – although possibly ‘Too Hot’ would have been acceptable. I cannot begin to explain the pain involved getting back onto a bike seat. Needless to say we pedaled the first few kilometers standing or gingerly resting one cheek on the edge of the saddle.

It seems I have a major problem with sweat that seems to have gotten worse with age. As the temperature rises, my skin loses it’s water-proof properties and anything I drink leaks instantly out through the closest pore – it drives me nuts – maybe i’ve gotten used to the UK temperatures !

We knew the first part of the route but after crossing the river our famous map instantly started playing with us again. After a few hours !! cycling we landed up back at the building where we got the cool drinks yesterday ! I don’t know who was more surprised, us or the shop keeper. We pushed on repeating some of yesterdays route without the errors and then following our map headed a few kilometers down the main road. No sign of the Moon hill. We had to stop and ask directions and were pointed in the direction from where we had just come. Arrgghh. On the way back V spotted the Moon and eventually the entrance to the site. We had ridden right past it yesterday !

It was quite a climb on foot to the viewpoint (the notice board said 1000 steps, I counted 757 steps, but probably 1000 paces) and V really was not interested in doing it after baking on our bikes all day. It was worth the hike up. The views were spectacular and we got the photo we wanted. There are a lot of climbs there but what a nightmare to get to the crag – not my idea of an easy walk-in.

The ride home was supposed to be easy back roads and trails along the river but turned into a narrow concrete road frequented by bikes, trucks and busses making it arduous. Annoyed, hot and thirsty we were relieved to drop the bikes back at the rental shop and head for home for a shower and a nap (yes really). After all that hard work we rewarded ourselves in the best way we know how… KFC for sups – best one we’ve had so far 🙂 and ice cream for dessert.

[Pictures: 1) Moon Hill 2) A view from the top]

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So our fingers no longer hurt and we have successfully moved the pain to our bums. A very long day on a mountain bike will do that, but it was worth it.

We decided to rent some decent bikes (probably not necessary but we like nice bikes) from the most well known operator (Bike Asia). They charge £5 per day and you get a good bike, helmet and disc brakes (but no bell) where the others are between £2 and £3 – so not a biggie. They also supply a map that looks great but in retrospect they should be shot for it.

The hostel is very good at arranging free ‘activities’ and we decided to join their excursion out to Dragon Bridge. A 20km round trip that they estimate as 5-6 hrs with time for ‘rest, photo and lunch”. It seemed that the entire hostel was going for the ride which delayed the start but thankfully it stayed overcast. The way girls dress for this type of excursion boggles my mind (and V’s). Some of the group were in delicate white longs. Another was in black with gold pumps, full make-up and fashion sunnies – This for a romp through muddy rice paddies and rivers on a mountain bike !?

Getting out of town was chaos and I’m very happy that we did not rent bikes before. There are no traffic rules here with the biggest problem being the scooters that ride whichever direction they want, whenever they want. Outside town the roads were quieter and we cruised along in awe of the karst moutains all around. Heading ‘off road’ we were desperate to fly through the single track but being in a huge group that gets off to push over a few rocky bits kinda cramps your style. V and I resigned ourselves to plodding along the narrow pathways between scenic rice paddies – it was great (even better – it is pretty flat so easy to cycle).

The main attration of the ride is the ‘Dragon Bridge’. I guess because it is high (even though it doesn’t need to be) compared to all the other bridges. Everyone talks about jumping from the bridge – around 10m to the river, but there were no takers when we arrived. It only takes one to get the ball rolling – and yip – it was me. I could not resist putting all the kids to shame – even with my white undercoat and flab this rusk still has some guts 🙂

We left the group at the bridge, as they were returning to Yangshuo via the main road, we wanted to cycle the opposite river bank and head off to Moon Hill. A chance for a little adventure – boy did we get it !

Our map was beyond useless and in retrospect we must have taken a wrong turn very early on. Eventually we decided that we must be heading the wrong way and sure enough the gps on my phone confirmed it. Now out in the middle of knowhere, baking in the heat and running out of water we were both getting a little nervous. Our only options were to head all the way back or push on. We decided to push on. The road soon became a track and before long we were cycling through farmland and into rural villages. We hit a number of dead ends and spent ages doubling back and cutting across rice paddies and through pomelo orchards with no idea where we were. The few locals dotted around were always friendly but probably thinking ‘stupid tourists’ as they plucked their chickens and watch us pedal past.

The tracks kept leading us geographically futher away from Yangshuo and keeping our bearings surrounded by monstrous karst mountains was a nightmare. Out of water and getting late we were starting to panic a little. Relief came in the form of an isolated building with a fridge and a willing shop assistant. With water replenished and some idea of directions we pushed on into more built up farm areas until finlly we came to what you could call a road. A group of Chinese tourists were riding along and we confirmed the directions back home – only another 10km or so on busy roads !

So after about 40km riding (20km of which was getting lost and found) and not finding Moon Hill, I have never been happier to see a cold shower and a hard bed (BTW. Think I forgot to mention that the beds here are very hard – basically sleeping on a plank). We have the bikes for one more day – oh please let it be pouring with rain tomorrow 🙂

[Pictures: 1,2) Us out on trail before we got worried and lost all interest in photography. 3) Back on track – theme park on the main road – climb for a teddy bear ! PS. Some more pics from the day in the gallery shortly]

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