After a lot more traveling on buses, I finally made it to Langde Shang, a small Miao minority near the Miao autonomous region capital of Kaili. The evening was spent with some friendly Chinese and one Frenchman, and I got to see the Miao in their costumes in the morning.
浪德上 (贵州) [9-10 May 2008]
Village
Selling silver
Kids
Goose
Cleaning veggies
Fields
Kitchen
Village
Corn
Sharpening blade
Field
Farm women
风雨桥
Pig & woman
Weaver
Silver seller
Miao girls
Welcoming guests
Welcoming guests
MZ & Miao girls
New friends
25 May / 16:15 (Midlothian, VA) - OK, so I let this journal drag on a bit too long. Back in the States now after a few crazy days in Beijing and the end of this May trip. After Liping, I took a bus to Kaili, the capital of the Miao autonomous region. The bus was almost twelve hours, and very slow (we got passed by two other buses going to the same destination along the same route!). As we were getting into Kaili, I saw what looked like a Miao town market, and I decided to come back out of town to see the market. I quickly hopped on another bus to Langde Shang, a town slightly farther than my market (which was closing when we passed it). Walked a few kilometers to the town as the sun was setting, and got to the town around 18:00. I wanted to find a guest house in which I could spend the night, but I first ran into an old lady who needed some help moving a big bag of seed. After helping her, she told me that her son had a guesthouse where a Frenchman was already staying with some Chinese people. It turned out the Frenchman didn't speak any Chinese, so two Chinese had volunteered to lead him around for a few days if he taught them English.
After dropping my bags and arranging a time for dinner, I trekked up to the paddy fields above town to get some sunset pictures and stretch the legs after a long day of bus sitting. On the way back, I experienced the kindness of the Miao people. While trying to sneak through the backyard of a local's house to get back to the main road, I was "caught" and invited inside by the owner. I left after a few minutes, but I am sure he would have fed and housed me for free if I had been in need. I came back to the village around 7:30 and sat with the family while they made dinner (including the delicacy of snail stew). The Frenchman, his two Chinese "guides" (a local Miao college girl and her uncle), and I ate dinner together, after which we watched some Miao music videos he had purchased during his travels. I was pretty tired, so I crashed pretty early, after a quick bathroom run which also involved some serious star-gazing.
The next morning, I was up early and running around the hills like a billy goat. I climbed to the top of a nearby village and then came back to the original village across a creek. I knew I had to get back to Kaili to catch a bus to Guiyang and a flight back to Beijing, but I didn't want to leave. Around 10:00, a busload of tourists arrived, and I got to see the Miao women don their traditional elaborate silver-laden costumes before departing. The afternoon was spent on buses and in the Kaili market getting some food as I was headed to Guiyang for my flight.
There was one rather annoying hiccup on the way as I found out that I had forgotten to fax the ticket confirmation back to eLong (imagine finding a fax machine in the rural villages where I had been exploring!), so I had to buy the ticket on the spot for about 300RMB more than I had been expecting. In the evening, I made it back to Beijing, just in time to catch Simon and Jo's birthday near the Forbidden City. I was happy to be back, but this trip definitely left some strong and lasting memories!