肇兴 (Zhaoxing) is another Dong minority village in the middle of beautiful paddy fields in Guizhou province. The sun finally decided to come out and play, leaving me a bit sun-burned (nothing that a bit of 米酒, the local rice wine, couldn’t remedy).
肇兴 (贵洲) [8 May 2008]
Butterflies & thistles
Plowing
MZ
Paddy fields
Paddy fields
Shrine
Child
Drum tower
Butcher shop
Dong village
Terraces
Farmer
肇兴
Dong performance
Dong performance
Me, Mao, and my drinking friend
MZ and silver seller
Drum tower
Dong cloth
Plowing
Our accident
8 May / 20:26 (Liping, Guizhou) - Killing a bit of time in the city of Liping, somewhere in southern Guizhou province. Didn't really intend to end up here, and I am not looking forward to a seven hour bus ride to Kaili tomorrow, but sometimes there are no buses going where you want to go when you want to go (especially in this part of China). Found a 20RMB bed in a small daisuo (Chinese hostel, not supposed to take foreigners, but they decided my $3 US was worth the risk), and I had some Over-the-Bridge Yunnan noodles for dinner. Tried to find a newspaper, but nobody in this town had one.
Yesterday, I made it back into San Jiang in the afternoon only to find that there was no way that my original plan would work (mainly because roads don't actually exist even though they may be on a map). Instead, a hard-working bus driver convinced me to take his bus to Long E, a small town from which I could quickly catch a bus to Zhaoxing, a beautiful Dong city. The plan would have worked, if the bus hadn't left three hours late (forgot to change the tire, check the alignment, and buy some veggies - opps), the road had existed (mud-wrestling, with a chicken truck from Hunan stuck for ten minutes in front of us), and we hadn't stopped every hour for everyone to get off, take a piss, and buy another pack of cheap smokes. Anyway, we made it to Long E around 10PM at night, and a local returning home (working in Guangdong for the year). The hostel was fine, except for the giant cockroach in the bathroom.
In the morning, I woke up early, but not early enough. Missed the first bus to Zhaoxing, so I sat on the curb and made myself an attraction for all the students walking to school by reading my book. Bus finally came, and I got to Zhaoxing, found a place to stash my bag, and started hiking to Tang'an to see some paddy fields. The hike was tiring, and then I got lost on the way down so managed to scare a few cows, snakes, and farmers before making it back to Zhaoxing.
In the town's performance area, several locals were putting on a performance when I returned. No free alcohol this time, but I did get up and dance with them for a bit. Afterwards, I was a bit hungry, so I looked around for a restaurant. Right near the performance area, I found what looked like a pleasant restaurant and walked in. Unfortunately, it was actually a Dong family sitting down for lunch. When I asked them where I could get food, they told me to join them. After resisting a few times, I decided it could be a good experience and joined them. The food was pretty good, but the mijiu (rice alcohol) came out quickly. Before I knew it, I had either become fluent in Mandarin or a bit drunk! The meal ended when the men had to return to school to teach the afternoon classes, so I wandered out to buy a few things and walk to the next town.
After spending half an hour talking with an old lady and bargaining for a silver bracelet, I started down the road to the next town where I could catch a bus to Rongjiang. The walk was quite pleasant, with the sun beating down on me as I happily sang and walked along between rice fields and cows. When the alcohol started to wear off, I found myself in the next town. Unfortunately, all the buses to Rongjiang had already passed, so I headed north to Liping instead. And the rest is history...