Longhair, Screamers, and The Dragon's Backbone!

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I know you all read the title of the blog and are thinking, "What the heck...?" All will be revealed, fear not! First off, though, allow me to apologize for the lapse in writing. While I did not get full-blown illness like Jeremy did, I too was dealing was vicious nausea and the lingering effects of my head-cold for the past few days. Second, let me assure everyone that we are in fact feeling much, much better, after basically two days of bed-rest. And third, we appreciate all the comments that it's time for Jeremy to get a haircut - this we know, however; seeing as though we are in ASIA and probably couldn't find a barber shop if we tried (nor would they know WHAT to do with that mop of curly hair), we will be waiting til we rejoin the western world in New Zealand!! Then we're both signing up for thorough post-backpacking makeovers, we promise. So please bear with our shaggy hair and traveling grunge, as we're doing the best that we can under the circumstances!

Well, we didn't write for two days because, honestly, there wasn't much to write about. Two days ago we slept in late and then caught the bus back to Guilin, back to our beloved Wada Hostel (the one with all the bamboo and the cute puppy Jutao!)...and basically slept for going-on 24 hours straight, minus a few hours to call our concerned families and assure them we were alive and recouping. Yesterday we finally managed to stomach some food here at the hostel - eggs, toast, fruit, and yogurt, and started feeling much much better. In the afternoon we simply walked across the street and discovered a six-story shopping complex, where we mindlessly wandered and laughed at the throwback-80's fashion statements (remember crushed velvet and pleather?). Last night we headed back to the river and (we couldn't help it) treated ourselves to more $3 massages to soothe the bedsores and aching muscles! Ate at a cozy cafe' next-door to the massage place, where we downed homemade vegetable soup and gigantic pots of cinnamon-ginger tea...

And on that note, I must take a moment to write an Ode to Chinese Tea. A finer thing there never could be. Seriously. I will never be able to go back to our little tea bags again. Our ginger tea came out last night in a big pot LOADED with chunks of fresh-sliced ginger the size of your fist!! No joke!! Hot, spicy, superb...would've LOVED it the three days prior when we both had upset stomachs, but hey...better late than never. The rose and chrysanthemum teas we had in Xi'an too, were incredible. They just throw whatever whole plants/herbs you order into a pot, boil it up, and bring it out. Outstanding. I will miss the tea when we leave, for sure!!

Anyway. Last night we both slept terribly and had very strange nightmares (too much ginger maybe?), so it was unfortunate we'd booked an early tour this morning to the Longji Rice Terraces. It was even more unfortunate that we'd misunderstood the pick-up time yet again and stood around waiting an extra 45 minutes before we were finally picked up...ah, welcome to China. But at last we were whisked away by comfy air-conditioned coach and (shockingly) a bilingual guide!! Well, sort of bilingual, anyway. You really had to strain to hear what Nick was telling you (yes, his name was Nick)...something about stopping for a bass-room break and lots of ax-pinching in the Yao Village if they liked you...well, whatever. We were along for the ride, come what may of basses and axes!

Two hours later, we are in the legitimate middle-of-nowhere. The place we stayed at in Yangshuo looked like Manhattan compared to this village! It's so remote, in fact, that it was not discovered by the outside world until 1997!! Can you imagine that there are still places in this world where an entire group of people are not even known to exist until twelve years ago? They've been named the Red Yaos by the Chinese, a tiny village completely self-sustaining on the mountains, rice terraces, and stream that runs through their valley. The village is managed entirely by the women there (the men stay inside and cook and clean!). The women never cut their hair over the course of their lives; apparently some have had hair over six feet long! Their hair is a symbol of status - single girls keep their hair covered at all times until their wedding day, and their husband is the first to see their hair revealed. Then they have different styles of hair knots to symbolize if they've had children and how many they've had. This was all revealed and explained in the show we watched - part of which we enjoyed, though it partly feels elitist, too, not quite like an exploit but close. Apparently the government is paying some of the villagers to stay there and cater to the tourists, so I have to wonder if they'd be better off, in a way, if they were still undiscovered and could continue their traditions without a thousand tourists a day sticking cameras in their faces. But, at any rate, it was interesting and entertaining, and we got the promised "ax-pinching" on our way out of the shows, which caused riotous laughter among all.

After the show we had two options - we could take a "screamer" minibus or a "no-screamer" minibus up the mountain to Ping'an village, where the famed rice terraces were. Feeling brave, we stepped aboard the screamer bus. How best to describe this road? If you took the backroads of West Virginia, the seaside Road to Hana in Maui, and the treacherous cliff-side Amalfi coast highway, threw them all in a blender, and sprinkled in some bamboo and one crazy Chinese driver, you might have an inkling of how ridiculous this road is!! No guard rails, more switchbacks than I've ever seen in my life, sheer cliffs on either side, and a driver who seemed to think he was the next big Nascar star. It was a wild ride, I'll say that much - more nervous giggling than screaming, but it was quite fun.

At last we arrive in Ping'an at an elevation of 3,000 feet and begin the ascent into "The Dragon's Backbone," as they've named the wildly beautiful and exotic rice terraces that cover the impossibly steep terrain. Lunch in the village consisted of their traditional bamboo roasted chicken and rice, literally stuffed into hollowed-out bamboo and roasted over an open flame. Pretty tasty, but definitely not filling enough for the hours of hiking to follow! The afternoon disappeared in a blur of "ooooh's" and "aaaaah's" over the mountains and terraces - even in the autumn, when they're not quite as lush as other times of the year, it's still a sight to behold. We wandered for hours, snapped more photos than should be allowed by law, tried some wild honey chopped right off the comb, bought some beautiful handcrafted jewelry, and enjoyed the chilly air that was sweeping in from the north.

Upon arriving back in Guilin, we bundled up (the arctic wind from Beijing finally caught up with us down here, and the temp was plunging into the 40's) and headed out to what turned out to be a lackluster dinner in a different part of town. We've been quite fortunately with our meals, overall, and have had some really good ones, so I guess we were due to have one that wasn't so great. My throat was getting a little scratchy from being in the wind all day, so we called it a night, chatted with our Scottish roommates for a while (who, surprise, surprise, came across the Trans-Siberian...I'm noticing a trend here)...

And soon we will be checking out, heading to the train station, and going six hours south to Nanning, where we're splurging on a ACTUAL hotel for the night - not that we've minded the hostels, of course, they've been quite pleasant - but an actual bed and a real bathroom (not a shower-toilet-sink-in-one) sounds just lovely for one night before we cross into Vietnam sometime tomorrow. So!! Unless anything really exciting happens in the next two days in transit, we'll catch you in a few from Hanoi, Vietnam!!

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Comments

[Sam]

Amazing
Not discovered till 1997?! That's amazing! Glad to hear you both are feeling better. Keep the posts coming.