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Published: July 14th 2007
June 7 - 9
Morning on the train I was trying to figure out how far the bus station from the train station to catch a bus to Kaili. A girl was sitting across from me and I asked her if she knew which bus to take to Kaili. Now I can't remember if I asked in horrible chinese or in english. Probably in english but I would like to think I used chinese😊 She told me she was goign to Kaili and that I could come with her. Sweet deal! She introduced herself as Rabbit. She was visiting friends in Chengdu and was on her way home, back to Xijiang. She's originally from Guangzhou but moved to Xijiang to open a shop (later, I found out that I totally misunderstood her about owning a store). She didn't even visit the town before moving there, just looked in a China book, fell in love with the pictures, picked up her life and moved it to Xijiang!! I have much respect for that.
Xijiang was where I originally intended to visit but didn't think I would have enough time but Rabbit convinced me, which wasn't very hard to do,
to go back with her. Apparently there isn't too much to do and see in Kaili and I'm glad just by the looks of the city when drove through to yet another bus station. I know. I know. You can never judge a city just by it's looks. I, of all people know you have to get out beyond the town/city limits to see real beauty.....most times. Anyway. Xijiang would be more interesting because of the Miao people and their embroidery and silver ornaments. Supposedly this is said to be the largest Miao village. Since my plans had once again changed, I needed to take out cash before going to Xijiang because there were no banks or ATMS beyond Kaili, not until Guilin in Guangxi! So I needed cash that would last me til then. Well, the ATM in Guiyang didn't work and almost ate my card. Figured I get money in Kaili. I'm glad I was with Rabbit, a native speaker because I would have had a lot more problems finding the damn Kaili bus. It wasn't even a bus station where we got on but just a load of buses parked on the side of the road with
the drivers shouting out the destination of the bus (plus the city name on the bus but in chinese!). The Kaili bus was 40 RMB and took 2 hours. We wanted to get some food before getting on the bus destined for Xijiang which only left us 30 mins. The next one was in 2 hours. So food won out over me going to the bank! We got some mantou and sesame seeds (gua zi). That probably wasn't the smartest idea but I figured that I would be back in Kaili either the next of in a couple of days to take another bus further south to Zhaoxing. I had around 300RMB to tide me over which was way more than enough. Here I was thinking that it was only an hour from Kaili to Xijiang since that is what the "Lying Planet" says, well it wasn't. It was 3 fuckin' hours to Xijiang (2 hours to Leishan). So my thoughts of backtracking to Kaili didn't look so appealing anymore and now I wished I had more money with me!
The scenary was beautiful. So lush and green. And the rice terraces were amazing....so different from Vietnam. There were
so many, a lot broader, and covered the entire hillsides. What I kept thinking of was how they resembled stairs of a gaint. Rabbit pointed out Xijiang as we came around the last bend of the mountain towards the village. Xijiang village with its wooden houses is set in a valley and built up along hills, surrounded by rice terraces. It was absolutely breathtaking. It ended up being another full day of travel pretty much something I wasn't expecting thanks to the "Lying Planet". It was around 4pm when we got to Xijiang. Stepping off the bus, I took a deep breath and my lungs filled with fresh crisp clean air. It was great. Walking along the main cobblestoned street, well it is the only main street, with wooden houses on both sides brought us to Rabbit's "shop" which wasn't a shop at all but her guesthouse! I totally misunderstood....jezuz a flippin' guesthouse! She apologized for the dirtiness since she hasn't been in 2 weeks. She showed me to my very sparse room (bed and night table) and I asked about shower and laundry. All I cared about was taking a nice shower. I had to wait at least 20mins
for the hot water tank to heat up. Laundry she said she'd do with the clothes she had to do too. I inquired to the room rate and the laundry but she wasn't having any talk of money. She said you are a friend and friends don't pay! That was super cool of her but I felt bad about not paying. I did not get the hot shower I was hoping for. It was a little nippy in Xijiang too so that didn't help but it felt great to be clean. After Rabbit showered we talked about dinner. She usually cooks, the GH has a kitchen, but she happened to have misplaced the key to the kitchen. She and I looked everywhere but she was completely baffled. We went out to a place she always eats when she does goes out. I noticed there weren't many options for food in Xijiang. I had a very tasty mixed vegetable spicy fried rice....goddamn was it good! Just the right amount of spicy too. Walking back to the GH, the street was bustling with life. I grabbed my camera and took a little walking tour of the village. The kids were out in
droves doing everything possible, playing cards (a little too much like the adults), playing with marbles, paper airplanes, spare tires, splashing in puddles, etc. It was awesome. To be a kid again.......
Back in my room, I was looking forward to just relaxing and reading more of my book (which I bought in Saigon and haven't touched since then). But I couldn't exactly do that because of the nasty, huge spiders on my wall. Okay, I normally do not get squirmish with creepy crawlies...well maybe I do but I it's not like I freak out and have to get someone to kill it or remove it. I kinda shudder and do it myself...not kill (depends on what it is - flies, earwigs, ants yes I will kill) but humanely dispose of the creature outside. These suckers though.....one was the a bit bigger than my palm, flat, and could potentially be jumpers. And both were right close to my bed. Uh no thanks. I asked Rabbit if I could change rooms since I her only occupant. I also used the excuse to help my case that I would rather like a room not facing the street because of the noise
This spider doesn't look big and scary but it was!
It was the size of my palm...maybe a little bigger! And there were two of them!!level, which was actually quite loud so I wasn't lying😊 Comfy in my new, spiderless room, I caught up on my budget record and I don't think it was even 10 when I fell asleep.
Rabbit and I went for breakfast the next morning however, she usually just eats the deep fried dough and those kill my stomach so I opted for some noodle soup. She asked for no meat for me and went to eat her breakies. As I was sitting there watching this woman prepare others soups, I noticed she'd add "extras", most likely MSG. So with my mandarin book in hand, I asked her kindly "bu yao fang weijing" (i'd like it without MSG). She understood! YAY! The soup was nice and spicy too, I made sure of that when I was talkin' to her. Didn't do much for the first half of the day cause it was rainy but it wasn't hard rain, more like misty, "wet" rain (those at home u know what I'm talkin' about right?). It looked like it was going to snow any second....So I kept Rabbit company in her front office. I asked if she needed help with cleaning the
GH since she hasn't in some time but she declined...this time. She let me check email and a couple of times when I was behind the desk on the internet and she was sitting to the side and tourists would come in, they would look at me, say shit in chinese then leave. Rabbit told me that they thought I was her boss! Hahaha funny. Once the rain partly subsided, Rabbit saw that her friend was heading into the fields for work. She asked if I wanted to go with her, follow her into the rice terraces. I was down with that cause that is what I have been waiting for for a while now....seeing workers up close in the paddies. Another elder lady was coming as well. They laughed that I was coming and said to Rabbit that they didn't know my language. Ha. I didn't know there's either so it was all good. Both woman carried the baskets with the wooden bar across their shoulders, the elder with rotten cabbage and the others was empty. We stopped first for the elder woman to throw some fo the cabbage into the paddies as fertilizer. Stopped for some pics of
a man knee deep in the paddy harvesting who was very cheerful and liked getting his picture taken. The ladies stopped these boys carrying a bag full of some sort of small fruit that was a cross between an apple and plum in taste and texture but was small like a cherry? They gave me some to try and it was tasty! Man I followed these ladies up the hillside, pretty damn far too! The older one split off at one point and I continued along with the other where eventually she stopped and motioned to me that she will be clearing part of the hill by chopping away branches and shit. I took some pics then continued on my way alone to see what else there was in the hills. I have so much respect for the Miao people, well not just them but all farmers. It is freggin' hard work and the distances these people walk to and from their home to work in their fields, plus the shit they carry on their backs!!! It's crazy. Like everyone that lives in such picturesque places, they probably don't even notice anymore, but I was surrounded by beauty. After the
rains, everything was so green. After taking a lot more pics, and more of the close-ups of insects and water droplets on leaves, I got a rush of exhileration. I was where I wanted to be. I was happy and it felt fuclkin' great. I was almost to the top of the hill but I sat on the edge of one the rice paddies just taking it all in. I would watch woman and men make their way up the hill and be surprised at their agility and speed all the while carrying the two baskets on their shoulders. I don't know how long I sat there but because I was so close to the top, I had to go. There was a road on the top, probably the one I past way down at the bottom of the hill. On the other side was the exact same thing, more rice terraces. On my way back down, I passed the woman I first followed but she wasn't chopping branches anymore but digging in some sort of garden. The guy who was harvesting the rice on my way was still there but now had additional helpers. Don't remember the time I
got back, maybe around 4pm. I later saw the woman whom I followed come back with her baskets full of the chopped branches around 6:30pm.
I had come to the conclusion while on the hill that I wanted to stay another day. Screw it. I thought what is the rush....enjoy the time you have in the places you enjoy. However, it rained more that day and continued all through the night, I figured it would be wise to leave the following day before the roads became impassable. On the way to Xijiang on the bus I noticed how this would be landslide heaven. Instead of heading back to Kaili and taking a bus from there to Congjiang and eventually to Zhaoxing, Rabbit said that I could take a bus to Leishan and from there to Congjiang and onwards. We went to the bus stop to ask more details and the bus driver said that buses to Congjiang don't stop at bus station, just random place on the street. So I asked Rabbit to write the Chinese name of the town on a piece of paper so at least the bus driver would stop first in case I missed his
sign in the window. She and everybody else I told about this had a great laugh. Hey man, I am just being careful😊 Hehehe. I bought 2 bracelets from the shop dealer next door. Xijiang is known for it's silver and I really don't think I bought real silver but I like them nonetheless. Getting up early to catch the 7 o'clock bus, Rabbit came with me just to make sure the bus driver knew I wanted to go to Congjiang and to inform me when to get off. I said my goodbyes to Rabbit, thanking her for everything. It was still pissing rain but I was feeling good. Not even 15 minutes down the road did we stop for another bus, the drivers had a little chat, and I knew as soon as we started to turn around that yup there was no leaving today! And this bus was turning around on such a narrow mountain road with the cliff face inches from the tires...well so it seemed. I was back at Rabbit's guesthouse by 8 banging on the door. I knew that she would be in bed again after seeing me off. I figured that I would just
Cool bugs
Hey mom, these look awfully similar to the Truebug eh? sit somewhere til she got up then the side door opened. It was the neighbor who is renting out the space next to Rabbit's. I tried to tell him that I was already here and that the roads were blocked so I had to come back. I just wanted to sit in Rabbits office til she woke up. This guy kinda creeped me out but later I noticed that he ain't all there. He has some problems. Luckily the door to her office was unlocked and I was able to use her computer to figure out my next course of action. While I was alone for a while this dude came back and sat next to me and just watched. He gave me pieces of paper with chinese writings on it but I told him that I didn't understand. He would pick everything up and look at it as well. I noticed at the corner of my eye that he had my alarm clock that was in my bag against the wall! So he went into my bag and took shit out! I grabbed it from him and gave him a dirty look and I think I might have said
something I can't really recall though. He still sat there watching. Online, I was searching train prices if I were to backtrack to Guiyang and take an overnight train to Guilin. I couldn't lose another day so I thought about time and money and figured that would be the best plan. Even though I hate backtracking but the main reason that I was thinking in that direction was that I didn't know how good the other roads are past Leishan if I continued on to Zhaoxing. Were they highways or were they like the road to Xijiang, sketchy?
Around 10am Rabbit came walking in and definitely surprised to see me! Hehe. Now I definitely had to give her something for her generousity since I was staying another night. I asked again if Rabbit wanted help with the cleaning or anything. She said that I could sweep out my room. Well that wasn't that hard but I did it. The smell of stewing chicken was strong and invading my nose, coming from the neighbors. It smelt sooooooo good. It reminded me of the delicious smells on Christmas Day with the turkey baking in the oven. I was salivating and I
told Rabbit to tell the woman that it smells very nice. I was up in my room when Rabbit called down if I wanted to chicken for lunch!! Yes! Man, was it ever tasty. She had prepared this chicken stew/soup type lunch with potato and veggies and rice. Oh man, I ate too much. I haven't had a home cooked meal like that in a long time.
So I got my extra day in Xijiang however the rain was spoiling it. I couldn't do much of anything. When the rain let up a little, I went to take more pics of the village and it's people. I was walking past a restaurant when I saw the same foreigners I saw earlier in the day walking by the GH. I stopped to chat and they invited me to have lunch with them. I was still way to full but I joined them, only drinking tea and a little of the food which they said I should try since it was a local speciality. Much to my surprise, well not really, the dudes, Scott and Alan, are Canadians from Montreal. Alan works for the Canadian Embassy in Beijing. His chinese is
pretty wicked. Scott is just visiting him and they are just traveling around for 2 weeks. We played some Cribbage without the board. I haven't played that since I was super young with my aunt. They had to refresh my memory of the rules. We didn't end up finishing the game because a heated arguement broke out between Alan and Scott about the rules getting 2 or 3 points if you finish on 31 plus the last card. Well I had no clue, I left it to the veterans of the game to work it out. The arguement was funny at first because it seemed liked they were just bickering but it appeared to get serious and I was feeling a little awkward. After a little cool down, we played Hearts which I apparently suck at as well. They said dinner they were offered a traditional Miao cooking and asked if I wanted to come along. I was interested but said if it was too expensive I couldn't. I told them my circumstances of only having enough on me to get to Guilin. I guess in the back of my mind I was totally set on taking the train and
still really want to see Zhaoxing. Oh ya and more so now since that was the plan of Alan and Scott. It would be much better to do it with someone else and not alone. So again I was undecided! About dinner, Alan said not to worry about it that they would pay for me. It was nice of them but I couldn't let them do that. They said it was no problem and insisted. What could I do?!😊
We met up later with another American couple and went for dins. It was a feast. I can't remember all of the dishes now (thats what happens when you try and write a month later). There was talk of politics, religion, and teaching english amongst other things. On our way back to our GH's we went to check out where the funeral horns were coming from. I saw the two guys on their trumpets earlier in the day. Rabbit told me it's a funeral. Supposedly they play all night. We found the home and the trumpet guys but I felt a little weird intruding on the family so I stayed back and just listened. The Americans had a driver and
they offered a ride out of Xijiang tomorrow if it's possible by another road but they couldn't guarantee they would make it. Alan and Scott weren't sure what time they would be leaving for Congjiang but if I finally decided what I was doing they would try and get a hold of me or I them. I was not looking forward to the music all night but I guess I was really tired cause it didn't wake me up.
Having said my goodbyes to Rabbit last night, leaving 20RMB and some Canadian souvenirs, I left her sleeping as I walked to catch the 8am bus back to Guiyang....I finally made the decision and felt good about it! Arriving at the bus station, Alan and Scott weren't there. I wondered when they were heading to Congjiang. Shen Han-Ming who I met the previous day while playing cards with the other two was waiting for the Leishan bus - to go to Congjiang. He told us of his plans which were very similar to all of ours...well my orginal plan of going to Zhaoxing that is. He is from Hangzhou (well small town outside city), Zhejiang province but has been living
and working in Singapore for the last 15 years. He is an associate professor at NUS doing cancer research. Well in the end, I saw the Guiyang bus leave and I was on the bus to Leishan! Hell I figured it would be better to go with someone than by myself, especially if I had to face shit like landslides, or whatever else. And as you can guess from his name, Han-Ming (HM), he freggin' chinese so ya that always helps😊. His plans were somewhat different in that he was wanting to spend a night in Congjiang, and doing a day trip to some place which I forget the name now. Then going to Zhaoxing a couple days after, spending 2 nights at least. Since the main road was still blocked by landslides, we were taking the one "back" road, which takes is a helluva lot longer. It dawned on me that I may not have enough money to get me by until Guilin!! I did a quick budget and figured if I limit myself to 15rmb/day for food, didn't spend more than 10rmb on accomodation, etc then I should be fine. I was way more than okay I think
but for those who know me I get pretty stressed about money. The bus ride was uneventful, thank god! HM asked if I wanted to split a car ride to Congjiang instead of taking a bus. It would be 150RMB each. I told him as much as I wanted to, I couldn't budget that. I am limited in my funds for this part of the trip. It seemed like he really wanted to rent a car because he told me he would pay for it and not to worry. Well I guess I could've taken the bus from Leishan to Congjiang since I really didn't want him to pay for me but hell....when does an opportunity come up? (Actually same thing happened in Vietnam - Tianne and Jody asked if I wanted to ride with them from KonTum to Hoi An).
I couldn't let HM pay for me so I thought about giving him what it would have cost me to take the bus, which he later suggested. No prob. OMG the drive was kinda brutal. I've never really felt nauseated in a car, except when I read, but this driver man.....He would basically speed then jam on brakes
around the bends of the mountains. Weeving. All the while blasting chinese techno...which normally is fine by me since I like all chinese music but when it repeats over 10 times....ya it gets a little old. About 45 km from Congjiang, the first landslide (rocks)! We were able to get around that one but we were told there was a second one further up. Yup there sure was!! This one we could not get passed....all mud. That was the end of our "comfortable" drive. A minivan was waiting on the other side of the mud slide for people to take to town. We were told it was 10RMB each. I thought maybe we could take this all the way to Zhaoxing in one day! Well that would be 100RMB total! Like me, HM was pretty flexible in his itinerary so that is what we did. The minivan was packed with a whole family in the front and us "foreigners" in the back with more room. The guys were talking to Han-Ming and I totally caught the word "laopo". I just looked at HM and said something like, "what they think I'm your wife?" He just laughed cause that is actually
Miao Village
Homes built up along the hillsides what they asked. Ha...an older chinese man with his young white wife. The same guy guessed my age, 16 years old!! Ya sure, not only would that be a little disturbing...I just don't look 16...come on...please! So this is where it starts, first, I'm HM's wife, next it will be he's my tour guide......oh the list goes on and becomes a joke between us.
The first half of the ride was horrible. With no more shocks and very bad road, we were bouncing everywhere in the back. I ended up with a sight sore spot on the side of my head where I kept bumping on the safety handle thing. We got a flat tire and waited about 30mins for them to fix it. I used one of the worse toilets EVER....well I thought it was the worse ever...read next blog) but maybe I can't compare because this was more like an outhouse. So the worse outhouse EVER! There were swarms of flies on the shit (literally) in the hole. I knew as soon as I started peeing it wasn't going to be good. They would be disturbed, angry, and the chances of them flying UP and touching my
precious and other private areas were quite good. Me no likey! I got out of their as fast as I could hoping I didn't trap a fly in my panties as I pulled them up! I actually thought I had because I thought I felt movement "down there" so I had to feel around but it was just my imagination playing tricks on me. More disgusting things, there were so many huge spiders with their homes on the powerlines. Holy gross but fastinating. By the time I finished the lychees HM bought in Congjiang, we were on our way again. Fuckin' love lychees and yangmei!! So good!
It was dark by the time we got to Zhaoxing. Of course the driver tried to screw us out of more money. He was saying it was 160RMB not 100RMB. Not too sure the gist of it since the heated discussion was in chinese between HM and the driver. I would have just given him the 100RMB and walked away but HM is nice and gave him 110RMB for the 10RMB after the landslide. We got a GH that was 10RMB/night/room with shower/toilet down stairs. I was cool with it since it
was another flippin' whole day of travel anything would have been good as long as it fit my budget😉
Goddamn this flippin' blog took forever to write! 3 more to go. BOH!
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