story of Yuanyang

---

01/06/05

Strange...people doesn't seen surprised to see me again, it was kind of like I just came back after a few days trip."ah...you are back", just like that, very casual. perhaps 2 years wasn't long enough. There wasn't really big changing in YuanYang, only more guesthouses and restaurants, more shiny water tank and solar plates sprout from the roof top of each building. Backpacker Rendezvous was still there, I mean the building, it was deserted with a sign in front said "For Rent". The bus station was relocated further down the road where used to be an open ground, so...it will involved a bit climbing to the main square when you arrive in town. more houses had been build, which mostly extended its height from the original foundation. there would be a lot of problem with it as they disregard the loading safety, the extensive amount of soil and drainage, but...who care! people seem richer nowaday, but morale and education was the same, hygiene and sanitation hadn't change much. now you need more time to get out of town as it was kind of expanded. villages scene hadn't change much(thank god)! but it seem cleaner than before. heard there was no rain so far this year and it became critical if there was still no water, it would be a serious damage to the crop as I could see there was still a lot of fields hadn't planted yet. Pang was very busy with his works and many little thing, also now he had to took charge of the LuChun office as well, so we didn't have time to discuss our project yet, beside I volunteer to help him to look after the designing work of their new office, and it kept me busy as well. and the rest of time I will looking for familar faces to said hello, Suzuki was still there, he was kind of YY citizen now as he spend a lot of time here in a year, seem like everyone knew him as he could speak fluently Chinese, he took picture sometimes, never know what he was up to but...why would I care? dose anyone still need a reason to stay in a place like this? ...no need!

02/06/05

It was raining heavily last night, and it cause couple of landslide in the area. was it the Man-Made Rain? I saw the truck which carried the rocket launcher yesterday morning, and its bullet could dissolved the cloud into rain. no matter what, it dose help ease a little from the drought situation. We(me, Pang and a regional officer Mr Li) went for a walk from ShingChun through DoYiShu, up the hill through PuDor down to MongPing. it was a pleasant day for hiking as it was cloudy and with some wind. the terraces one again caught my eye, it was just gorgeous, or perhaps it was the impact after 2 years. when we got near DoYiShu then I saw a new dug out road uphill by the side of the road,"it was the new road to Pu Dor". no way...I don't want to believe that and I kept on looking for the small trail further down the road. followed my aged memory we climbed the slope up to PuDor, but it wasn't the same as it lost the remoteness once it could reach by road, but then...the village had been transformed into a better place, better cemented street inside and cleaner public toilet as they could transit material up here now. anyways...it was still an ideal place for our project. we then went down to the county office in DongPu village where we find the officers and show ourself, let them know what we were up to, so they might able to help us in some ways later on. guess they might not totally understand what is ECO tourism but as we are coming from HongKong, they might think it should be something good for them. of course...we are welcome. for us...at least it was our first step, no matter how small it was. still a long way to go!

03/06/05

Suzuki came along for my walk this afternoon, good...as I do need some encouraged along the road because I wasn't feel quite fit today. so I only planned to walk to ChingKou to see what was it like in the culture village now a day. Suzuki was in high spirit as he had never walk on this trail in all these year in YuanYang. we started out from AhFaZhai, everything still familiar to me, through terraces then into a small bush where still seldom entry by outsider, then we landing on the main trail between MaLiZhai and YuanYang, followed the channel we then reached ZhongPiZhai where you could walk down the valley to the other side for MaLiZhai, but we kept on with the channel as our destination was ChingKou, the view open more up as we proceed, there was fields had been planted, but there also many still hadn't plant yet because of the shortage of water, some seeding fields was dry up, and some farmers was busy in directed water into their fields after the in-time rain from the last 2 days. the weather was warmer than yesterday and my mouth was dry from the noodle and tofu which I had ate before the walk. I felt bit tire when we got to ChingKou. hoping to find an ice cold Cola which was the driving force in my head that kept my feet moving into the village. but none...not even an un-cold Cola. but Suzuki was happy to find an ice cold beer. I took a box of juice which indeed made me more thirsty. kids was everywhere, "no school today?" I asked, "no electricity"! we were looking for Mr Bai the dancing teacher, and was told that he went home to his village, but there should be performence each day with or without tourist, "no electricity" was the answer! I got the conclusion that no electricity because of no teacher...haaa...! I wonder what had became to this culture village, there was souvenir shop which sell products from Dali and Banna, houses turned into restuarants and lodges, and they all seem to waiting, waiting for big money fall from the sky I guess. for me the place was full of dead air, or perhaps I should put in a better word...peaceful... instead of dead! or just deserted, an un-managed place which dare to charge 15 yuans for entry, and even double it on holiday. "what next"? Suzuki asked me while my head was still wandering about all the problem in this village. "I want CocaCola"! then I saw the local lemonade BaiNiMon, brought one and set outside the shop and drink. I wonder why I felt so weak and I told Suzuki that perhaps we should walk back. "why not" he said so we move out through the littering trail from ChingKou after my lemonade break. to my surprised that I felt my energy was back and my thirst had been killed. when we got to a junction where Suzuki asked me where the trail lead to, "to MaLiZhai, want to go there"? a "yes" and we walk the valley and made a detour before YuanYang. there was no bridge over the MaLi river, but there wasn't any water there so we stepped stone and cross to another side, a steep climbed for 200m we got to almost dry up watet tank in MaLiZhai. there was many new modern buildings now in this biggest Hani village in the world. Zusuki had been here many time for last few years and many villages recognised him as he gave them back their photos everytime he return. again we took a break in the village shop where I got another BaiNiMon now became my holy water! Suzuki like to spend small money in village as he/we think it was kind of small contribution, so he got a piece of biscuit here, a cracker there. suddenly we heard "BaGaYeLo...BaGaYeLo" from the voice of small kids. no...they wasn't mean any hostility but it was annoying as it seem there was no end with it. Suzuki just smile politely in an uneased manner, I got bit angry so I stop them and made them know it wasn't any good word in that sentence they had just spoke. at least they stop and hope they really understood. we left and not really worry about what had just happened. Suzuki was still in high spirit and he kept greeting people with all the Hani word he knew, regardless of how little it was, like...hard work la, hard work la...going home ah, going home ah... it was fun to see how the villagers greeting us back, like we were just another villagers on our way back home in other direction. after 6 hours we finally got back to YuanYang and this time I rewarded myself with ice cold Cola and followed up with a cool beer.

11/06/05

I was in Kunming the last few days, volunteering as a camera man for the NGO, they had took 7 chosen villagers from YungYang area, and we went to the Kunming Fair, visited well managed agricultural farm, attended training course for cattle raising, visited commercial center and shopping arcade which has handicraft products. the function was intented to open up their eye and mind, let them see with their own eyes what the outside world was like. if this came 10 years earlier, there should be a big impact on the villagers, but as the invaded of television, they had seen many thing even it was from the screen of a plastic box. but still they did learn someting new from the training course and the techniqe of scientific farming, which they all quite eager in asking questions. Kunming had change a bit, cleaner and tidier as the construction work of the railway station had finished. still couldn't find any thing that interest to do in Kunming even it was a rather nice city compared with the rest of China, beside...with most of the people I knew had left...don't really feel like going out! so...spend most of the catching up with the world through TV. tomorrow we will heading back to YuanYang and I was eager to be back in the country side.

16/06/05

Suzuki and I going for hiking this morning but some Japanese he'd met in the guesthouse(4 people) wanted to came along, it wasn't a good idea but once they had show up, it was hard to refused. we decided on the route from DoYiShu then uphill until whenever we want to heading back. today weather was rather un-promising, misty and small rain, but we all in high spirit so we all voted "GO"! the uphill trail from DoYiShu was a bit steep, there was many traffic(people) as it was XingCun market today, as usual I would start my greeting "go to market? or we are going to MuJiZhai!" the local seem please when they heard we are going to their village, once we were over the pass then we began a steep descent, the valley was green with the fresh planted seedings, MuJiZhai was an eight shape village lay within the terrace field, we went through this Hani village and further down the valley into another side of the hill, the climbing then went steady along the side of the mountain, the scene was great on this route, about 1.5 hours later we came to another Hani village HuangXinZhai which held more than 200 families, we took a break there, of course...6 stranger arouse curiosity, people came around, some staring some came forward, usual questioning and answer, someone took us to the local primary school guess they thought we are NGO as he explained to us how primitive the situation was..."there was 2 standrad teachers and 2 temporary"! right...the school was old and a bit run-down, 4 classes from grade one to four, so...4 teachers! we finished our tour in the school and we should heading down hill for our return trip, but Suzuki insisted on more further into DaShan when he heard the local said "about an hour walk"! look at my watch it wasn't 12 o'clock yet, why not! beside...the other Japanese was happy to being guided and could see more, and actually they can walk! so we started off with the direction from the local, it was a bit tricky which went through terraces field, if not with the help from the farmers, we would had lost ourself within the green field. soon we were down to the bottom of the valley, we were surprised to hear the sound of engine, followed the noise we saw a generator and someone was digging mine, he was suspicious and wouldn't told us what he was doing or what kind of mine it was, anyways...I knew there was gold mine in the area, and many had started the business already. it began to rain when we went up hill, steep and slippery, it was a long hike, we all got so muddy and our cloth was soaked when we got to the Hani village XinZhai after 2 hours walk, from here we were not far from the Yao village where I had been 2 years ago, bit by bit my memory of this place came back and I lead them into Yao village, It was encouraging that some people still recognised me after 2 years time, I find my friend Tang in his house, and gave him a problem to try to fix us up in a short notice, he then walk back and fore in his house while searching for a solution, "here 2 beds, the girl can have my daughter's room, upstair has another bed...", still we need 2 more beds, he went out and came 15 minutes later, "one bed available in the school", we felt bad about causing him all this trouble so we told him one can sleep on the floor, we insisted on that no matter how Tang protested about it being improper. but the matter had to settled because he need to went on with his new task...gave us food! we brought 2 chickens and Suzuki got us 5 bottles of wine, we ate our dinning in candle light, why? not for romantic, because there was no electricity, Tang told us they started to dig a road to DaShan 2 years ago, and the construction ruined the power line, no one seem to take any action about it and there was no electricity for almost a year now. I was really surprised and couldn't believe it, how could they sit still for this matter for so long without making any complain, and more strange was no one seem to care, perhaps they were used to the old day with no power supply, because the 1st time they received electricity was 3 years ago. anyway...we ate and drank, we learn some Yao words, and we all appreicated for the kindness and friendliness of our host, when finally we finished our meal and ready for bed that Tang walking out the door with a "good night"!, we suddenly realised...where was his family member? we were so ashamed that his wife, daughter and grand daughter had to stay out somewhere in the neighbour house. just because of us, a bunch of stranger to him, we received just too much for our improper invasion. I slept with a dream later that I was floating in a vast ocean, safety and peacefully under the arm of an angel.

17/06/05

We woke up with a rainy morning, I was a bit sea sick though, guess it was the rice wine. Tang already busy to prepared breakfast for us, I think there was no point to argue, perhaps the better way is to accepted and take what they offer, but still I told him "no rice"! perhaps some boil egg I told him. we were waiting for the rain to stop for our departure, Tang asked us to stay for another day as he said the road would be slippery and difficult to walk, but we think we had already trouble him too much that by noon when the rain stop slightly then we took to the road again, but before we left we gather some money to paid for our sin. I just press it into his pocket no matter how he protest. we left...on the new highway which they said sometimes they would transported material with truck. now I couldn't find the old trail which I had walk on 2 years ago, instead we walk on this longer and boring road, slippery and muddy, it took us more than 6 hours to HuangMaoLeng, then we caught a bus back to YuanYang.





20/06/05

I decided to do a research trip to PuDer which I had chosen for our project. why PuDer...it was right in between the main sight in YuanYang - DoYiShu and MengPing, you could hike through the hill and it offered some dramatic views from the top. pre-arranged by the government officer, they would put me up in one of the villager's house, which was the richest family there as he got the biggest concrete building with aluminium glass window, not much furnitures inside but they do have a big color tv and a pair of huge speakers. only women and childern in the house as men was working in the city and only came back one a year. I was offered a room with 4 bare walls, partly pasted with newspaper, steel wire explosed from the beam, spider web in all corner, at least there was bed which I could recognised, what counted was...I got my own room! PuDer has upper and lower village, which was one of the poorest village in this area(but you wouldn'r realised it when look from outside) with less than an acre of farmland for each person. road accessed only recently but villagers still need to walk as no one own any vehicle. there was a small school in the village which composed with 2 rooms with 4 holes, as there was no windows and doors, and one of this room had turned into the house of a buffalo. in front of this miserable building was a more miserable muddy playground. my memory at once switched back to a lecture in Kunming, the voice of professor Bi came alive again, "how could your mind think and act right in an unsanitary, dirty and miserable place!" and here they call it a school! I had approached PuDer from ChenFuZhuan this time, walking through interesting old buffalo trail with formed like a tunnel with tree shade, the hill top was no farm land which planted with young trees, and guard by villager to prevented unwanted buffalo. from here you could see PuDer villages laid peacefully down rhe valley. there was a funeral going on when I got to the village, but they said no problem and the chief welcome me into his house as I watch they slaughtering a buffalo. they said there would be 5 or 6 buffalo to be killed, not yet counted those killed by their friends and relatives and would brought here later. poor...are they really poor? yes they are...in whatever way, it was what they believe, to offered buffalo for the dead which accompanied him to the other world...so he can farmed again????! the older and more respectable the man was, the more buffalo had to offer, here...the dead man was 85 and I think he must be a respectable man in the village! but no one would though about why spending this huge amount of money when they already so poor, some even put more debt onto their harsh life because of one death. was it the kind of minority tradition we want to preserve? I had no answer.

21/06/05

I had done a little research today with the questionaire which provided by the NGO, they all tried to hide or not answer when being asked what had the own, but was eager to told me what they wanted, they willing to talk about how much they need to spend but kept quiet about how much they could earn, they were ashamed or uneasy when talk about education as most of them was uneducation. they all agreed with the importancy of education for next generation but many of them still not put their child to school, and when asked about to start tourism in the village, they all gave positive answer, but guess they didn't know there were many thing had to be done by themselve, it was the 1st time I was in a village that no one could totally understand mandarin, not even the local teacher. so I try very to made them understand with the help of the government officer who had accompanied me there, "sanitary and cleanliness, honesty and hospitality, and of course...to preserved their tradition and identity are the most important thing that they had to maintain" I said, again...all heads knock. was the chinese word 'developing' could mean something different in the Hani head? yesterday the funeral was for its own villager, but today is for visitor from outside, they told me PuDer had been built about 60 years ago, all families was came from different villages from the mountain below, they said there was many bandits by that time and the government enrolled people to lived up here and gaurd the area, those who willing to stay up here could waived their tax. that was why there would be many visitors when thing happened in PuDer as it was today, there was kind of reception being setup at the entrance of the village, families and friends of the dead, men knee in front and nicely dressed women and hired singer stand behind, group after group of people leading by women professional funeral goer, their presented gifts, pour them wine and offer consolation to the family, followed by a thundering fire cracker explosion then the group moved forward into PuDer and there was another line of people approaching from the hill below leading by a drumer. the night was a kind of party, there was even a make shift shop in front of the dead man house. all women were nicely dressed, it look more like a blind date night than a funeral, all houses had to help to put up visitors and provided foods. the meal including of course...beef! and pork, smoked beacon and different kind of vegetable. a bowl with red color stuff in the middle of all the other dishes, "please try this Mr Tam" they invited me, it was the raw blood from the pig, "no thank you" I told them, they kept telling me how good and tasty it was while picking the dripping red into their mouths, what an offensive scene when I saw them picking at all the other dishes with that same chopsticks, I finished my meal quickly! the night was long as they all seem not wanted to sleep, or perhaps there wasn't enough beds at all, there was noise all night and I visualized red worms swimming in my blood and my stomach feeling funny!

22/06/05

Thank god it was only my psychology, no red worm...no red blood! I was woke by another explosion, "06:30" I look at my watch, I peer outside and I saw blue sky, trousers, shoes and camera I ran outside and up the hill, it was rain and misty the last 2 days, and this morning I might still able to catch the sun rise. up up I ran to the top and was disappointed as I was hoping to see the sea of cloud, but...there was cloud in the sky which block the already raised sun, the rice terraces in DoYiShu could clearly seen, here on this ridge was total green with grass, and you could also view the terraces on the PanZhiHau side, it mean one could see sun rise and sun set on the same spot. of course ...in the morning and in the afternoon! and for compensation there was sea of cloud on the PanZhiHau sidewhich only the hill top could be seen which floating on the white ocean. back down to the village after my morning exploration, the village was already alive again and today the coffin would be buried and the village would became quiet again. I decided to leave so I took another quick meal under their harshly order. I reminded them one again before I left, "you should really try to do something about your own village, make it cleaner and sanitary, if you youself not even willing to put an effort, how dare you expected the other comes to help you!" I told them I wanted to see they made a small step, no matter how small it was, then we will see for the second step. I left the village behind and down the hill and it began to rain again, I look up the sky...yeah...that was what I really need, a shower!

1 Jul 2005
The weather was un-predicted during the week, it already ruined my plan to visit West GungYinShan area with a local yesterday, but this morning the sky was blue when I woke up, so...check on my market list... NuiKokZha...packed my day pack and off to the road, I choose the route from LongShuBa instead of my usual route from TuanJieZhai. I had tried the LongShuBa trail long time ago and it seem like a shorter route. anyway...I left YY in high spirit, down through LaoFengZhai into LongShuBa which was very familiar to me as this part were my usual leisuring walk after lunch. further on is PanLongZhai and from there the road became rough especially after the rain from the last few days. I asked an old man in the village to be sure of the right way, instead of going right down the village as I had remember from my distance memory, he point to the right and told me ring around the valley "down through the stream and up there...and there" he kept pointing with his finger along the imaginery route "and there, there you see, is NuiKokZhai", I told him there should be a way down from here to the valley, and a river crossing, then up hill climbing and will get me to NuiKokZhai, "yes" he said and point to the right next to the public toilet " the old road, we don't walk from there now as the condition of the path is very bad, you shouldn't try this now", I went over and saw a muddy down hill path in black color, which was mixed with all kind of dung as it seen, right...perhaps I should took the old man advice. I thank him and carry on, first I came into a short jungle walk then out into a trail within the terrace field, it was so green and you could see rice began to grow out from the crops, funny was some area up hill were still doing the plantation work couple days ago when I went for a short walk to JinZhuZhai. kept on along the path I came out onto a wider trail and it lead to another YI village YangNuiZhai, from here one could clearly see NuiKokZhai in a distant but still...the local said it would need another 2 hours to get there, followed their direction I picked up another small path went through rice paddy, I wasn't really sure about this road but as long as it was heading to the right direction, I pressing on. I came to a Hani village DuJiaChun, there was a lot of dogs and I hated it, so...a quick consulted then I move on, from here the trail was pretty bad, it was actually a buffalo trail, you should be very careful, otherwise don't tell me when you are into "deep-shit"! finally got down to the valley, a small river...a small rive, not deep but still...I need to walk through it, took off my shoe and I began to picked my way through the exposed stone from the water, but then after my first step I was strand, couldn't find the second rock which was close enough for me to step on, and the water was a bit rush here, the vision of the accident back few years ago came back and I was scare, luckly a villager was nearby and he came to help, he took my hand and lead me through. and that was it, I stepped into the water and it wasn't deep, about a feet I guess but I couldn't do it on my own! I try to put my shoe back on when the man told me there was still one more crossing. "aiya"! and he took me further on a little bit, this one was smaller and shallower, but still he took my hand and guide me through. I gave him my hearty gratitude and move on following his direction, from now on it was all the way up "just follow this path then you will come to the main road, and from there not far to NiuKokZhai" was what the man said. many people were leaving the market on their way down while I was catching on my breath on each step up. NiuKokZhai hadn't change much, but the town seem cleaner and the market seem bigger after all this year, it was still busy even it was almost 1 o'clock, NiuKokZhai is one of the colorful market in YuanYang area as you could see 3 different tribe of hani, and also there is Yi and Dai as well. I followed my usual market ritual, walk a round, bought some fruits from the minority, sat and ate tofu in a BBQ stand, I was surprised that I didn't even feel like taking picture, I walk, I sat, I watch, I observered and I feel good. still...temptation overcame me and I finally brough my camera out. how could I resisted when there was minority people around. chiattt...chiattt..., the shutter flashed and I was satisfied.

8 Jul 2005
Another piece of sad news coming after the terrorist attacked in London yesterday. XiaoYu said she would leave YuanYang this evening when I was having dinner in her restaurant. "when?" I asked, she said tomorrow. "why so sudden?" she said she had considered it for quite some time, she had known many people for the past few years, one is a restaurant owner in GuangDong, and that man would hire her in his restaurant, beside...she said she would like to learn more about how to run a restaurant, and it would be a good chance in GuangDong. "for how long?" I asked, she didn't know, 6 months...a year...or 2 years..."but I will come back, perhaps not to YuanYang". will see, I told her whatever her reason was, I think it was a right decision and she should go, to got away from the man she had live with all this year, as this man never supported her, she work like hell and he only sit and take. XiaoYu always complainted that she had no money left no matter how busy the restaurant was, because Ma, her man had took and spend it all. I had implied to her many times before, "made up your mind!" but since this is someone personal business, I wouldn't go too further to encouraged it. anyways...I bid her good luck and told her to got hold of this opportunity to really learn something, start a new life wherever she will be. I hated farewell scene and too sentimental, so I left her right after I finished my meal. looking back...XiaoYu was almost the first person I met in YuanYang, I had witness how she became a famous image from a nobody, she had work hard to got here and it was a shame that she had to gave up all this to be able to start her new life again. I remember once she told me "I can't just break up with Ma and start another restaurant here, because he will not leave me alone". many times she told me she would leave and finally this time is real. I really wish she would find her happiness and who know...one day my phone ring and XiaoYu voice appear and tell me she has a new restaurant somewhere...!
(and by 2009, my phone actually ring and there was Xiao Yu call me and said she got married and had a child, and...you know already..."I had a restaurant now!" she told me)

18/07/05

I had spend the last 3 days in Sapa with 14 other people from YuanYang County, most of them are from the local government, and the rest are from the guesthouse and restuarant in YY, we spend the first day in Sapa town for its market. it was mostly the same as what I could remember 6 years ago, still dominated by Miao and Yao, the town had been expansed in size, there even a man made lake, getting more and more guesthouses and hotels. it seem more organzied than before, minority girl could get guiding work through guesthouses or arranged through the local tourist office, yes...there was a tourist office, but operated privately by some organisation. and I took Mr. Kwok who is the vice president of the tourist department from YuanYang County, to the center, and told him we should have one tourist office like that back in YY, which could provided services, give out useful information and guiding tour. our group was impressed by the number of crowd, the tourists, the quantity of the handicraft products, they all agreed with the nice looking of the town, but wasn't impressed by the terraces scene as we all believe our terraces are more grand. they all said "if Sapa can do that, how come we couldn't, we had the same ingredient in YuanYang". yes...why? I ask myself, but I had no confident, we Chinese nowaday are greedy, moraleless, we all looking for instant success and miracle, they never thought about how long time it took Sapa became the stage like today. but again...who know, perhaps there really are miracle out there! we spend the second day in a village and stay the night in the minority house, no...we didn't hike, I didn't even try to encouraged them once I notice what kind of shoe they had wear, but then our object was to observed and learn how they run a home style guesthouse in the village. TaVan is a Dai village with less than 20 families, almost every house can provided home stay, instead we find out by the end of the day there was more than 15 westerner stay in different family house inside the village. we did notice how clean is the village compared with ours back in YY, soon we came to the conclusion that the importance to kept the cattles in a centralize place. through the 3 days trip I was happy to see most of our group member are keen to learn and discuss, and it gave me some hope in our project, at least they were willing to listen and seem to agree with our idea. today we are heading back into China, a quick stop in LaoCai and gave the last chance for them to do some shopping. the Vietnam immigration still hadn't change, they never miss a chance to squeeze money out from you, the guy behind the counter kept holding our passport, spoke in broken English and Vietnamese, asked for this and that which was nothing to do with our reentry into China, and I play dumb by speak no English, finally he asked a girl from the tourist counter as interpreter, again...our Chinese passport, we show him, me and Pang, "no, your chinese pass for going back to China!", we told him we don't need, and also for Vietnam, "we had visa for Vietnam!" he kept talk with the girl, then she came over and told us to gave him 50 yuan before she walk away. "what 50 yuan, what for?" we won't gave in and just stand there looking at the man behind counter, sorry, no English, only Chinese. I didn't care , he got nothing on us, all he could do is waste some of our time. he kept flipping the page of our passport back and fore, we kept looking at him, finally he stamped the page and hand us back our passport. asshole!


22/07/05

Instead of going directly back to YuanYang, I took the chance to visit JinPing, the town had became bigger, more houses and a new square. market day was still busy but without the same atmosphere as before, now most of them took place inside a pre-arranged enclosed area. the idea was to keep the town tidy on market day, but still...people were still selling thing all along the street. thing getting a bit expensive in JinPing compared with YY, and shoppers are tend to be more cunning, seem like they wouldn't lost any chances to charge more money out from tourist. I really hate it. went to NaFa today for the market, bit quiet, most of them are ShaYao, bit of Hani and BaoTauYao, more than 3 years I hadn't been to NaFa, as one of the shopper said "it won't change even you come back after 50 years"! change for them mean getting rich, here...even a bit run down(could be more worse on normal day), new buildings could be seen, 2 single table casinos operated openly, custom house on both side was under construction, seem like a sign for new cross-border activity is coming, yeah...if NaFa became another international border crossing for traveller, it might help to boom up the tourist industry in this part of Yunnan. but my only visualization was another HeKou, or...could be worse!

24/07/05

I wasn't really enjoy JinPing this time, perhaps because of the dishonest people that I had encountered. anyways...I skipped the MongLa market as it was rather hot that day, also skipped the TongChang market as it was LaoMong market yesterday too, better stay on the same bus all the way, beside I was feel like coming back to YY, got to LaoMong by 1pm, still an interesting market with all different tribes, a quick look around and was off with a mini-bus. Surprised to find XiaoYu was back in YY, no leaving no GuangZhou??? she always had a reason for not leaving and I didn't have to listen to her explanation. anyways...at least I will still come back to eat in this restaurant from now on.


31/07/05

God...a wall was collapsed on the torch festival playground last night, heard injured many people and 9 got kill so far. but you won't realised anything had happened last night excepted you heard the siren of the ambulance, people was still milling into the playground, the show must go on I guess as this year you need to buy ticket to be able see the preforming show. and firework went off by midnight, bit late I guess but who care...the street was still full of people, many people had no place to stay as every guesthouse was full. I was wondering what kind of celebration it was, people just walk about...up and down the street, the main square were full of uninteresting stupid games which rewarded you with cigarette or drinks. only the Yao youngster had an obviously intention...looking for lover! Today is YY market day, so the town got more crowded with more people walk up and down with no particular reason, guesthouse and food stall owner are the happier within this few days I guess. torch festival has no character here, just a big commercial market, and the whole town just turned into a huge garbage bin. I hate festival...be more precisely...I hate government organised festival!

15 Aug 2005

The window was shaking, the table, the bed which I was laying on was shaking. was it...I grasp whatever belonging neraby and ran out the door, an old man came down from 6th floor, looked worried and said "do you feel that?" without answer we ran down stair and off the building.(news travel slow in this area, later I find in newspaper said earthquake had struck WenShan, think it was only the after effect that I'd experience today, thank god) strange...not many people notice any sign of the earthquake. today is the 60th year of memory for the surrender of Japanese army from the 2nd world war, speeches...ceremonies, heaven and earth rolling in through every media, no way you could avoid it, was there any other news? yes...Israeli moved out from Gaza ...Iran go ahead with its neuclear power plan...the space shuttle came back safety to earth... a ministry got assassinated in Sri-Lanka(notice the news because someone I knew live down there at the moment)...again, another coal-mine collapsed in Guangdong which killed more than 120 people... rain flooded the highway between ZhongDian and LiJiang which stranded more than 2000 tourist, mostly are Chinese... and of course...the new football season had begin! and again, when walk out the street in YuanYang, you feel nothing, no one know or care about what the world going on. they all go about at their own business, like now...tourism! adding more structure on top of the original building for more rooms to rent out, all setup nicely sign in Chinese and English, which might catch up with the Indian as the words they used were rather interesting, a good laugh on a boring day for me! a bit moody lately as there wasn't any progress in our project, prehaps I was just too eager to see the fruit while I wasn't really start planting yet. cool down boy!!! back few years ago, you see 5 or 6 tourists in a month, now you see 5 or 6 tourists in a day. and they are mostly French, especially this month, full of them in town. seem like YuanYang soon will find its page in every guidebook.

18 Aug 2005

I had an argument with Suzuki the other day while we were hiking to YiWanShui, I went there because I had some photos to delivered to some villages, not realised Suzuki had thing to delivered as well, not until we was inside the village when suddenly kids and women ran out from their houses when they spot us, actually they saw only Suzuki I guess. but they were all arms stretch out, palm open, beside the yelling and happy face, it was no different from begging, then I saw Suzuki open his bag and gave them some candy each. I suddenly felt sad and angry. I just walk away and looking for the family which I got their photos. I saw gratitude and happiness from the eyes as they wouldn't believe people would took the trouble to walk couple of hours into the mountain and gave them their pictures which they most likely had forgotten. my anger went down a bit, later I had a discussion with Suzuki after we left the village, I asked him why he gave out candy in this way while in the village, "don't you know it will encourage begging?" he told me he came here quite often(me too!!!!) and it would be polite to bring something. but I said "if you was trying to get acquainted with the people, the SOMETHING you mean to bring here is call PRESENT, not like giving out thing without a reason. if you giving them candy is out from sympathy, you should do it the way like sharing, to share with them mean a lot better than to give them in this way. see...it wasn't you that they seen when they ran up to you, they saw only the THING inside your bag, it would mean something if they came running to you with a happy face because it was you". but he won't listen and said "that's my way of dealing thing with, and beside...I need to take picture". it got me more fury with this picture taking purpose, I told him " you are so selfish and you got no right to did that. I will not hike with you again, not until you stop giving out thing for the purpose". we didn't talk to each other much for the rest of the hike. though we came across each other often in this small town, but we had only short conversation after the incident. and everytime I saw him there was an image of a virus spreading through the villages in YuanYang coming into my head, and thought about those Japanese tourists he took to hiking sometimes, if they all did the same wherever they went....my heart raging and blood pressure UP! I was hoping every night when I saw him in the restaurant, and he will came over and tell me he realise it was a mistake. but...was it????? was it wrong for him? I had no answer...again!!!


24/10/05

The first cold day in the year. together with fog and rain, real freezing, it sends me dig deep in my backpack for scarf and hat. Not much has been done in our project so far. still preparing hiking trip. guiding is a problem, there are not many young people can speak English, even when we did found some, they are not willing to walk, as it was 2 days ago, we recruited LiShong, a Hani girl who was study English in a college in Kunming, and now waiting for work at home in YuanYang. another Yi girl LongFung from a village near DouYiShu, she had just finish study in HongHe college, same no work at the moment. so...together with them we guide Rob, A Belgium man we met in town for a training trip, LiShong was a bit shy at the beginning but after we encourage her to speak out, then she was great in the job, and also the area we was hiking is where her family come from, so she was comfortable with the villager as she knew almost everyone. but the other girl LongFung was quiet all the way, I could see that she had no confident, I was wonder what was it like in school, how they teach their student, LongFung had been study English for 3 years, and look at her now, she couldn't even understand when Rob ask her name. I know it was difficult for a young girl with no experience with foreigner. but with all our encouragement under this gentle and friendly atmosphere, and still she refused to open her mouth. what can we do? we set for another trip yesterday but LongFung didn't show up, and we didn't even know where she went... disappeared! later her father told us she went to GeJiu. still LiShong came along, and she brought along with LiNa, her classmate in high school. why not...as we need more new blood for our guiding team. and this time I send Jacky to guide Rob, as he was willing to hire our guide for the day, so they set off for BaDa area. it should be a good hiking as the weather was fine. 5pm I saw Jacky and Rob came back but without the other 2 girls. "they left after climbed up from MaLiZhai, they were tired, so they wanted to come back earlier"! Rob said it was a good hike and Jacky did a great job. think from now on I can trust Jacky to guide on his own. see...the only success in this project so far is we trained our first local guide. later that night we found LiShong and she told us she want out, she said it was too hard for her to walk like this, and of course...LiNa too! we told her it was only because she was not used to hike at the beginning, give yourself some time and you should be ok, but she wouldn't give in. again... what can we do? perhaps I could design some short half day trip for her, or assign her work in the tourist information counter, will see...still...English speaker not esay to find here!

26/10/05

We had the first assignment for our guiding team from a small travel agent today. 2 French, Patrick and Cristina, a nice couple on a 3 weeks trip in Yunnan, YuanYang is their last destination of their tour, and the weather was great today unexpectly as it was still raining yesterday, so they really enjoyed the hike. we started early for the sunrise, through heavy mist we didn't put up much hope, still we saw the sun rose from behind cloud at last, sun light with layer of mist, which made the terraces reflected with undescribable beauty. we went through the market in ShengCun afterward, we saw 3 group of French tour there already. yeah...YuanYang did attracted more tourists with its colorful market in the area. compared with our work. their guides are more comfortable, came with its own transpotation, sat waiting in the restaurant while their guests shooting happily in the market. "we work harder and less money compared with them" Jacky said to me! yes I know, that's why I told him to learn to enjoy the walk, never treat it as a job. otherwise...you won't last very long before you give up! we saw their buses left for another sight seeing point as we enter our hiking trail. through BaDa we walk all the way to QingKou, sun was setting and the sky turn the terraces into pieces of blue mirrors. Mission completed but there was still a technical problem to solve, what can we do with the guiding fee? as a non-profitable organization, we can not run anything commercial, but on the other hand, we cannot do guiding for free. so I decided to setup a foundation with every payment we'd got, and use in whatever project we"d find later to help the community. Jacky and me had already visualized our future project...even we only had so little assets. but....nothing wrong with a good dream, isn't it.

19/11/05

cold and foggy, fortunely there was no rain. today Yuanyang has its first supermarket, I mean a shop which is big enough for shopping, from now on I will have a better place for stroll after meal. we did put up a volunteer notice on internet since 2 weeks ago, and today we has our first volunteer for the eco-tourism project, a teacher in Kunming who had study and teach indeed...eco-tourism, what a god send gift for us! that was exactly what we need at the moment, although she start teaching only recently, I still think she can put in more ideas and will provide us with more advices in the next 3 months.



21/11/05

XiongMin, our new volunteer for the eco tourism project, we went to ShiTouZhai to see if she had any good idea and advices to start with. together we had the secretary of HuangCaoLeng county and also HeLe our colleague. foggy and cold this morning and we were worried about the road condition, so we delay our departure until well after 10. still foggy but we set out for our trip, but it was all clear up after PanZhiHua, and we had to strip off some layer of our garment later on. sun broke out and we were glad to escaped from Yuanyang today! of course...lunch was our 1st priority when arrival. we met the secretary Mr Ho, we praise him for take time to accompanied us for the trip. "that's my job!" and this seem to be his favour remark all through our trip. but he seem like an easy going guy. ShiTouZhai is a Yi village, about 30 mins drive from HuangCaoLeng, a simple village with a small pond in the center. people are eager to help us in whatever we wanted to know, we and XiongMin tour around the village and try to get the feeling of eco idea. I left her composed the idea for possibility of the project, because she had the knowledge that I'd lack. and that is what I need the most to better my project. but seem like she set the goal for general tourist rather than hiker and independing traveler, she think in the big concept and need huge modification, the houses should be in old(minority) style... she has many theory and I do agree with most of it, but still...will need to have more discussion with her later on. and I will keep my mouth shut at the moment to avoid contradiction, as I need her academic idea and proposal. XiongMin seem to be lost in her own thought all the time while in the village, nnngggg...a good sign, mean she is really thinking...the motor is runnig...

22/11/05

we went to NanLin today, I mean...I had no business there today, only some construction problem on other project of HeLe. but since NanLin is on the way of my hiking route, which I can check out some part of the whole routing. and HeLe said it only need 2 or 3 hours then we can came back and have discussion on the ShiTouZhai issue with Mr Ho. again...preparing our meal seem like the priority in the village, and that why the village's office seem very busy. they went to take care of the construction problem while I was lazy around. 2 hrs later we had our lunch. but there was no sign for departure as the village officals and Ho had their talk still around the dining table, of course...with alcohol! they kept telling me this is the way thing work out in village, yes I agree and I know but I don't care, as it had nothing to do with us, it is your government business, you can't keep us waiting while the matter you discuss is no concern with us, beside, HeLe will stay behind to see to anything if need, so...our driver will took me and XiongMin back to town, and come back to pickup them tomorrow morning. but then Ho came out from the dining room and stop our car, no matter how I try to excuse myself, he still wouldn't gave in, "please stay, dinner had been prepare for tonight", not again...I hate to eat in village with official, they just like to force you to eat and drink. Ho said he need more time to talk to the village head, I said I totally understand and that why he better best use his time on them, not the dinner for us! he won't listen and started to pull me out from the car, and cause my head bump into the car. I was enraged(not really, just for the excuse to get away), and shaked him off, back in the car and order our driver to drove off. I wasn't angry with him, but I hate this stupid situation, why couldn't he just accept that we wanted to leave, there wasn't any different if we stay or not, thing should be turn out differently if he just shake hand and said goodbye then wave us off, was it so difficult? what in those people head? and see now...it spoiled my day, we were all quiet on our way down hill, no one feel like talk to the other! damit! was it all my fault? anyway...I knew I will left it all behind in an hour and go take a bath in the hot spring, which was on our agenda for today. but what worried me was the name of The World Vision is on my back, I should have control myself a bit. god damit!!!

23/11/05

we had our meeting after our driver took Ho and HeLe back this morning. I told Ho I was sorry about what'd happen yesterday and we both understood better, perhaps because he was sober now. we then proceed our discussion, XiongMin gave her lesson about what should be done to develope into a eco friendly project, we all listen and sometimes put in our point of view, but Ho think all this theory of environmental education for village and all sort of traning course proposal wasn't his idea for today, he want to talk about what have to be done right away, so he gave us his idea and we all listen...stone paved road, office building, performing stage, selling store...guess he might think we have a lot of budget. I said it sound good but at this early stage we shouldn't make that much artificial structure, I then gave my idea and said all we need is a nice and clean environment in the village, just be themselve and that's what people want when they visit a village. then I find out Ho wasn't really listen, he was yawning, looking left and right, it really irritating and my stupid behavier exploded again. I walk out the meeting but seem like they thought I want a toilet break, when I came back for my pack and no one there, fine...I look out for HeLe and told her I was leaving and they can carry on with the meeting without me and I came back to Yuanyang. damit again...what wrong with me? that was the only question on my head on the bus ride back. I want to quit and leave and I think I should, I am not fit in this kind of work, I like to be free, without a name that I need to take care of! but...there are thing I had just started, some people l couldn't let down. aiyaaaaa! good old Tam...do you have to mess everything up, god damit! it was really cold tonight and I was shivering in my room. the news said the first case of bird flu has find in ChuXiong, Yunnan. it finally got here, soon it will be down here and we all will waiting for our death...what's wrong with me?


25/11/05

must be the chain reaction, suddenly I suspected that everyone turn against me in the office after my foolish behavier in HuangCaoLeng. room became quiet once I walk in, computer screen switch, or just acted as I wasn't around. was it just illusion??!! Jacky just took off again for his guiding work without letting me know. I really don't know what he was thinking. I"d told him many times it is team work that we are doing, and he is carry the name of world vision on his back. what if there was accident...! I don't know why it upset me so much, (but with Jacky, there was already couple of incident that cost my faith on him.) guess I need a break. sun is shining today so I went out to the country side, lost myself inside the mountain... at least for a couple of hour. I went for my 1st hiking route in YuanYang, the Cattleman Trail. but of course...I tee off into whatever new trail I saw, then I was inside a forest of trees. still there was a sign of a trail which used by the local as I saw the mark of footsteps. follow the trail with my instinct, "yes, left, I think is left" I told myself. some movement on the ground. a brown color snake sig-sag across my path, I grasp for air and jump back, just a small one and seem like it was scare by me more than it dose to me. the track was bit muddy and then there was kind of a bush that I need to went throught, I was more careful this time with the snake incident earlier, and that's how I notice the big green thing laying on the path, a 2 inchs thick green snake, luckily she gave in and move slowly out of sight after I beg she to spare my humble life! I jump over that part and walk as fast as I can without looking back. finally back to the main track to DoSha then into DongPu, village are busy in mending the terrace wall, some are prepareing the field for corn, the land are orange in color, looking down hill I see all the field are filled with water already, I remember few days ago different scene in HuangMaoLeng, villagers was busy in harvesting for their second crop. from DongPu I skip the short-cut route down to MengPing, but took the longer trip along the main road to BoShanZhai, where I could check out the trail from there down to PanZhiHau town. just to completed different parts of the "Road-Map" in my hiking route design.


28 Dec 2005

sun finally broke through after aged. and hope it will last a bit longer this time. x'mas has slipped away quietly... as usual! Pang and other people from the office did made a party on x'mas eve, but... not my cup of tea. just hang around for awhile then I left. I did enjoy it with alot of people sometimes, like we ate hotpot together in their apartment, made dumpling, cook dinner, it was fun and enjoyable. the tourist season has start now in YY, but still mostly are photographer, already enough to created a tripod scene along the highway. and since yesterday the crews from a movie set had landed in YY, all room in town had been fully booked for the next 2 months. Jueseeeees...I hate it! it look like YY will become a steady movie setting for alot of Chinese filmmaker in the future. now also time for the long table festivals, I had most if not all date for different villages, but seem like most are happen on the same day, gotto find a way to split myself into many potion to be able to see it all. anyway... the next coming one is on the 1st of Jan next year. will try to get there... on foot! as there is no public transportation get there.

---