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Published: July 28th 2006
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Traditional Dong village, Guangxi, ChinaDriving out from Liuzhou on the bus it looked like the city had more potential than we had realised. The downtown area had many shops & there was a cable car ride up to a pagoda & restaurant that we could have checked out too.
After an initially short bus journey, we transferred in Sanjiang on what became a very memorable part of the trip. Upon entering the waiting lounge at the bus station, I noticed a small spill in front of a chair & not thinking much of it, avoided the area & found a seat further along. A few minutes later I heard what sounded like a cross between a humming & whooshing sound. I looked down the aisle to see a woman seated with a baby between her legs & it was having a wee on the floor... Slightly grossed out, I asked Snow if this was normal in China & she assured me that this girl must be from a village & would be fined if the authorities saw what she was doing. After avoiding both puddles on the way to buy some snacks, I returned to an appalled Cormac who told me the baby had also
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Traditional Dong village, Guangxi, China taken a dump on the floor whilst I was gone. There were actually two mothers travelling together with small babies & not long after Cormac had shared his story, sure enough the other one went number two's as well. The mother's wiped up the solids but left the puddles & trundled off to catch their bus.
Leaving the stinky waiting room behind, we caught a bus to Chengyang & jumped straight onto a minivan that took us to our guest house in a minoriy Dong Village. Not content to sit around for the rest of the afternoon Cormac, Leah & I went exploring & happened upon another village quite nearby. We wandered around & found our way to the village's Drum Temple where we were warmly welcomed in & given tea, cigarettes & water by a bunch of local men. I think we broke every rule set by our mothers, ie don't accepting things from strangers, don't smoke (especially if you don't know what it is) & don't drink from dirty cups (I think mine had bird shit on the far rim) - but when in Rome... These guys were obviously well used to foreigners dropping in & they communicated
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Chengyang Bridge Hostel, Guangxi, China that for a small donation ($1-USD) to be used for restoring the temple, we could have our names etched on a tablet housed there - so of course we went along with it. I think the three of us agreed it was one of the best experiences of the trip because we just happened upon the village ourselves, it wasn't part of Intrepids planned itinerery.
After a long day, a great buffet dinner the guesthouse owner had whipped up & a few beers, I fell into my mosquito protected bed & slept like a baby - that is until the sun came up at some UNGODLY hour of the morning.
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