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April 16th 2003
Published: June 4th 2010
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16 Apr 2003



hotttt...is the expression for today! what a day...what a trip!!! spending the whole day traveling on different buses, since my body doesn't agree with me today...pain almost every junction of my body. have a quick look of the market in town today, not much offer as it was same like all the other market I'd seen so far. so...catch the bus go further south along the river by noon, surprisingly with not many people, got a seat by a window on the river view side...great! and the scene is quite impress as well, JinShaJiang is wild with different shade of mountain and rock, but in this part of the area, transportation are rear, so...when I got to HuangPing,( a nice little village just by my instinct, if not because some people are impolite there, I might stop there for a day) I need to charter my own tuk tuk carry on to HeKou,and it cost me a fortune...40 yuans! then from there take....no more...no more tuk tuk, my butt is hurt from the last bumpy trip already, so I wait for the normal bus, and it come not long after, again by surprise....I got a window seat by the river side again, even can took a shut sometimes with my camera! arrive in DaiXing where I need to located the harbor for the river crossing into SiChun. about 2km down the valley, lucky there is a truck waiting to cross the river as well, so I don't have to wait. but still need to wait for bus on the other side, no problem, took out my map and people around are eager to gave me information as long as they know any, so...I come up with the idea that the area in Butuo, Zhaojue and MieGou are the best area to see minority. time fly and the bus arrive, again...a window seat!!!! the scene in this part of JinShaJiang long like in southern Europe, with those houses build on the sharp cliff, earth brick color or white wash painting, remind me of Spain. and the best is I finally located the rope crossing, it is different here, they are 4 ropes and with a big cage and there are 2 people pushing it cross the river by walking on the rope, I hadn't seen it work today from the bus, but I saw it on tv last year, and the local confirmed it for me. finally arrive JinYang by 19:00pm, a medium size town, they said there are 90% Yi here, and I did saw quite a bit Yi dress women in town. no market day here. too tire today, think I need to sleep early.

into DaNiangShan area
17 Apr 2003



JinYang is a long town, from the lower bus station to the upper station you need to walk almost 1000m...up hill!! don't think they has much tourist but they do have 2 objects that look like a hotel, don't know how it is like inside, because I pick some cheaper option along the road, 15 Yuan/room. woke up early because of the broadcasting of Chinese news in town by loud speaker. but the town start early as well, pick up my camera and walk down to the only street in town, market everyday here, quite a lot of Yi people selling chicken at the junction of the crossing, and further down the market area are vegetable and meat, and many store sell hand made Yi costume too. a nice wool cotton poncho cost 120 Yuans, not a bad deal, they are nice! catching up with the missing action for my finger on button from the last 10 days, I feel satisfy for this morning mission. back to my hotel(it dose look like a hotel to me) and sleep some more for my bus not leave until 13:30 in the afternoon. It will be a 5 hours trip to ZhaoJue...at least 5 hours! the whole trip will be always travel between 1500m to 3200m...up and down. about an hour out of JinYang we pass through a small village, and there was many people out on the street, it kinds of look like a festival or a marriage, but it just took me by surprise, I didn't know how to react, perhaps I hadn't seen so many minority people in action for a while(long time!!!)and I asked the man next to me, and he said it is market day here. woahhh....is it a market? doesn't look like it to me, people just walking around in group, sharing drinks(alcohol), or just standing in group talking, I hadn't notice anyone are selling anything...strange! one interesting thing is many girl/woman are smoking, in the open, a group of girl are sharing smoke with each other...talk and laugh...wild!!! that's Yi in DaNiangShan, even women smoke in the bus with the other man too...interesting! anyways...this market kind of remind me of a summer in Norway back many years ago, a small town at night under the mid-night sun, everyone in town coming out looking for fun and action, kind of like the scene I had seen today. since there are people get on the bus in the market and need to tight thing up on the roof of the bus, so I steal some time and get some picture. not until the driver shout to me that we are leaving then I realize all the people on the bus are waiting for me while I was taking a picture of an old woman, so I just ran and jump onto the bus, but a hand grasp my foot from behind and I saw that old woman hold my right foot and shout to me*give me my picture*, ohhh god....she think I can give her the picture right away, other villager help pull her away from me and I settle back to my seat. I felt very guilty, because I have no time to ask her address so I can send her the picture. the sensation hold my thought for quite a while! hope I will going back there one day! finally get to ZhaoJue by 19:00, couldn't find a decent hotel, so I just pick one by the station. yeah...the place is like what Ludwig told me, I don't feel like it too. check out the bus will leave 08:00 next morning. pressing on to Butuo.


Yi's land
18 Apr 2003



noisy at night, the Yi people here like karaoke I guess, seen many OK Bar in the area. the one next door call *bus karaoke bar*! Only 50km to BuTuo, take about 2 hours to get there, half way you will see a little different change in their costume, their outfit are a up-right over cloth, square shape, like those people carry an advertising broad out in the west. it dose look a bit funny those. some even has 2 short sleeve coming out from the shoulder area, which actually is too small for an arm, I guess it is for decoration. BuTuo is a simple and spacey town, the street are wide and straight. I guess your 1st encounter in a new place will affect a lot if you like the place or not. here...the people are helpful and informative, I feel I like the place already. check in the place in the station, 25 yuan/night, at least it is clean! the market area is on the far side of the town, not market day but already has many people, wonder what would be like on market day! many costume shop, don't get me wrong...not souvenir. here you will see the silver smith making the big button for the cloth, the most interesting thing is there are some Shaman act as a fortune teller, and many Yi people waiting for the service too. first they need to bring along an egg and together with a 2 yuan note(of cause...5 yuan or more will getting a better result), and the Shaman will hold the egg in his hand, began to recite whatever script he had in mind(he got some Yi script on the floor), seen like he is telling the egg what he want to ask, then he break it onto a bowl of water where he will observe the white and yellow pattern, and answer whatever the people are asking for. I wish I can understand it, seen like the woman not agree with the Shaman answer/result, I can see the Shaman busy in looking for any words or alternate from the books he had on the ground. kind of remind me of FongShui master in HongKong...haaa...haaa....!


19 Apr 2003



It was quite quiet last night, was it because of the rain whole night..don't know. market in TuoJue which is about 30km away, many buses run between it...go when it full. I like the Yi houses, most of them look very clean and tidy, they will paint the rim of the roof in red and green color. some do have a kind of panel underneath the roof which paint in many bright color and drawings, give one a Latin feel! I guess I get there too early, the market not heating up until noon, and people still pouring into the market from all direction. but it is not totally the same like in Yuanyang, you won't see many people selling thing, mostly are the shop which is in town already, or the villager do kind of wholesale to the trader whose has come from big town. the popular business are wool and sheep skin. black is the main color in the market, since everyone has a poncho/over-cloth on their shoulder, which cover up the color costume inside, women wear big ear-ring, Japanese postman cap, color strip skirt, some young girl even dress up with a collar which decor with silver button. yeah...it doesn't look like a market to me, people are more enjoy in meeting friends and chat. at the entrance of town where is the live stock market, a big one. I guess not many outsider come here before, I'm always the center of their attention. but they at least didn't express any frighten or scare sign. they are friendly.


leaving DaNiangShan
20 Apr 2003



666 hours now the war going on in Iraq, that's what the man said in the tv program about Iraq last night. wonder why he has to use the number of hour, why not just how many days or weeks???strange... anyways...it dose give out a sign...is it an omen...an evil thing about the war...3-six...Satan!!! there was nothing in the news now a day in China, the Iraq war and SARS. woke up this morning and check on the bus timetable. I don't think I had enough time for the market in BuTou today, since the market start up very late. perhaps I am greedy or been spoiled by the multi-tribe in YuanYang, couldn't content or satisfy with a single tribe market. so...I think it was time to leave DaLiangShan and heading for my last leg of my journey, turning down to the JinShaJiang. and I did made more than 200km today. combine with bus, motorbike and walk. 1st got a ride to JiaoJiHe, I heard the tv news said when I was having my noodle in a shop, which said*the authority has confirm that there are 7 SARS cases in SiChun and 2 dead so far*...my goddd!!! made me think about all my bus trip with all many people inside, coughing...spitting....closed window....Jesus!!! from JiaoJiHe either walk down to the road junction by the JinShaJiang or hire a bike or the 15km journey, and I glad I did, otherwise I would have miss the last bus. on the other hand, I wish I did walk, because the trip was nice, especially the last part, kind of like tiger leaping gorge, a dirt road cut out from the mountain cliff. deep gorge...great scene. also this part of JinShaJiang is quite beautiful too, of cause...I got a window seat by the river side...haaa....!!! got to a place call WuLuKou which is at the bridge crossing junction of Yunnan. I thought I need to stay there for the night cause it was late. but the last bus to HuiDong has broken down and was waiting for a substitute one, so...I make it there with the last bus. got to HuiDong about 8 pm, did a quick check-in next to the bus station, got a quick shower and a quick dinner, ahhh...also a quick research for my next destination, cause I don't had any plan yet. didn't had much time for the town, but it seen like a nice town!?!?


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