gadding around Mengzi

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In between festival waiting, I revisited Mingjiu market, the totally Miao dominated market getting bigger than before as a new market area had been built, but it didn't released much of the traffic condition, people still packed the narrow main road but the old market street inside town became quiet! what had they done???? there also a new temple building behind the hill above the old Mingjiu Temple, seem like they are getting more pilgrim these day, heard there will be a Temple festival every Lunar March while they will carry the Buddha status through town. In one corner of the market I find a cock-fight court, where many Miao man gathered for the activity, two rooster fight each other in bleeding face while men around the court betting on the winner.
With the highway to Hekuo completed, road journey down to the Red river shore was quick and easy. Cai asked me to join him travel to his hometown Kafang near Xinjie by the Red river. all was smooth but the last 7km after crossing the Red river onto the dirt road was hell, added with the 200m altitude weather was suffocated. the reason for this trip was fruit picking. Cai's family still got some land in Kafang, that place is so fertile for tropical fruit growing, and now is right time for mango and jetfruit, and banana seem like all year round. Kafang said to be an old market town back more than 70 year ago, "the street was full of people"! one of Cai's relative said to me, added Kafang lived many kind of people, most came from Guangdong and Guangxi, many were Vietnamese, Kafang also a busy harbour for cargo up down the Red river in the old day. everyone we came across seem very please to seen Cai, they all wanted us to pick fruit from their land, "we have mango original came from Saigon" one old man said, and of course....Cai had more than enough fruit from his own land, still many people came help as it need to climb up the tree and with some equipment to pick mango, some kept bring in empty box for us to pack, this year the weather was hot and less rain so "the skin of the mango is dark" one of the relative said, but the taste was great! fresh mango....I couldn't stop biting on the juicy flesh! after 2 hours we had 6 cardboxs and 2 baskets of mango, jetfruit and banana! I was totally wet with sweat when we drove off the orchard village even I hadn't done anything to help but eat!
P join us and we picked some more relaxing destination one day, hotspring sound good as I had done some researched on internet and came up with Yashadi hotspring in Gejiu area, I was attracted by the photo, a waterfall behind the hotspring pools! so...checked out the routing from the map and off we go, after more than 2 hours drive from Mengzi, the hotspring resort(@500m) was located at the end of the road inside the mountain, actually there was more than one provider run business there, and the one I saw from the photo on internet seem like the ideal one. There are couple of pools inside the complex(one big enough for swimming), although not a huge place but pleasand enough as long as you are not come here during holiday period. I also like the volcanic rock hot bed that was heated up by spring water, another kind of comfortable to sleep on and it was good for my back! There also a pool with a kind of special fish that inhabited in hotspring water, you paid 20 yuan and got nip by the fishes, I didn't try it but said it was just like massage or accupuncture.


note
entrance to the hotspring is 58/person, including one Chinese style fast-food meal.

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