Silver bull horns, lusheng pipes and an abundance of dog meat!

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The bus station in Congjiang was conveniently across the road from our hotel so, for once, moving onto our next destination was a breeze. Jerry had purchased express bus tickets to Kaili the previous day so we didn't even have to brave the queue at the ticket counter when we left. However once on the bus things got a little nasty as the bus had been overbooked somehow and when some people were asked to leave tempers flared quickly and there was a lot of shouting and finger stabbing going on. At one stage half of the seated passengers joined in - the Chinese people don't loose their cool easily but when they do it's not pleasant to around! Eventually we did leave - our last view of the irate passengers was them being handed wads of cash as a form of compensation.
We couldn't believe it however - we actually feared that we were on the wrong bus - when it headed totally in the opposite direction back towards Zhoaxing - in fact we ended up back at the same toll gate we had already seen too frequently in the previous few days! It appeared that was the closest entrance point to the massive freeway which led to Kaili - the same freeway which loomed over the valley Zhoaxing was in. For the next three hours we travelled along this amazing engineering feat - we didn't actually count how many tunnels we passed through - the majority of which were more then 2 kilometres long - but there were at least twenty in a 100 kilometre section of road. And countless bridges between mountains that they didn't tunnel through.... The freeway was still being given the finishing touches - there were unopened as yet petrol stations at regular intervals. Way below in the valleys we had glimpses of villages and we did see some amazing terraces - stripes of yellow and green lined the mountain sides below us. This road is what is going to really create the tourist boom in this region. Previously the trip between Congjiang and Kaili took eight hours - it is now half of that time. To visit the villages bordering the freeway now you would have to village hop on local buses as we've since been told that bus drivers will not travel long distances any more on the secondary roads if the freeway is nearby - hence our backtrack to get to the freeway entrance. If we were not going to be actually village hopping around Kaili for the next few days I would have felt quite sad that we were actually not seeing the gorgeous scenery properly. The village people are however still treating the freeways as if they were small country roads and trying to catch buses on them - our poor driver swore loudly as he slammed on the brakes as a woman literally stepped out in front of the bus waving her arms trying to get him to stop! We saw people constantly standing on the cement edges frantically trying to wave down the buses - how some of them even got up on to the road in the first place I can't imagine.

.After the massive road system Kaili was our next shock. Described in the guide books as being 'a small service centre' we certainly weren't expecting the large city that it was. It had grown considerably recently - as evidenced by the wide ring of high rise apartment blocks which circled the city - and many more were in the process of still being constructed. Thankfully the bus station was right in the centre of the old town - though that will shortly be moved to the outskirts - so our previously booked central hotel was within walking distance. We stayed at New Mill Inn - a great choice, comfortable, clean, wifi in room (intermittent signal) and friendly staff. It was only a block away from the bus station. We had booked a car and driver with CITS through Billy Zhane - one of their English speaking reps - and after settling in we went to there office - across the road from the hotel! As we had arrived a day earlier then expected we decided to hire the car for an extra day. We paid 700 yuan per day for the car and driver who we were told spoke little English but Mr Wee actually spoke better English than he thought and by the end of our four days we were all chattering away together very easily.

With our plans sorted for the next few days we explored the city centre - found the markets and bought a few small bits to bring home. There were many women dressed in pieces of traditional clothing - particularly different styles of headgear. Many of the ladies wore their hair in a top knot which had a bright pink silk rose pinned into it. Other women were wearing black velvet jackets and trousers - the jackets were heavily embroidered across the bodice with lime green and pink floral designs. That evening we went in search of a street full of restaurants which Billy had recommended - we found it but weren't impressed by the food offerings. There seemed to be nothing to choose from other then meat - trays covered with every part of animal bodies - all skewered and ready to be BBQ'ed... There seemed to be little choice of vegetables available. After walking streets looking for another style of restaurant - they were all the same - we ended up with a burger and chips!

Day 1

The first day we had out with the charming Mr Wee was really busy. After leaving the city surrounds (and the scarred landscape from continuous road construction which seems to be heading in all directions from Kaili) we travelled through pretty terraced countryside, passing many villages full of big wooden houses, before arriving in Qingman village, a cascading sprawl of wooden houses on the side of a hill. We wandered the cobbled streets, spent some time admiring a local lady's embroidery skill and enjoying the view of the gorgeous countryside surrounding us. In this village the women wear fascinating hair styles - they are straight out of the Tang Dynasty - remnants of the culture are only today found in Japan and Guizhou. Had we seen the women anywhere else I would have assumed they were Japanese but they are actually part of the Miao ethnic group. Check the photos out and you will see what I mean.From there we went to the paper making village of Shiqiao where the majority of families who live there produce paper - much of which issued in traditional parasols. A particular type of tree bark is steamed and boiled in lime paste for one hundred hours before it is ready to use in the paper production. You could see the tiny paper work shops in the front rooms of everybody's houses as you walked the streets in the village. We watched one man quickly produce the finest sheets of paper which were placed on top of each other before being pressed. The paper produced is actually thick so is made up of dozens of these super fine sheets pressed together.

All the houses also had shrines to dead family opposite their front doors - they were fascinating as most of the surrounds were papered with some type of paper, from newsprint to posters. Another street party began as we arrived - bare tables were laid out as we approached and suddenly we were surrounded by dozens of men who arrived from around a street corner to eat. The women were once again at separate tables - I think it was a wedding as a dragged across to photograph a girls fingernails (I think the bride) - they were long artificial nails, each with a plastic butterfly glued on top of them. She was very proud of them and as they were totally impractical and impossible to work with. Nail colour (and facial cosmetics) are very rarely seen on any woman in China, let alone a village girl.The street was covered in blood from the mornings animal slaughter, rice was being served from enormous wooden buckets, there was lots of laughter and interest in us but we declined offers of food and kept on exploring.

I bought a few small paper items from a tiny studio in the village before we visited another tiny village nearby which from the road appeared to be an island as the river flowed virtually around it. We walked across a wooden bridge and explored, watching a couple husking rice and admired all the farm animals which lived in tiny stables under every house - they were built into the smallest crannies which didn't give the animals much space to move. Again all the villages we visited were full of attractive unvarnished wooden, grey tiled houses set along twisted cobbled streets. All the houses were piled on top of each other, with latticed window covers, red New Year decorations around the doors and eaves hung with lots of drying corn cobs and slabs of meat.

We planned on having lunch in a 'hole in the wall' restaurant in a nearby town but the one Mr Wee chose was full of drunken ladies enjoying a 'girls day out' so he took us to a very featureless and dirty banquet hall across the road where he order a hotpot. He enjoyed the meal but hotspots really don't appeal to Jerry and I - they seem to be boiling pots of hot salty stock in which a few pieces of meat is floating. You had bits of green vegetable and tofu to them - they are really just soup and always far too salty for our taste. After the expensive lunch we went back to the car only to be surrounded by all the ladies from the little eatery who fed us pieces of dried tofu (sweet with a bread consistency - and nicer than our stockpot) and insisted we drank rice wine. I had a glass but Jerry had to stop them after his fifth! They sang a Miao folk song danced and danced around us, using the tiny stools from the eatery as instruments. They let us leave only after they tied Miao braid around our necks - Mr Wee said that meant we were free to drink all day. It was a fun interlude.

That afternoon we went to a small Lusheng festival in the village of Zhouxi which was very much a local affair held in the village community centre grounds. During spring festival these dances are held regularly in all the small villages - a really large one which attracts massive crowds of tourists was being held in Kaili just after we left - but we were very happy with the small one we visited. The girls - many who were home from factories etc for the spring break - wore beautiful costumes and danced (more shuffled) in circles around a group of young men who all played the lusheng pipes. In the performance area there were about half a dozen groups dancing - the odd part was that the girls never smile as they dance - really serious facial expressions are part of the tradition. It was and presumably, to a certain extent still is, a dance to attract a partner. The males who were playing the lusheng pipes in the centre of each circle here were not wearing any form of costume but were dressed in their latest trendy best. The pipes were making a continual drone like sound - not particularly festive at all and certainly not a sound that would make me incline to dance!There were many small children dressed in costume as well, either joining in with the older girls or just being kids and running around people's feet.

The costumes were detailed and included the silver jewellery that the Miao are known for. Large silver bull horns are worn on the heads, heavy silver necklaces and bodice jewellery, embroidered shoes, heavily embroidered costumes with separate arm band pieces, including heavy aprons are worn. The girls all wore headpieces under their horns in the shape of the Tang hairstyles we had seen in the villages we had visited that morning. Their mums and grandmothers watching from the edges all sported the intricate hairstyles and combs. We were welcomed warmly and everybody present was very happy to let us wander with our camera amongst them. I was sad to leave but Mr Wee was taking us to a bull fight and was eager to go.

Bull fighting (in fact fighting involving dogs, pigs and roosters as well) is a traditional sport here in Miao territory and bullocks are purchased as much for their fighting skills as their working capabilities. A prime bull sells for 30,000 yuan - around 5,000 Aussie dollars. We drove through Kaili until Mr Wee spotted rows of cars parked along the highway. We parked and followed the line of cars until we saw literally hundreds of people high on a hill beside the road - the bull fighting area. Following the crowds we knew that we were going to be in for an experience. It was a large arena around which thousands of people were sitting. Below in the red dirt were two bullocks with their horns interlocked. Not too sure exactly what is supposed to happen but we think - from Mr Wee's Chinglish explanation - that the bulls try and pull each other into their area which appeared to be either side of a white chalk mark on the ground. The crowd certainly were getting involved - the slightest movement of the bulls caused a crescendo or a sigh through the crowd.

There was a real fair atmosphere surrounding the stadium - lots of balloon sellers, popcorn makers, food stalls, plastic toys for sale including a massive array of plastic guns, lots of products made from bullock horn and row after row of stall selling dog meat! Dog meat is widely eaten here - another reason we were a bit suspicious of all the meat BBQ stalls in the city the previous night. When we asked Mr Wee if he ate it he looked at us as if we were strange and said 'of course' but then we laughed when he said he preferred beef. And on a hill behind the stadium was another lusheng festival - this one very large with girls from many other areas. I guessed this anyway by the fact they danced around piles of suitcases which I guess held their everyday clothes. We passed another enjoyable hour mingling with the dancers again. I was amused to see a lot of 'eisteddfod mums' adjusting their daughters costumes before they danced.

Check out the photos below for some of the festival colour. We had a really fabulous day and were looking forward to the next few even more. Tea that evening was again I'm sad to admit a burger and chips before we got hopelessly lost in the city streets. To cross major roundabouts you have to go under the road into a warren of tiny shops and up out the other side. Three times we went in the wrong direction when we came above ground - the only way we didn't choose was the right one! Our bed, when we eventually reached it, was welcome that night...

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Photos

Old man in Shigiao
All the old men in the Kaili area wear these furry hats

Tiny village shop
Note the hen for sale

Comments

[wendy]

Great Blog
Hi Linese, Love the Blog and the photos are brilliant...and yes still ridiculously wet and rainy here... Love to you both.. Wendy

[Colleen]

Photos
Love your photos Linese they are so colourful! Lots of rain in Mackay area and it looks as thougha cyclone is forming!