China Part Four

We woke up early and took the scariest ride of our lives.  Riding a huge tour bus we made our way to the Longsheng Rice Terraces.  Our driver was verrry aggressive.  And possibly insane.
The bus driver was passing people as often as he could- bicycles, mopeds, semis, etc.  But he was crossing over double solid lines into oncoming traffic like it was nothing.  I remember one time in particular we were flying along the wrong side of the road trying to pass a huge truck, with our road turning a corner and disappearing around the mountain side.  As we got closer to the blind corner, and were still in the wrong lane, wouldn't you know it-- a semi rounded the bend-- heading straight for us!  I was having major anxiety (as were half the people on the bus) and the semi-driver slammed his breaks and flashed his lights madly at us, while veering off to the side of the road.  The truck we were trying to pass slammed on their brakes and we just kept zooming along, then our driver finally got back to the correct side of the road without missing a beat, as if he'd planned the whole thing. 
It seemed as if the whole bus collectively sighed with relief. 

Eventually we made it to the Rice Terraces, and Todd and I decided to break off from the tour and make our own way along the tiny villages.

"During the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) minorities were forced to flee to the mountains.  Being primarily an agricultural society, they needed to find a way to continue agriculture on the steep sides of the mountains. They ingeniously turned the mountains into fields by creating the terraced fields." This makes for incredible scenery year round.
(www.chinaodysseytours.com)

Tiantau Village on the left:


Ping'an Village on the right:


Farmers hard at work:


There are virtually no roads, but there are stone paths all over the place. Everything is carried on a horse or on your back.  The tiny women tried relentlessly to carry our huge backpacks for a fee.  Our bags probably weighed half as much as they did.
Todd turning down a hopeful baggage carrier:




Most of the middle aged and older Yao women wear matching pink outfits, black hair-wraps, and silver earrings.  We were told that before modern plumbing existed, they would use the bathroom out in the open in front of everyone from the village.  With newspaper covering their faces, and the same clothes as everyone else in the village, their identity was concealed and they could poop without embarrassment.  Ha!

Thanks to their updated plumbing, you can see our five star bathroom, where the sink water drains right onto the floor:

We backpacked to Tiantou and found a $6.00 hotel. After hiking around we ate a huge dinner for one dollar. One dollar!
We slept in the next morning, then had some adventures as we backpacked the 4 or 5 hour trip to Ping'an Village. The Yao women are crafty!


The women stop cutting their hair after they turn 18.  They let you see their six feet of hair if you pay them first. :)  I pretty much felt like a walking dollar sign in these villages.

This photo cost us $2:


One of these things is not like the others...


A few ladies got us to pay them to cook lunch. It cost seven times the amount we would pay at a hotel, but it was still just $7. Plus we got to see their house and watch them cook on their "stove" aka fire-pit-on-the-floor.



The food was good, but we worried about the water used to wash the vegetables.  We ate it anyway and didn't get sick.



Then the women kept trying to force a mysterious drink on us, which we realized was rice wine. I guess tourists give more generous tips when they're tipsy.


We saw a TON of puppies all over the villages, but only two dogs. Then we wondered if the adult dogs were used for their meat. :(

Even less appetizing was the rat-on-a-string you could buy to snack on:


Or how about a dried bird?


Once we made it back to civilization as we know it, we bussed back to Guilin, stayed the night at a hostel, and flew home the next day.

We did, however, have an eight hour layover in Guangzhou, the wholesale capital of the world. There was a place named Shoe City there! A multi level enormous super mall full of just shoe stores.  I know a lot of women who would have been in heaven there. 
We also spent hours roaming around a high rise building with three wings and multiple levels of stuff. Every imaginable chinese novelty was for sale for cheap. And we bought two pairs of gloves, airplane pillows, and lunch. I guess we're just not Chinese novelty kind of people.

Todd did find a permanent ping pong table in the middle of a city block, and played against some skilled kids. This was the highlight of Guangzhou.


Finally back in the USA, we had an overnight layover in Los Angeles. We ordered a huge American pizza and ate most of it laying in bed watching Seinfeld, then woke up at 3 in the morning and ate the rest of the pizza.
It. Was. Awesome!
It's always SO good to be back in the USA, even if everything costs ten times more. 
This trip has been one of my best ever.  I loved that everything seemed so different from my "ordinary" life.  I loved that hardly anyone spoke English fluently, if at all.  I loved that everyone seemed to be a farmer or a fisherman.  And I loved the scenery.

I loved China.