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5-4-2008
Here we sit in a pouring rain! We rode to breakfast and while we were eating it began to rain. We ate like starving refugees off a wonderful buffet: American coffee, scrambled eggs, pancakes, toast, bacon, oj and second helpings. Loaded up and took off in a light rain which as we rode out of town, turned into a continuous down pour! We are now sitting in a gas station shelter drying off with a band of motorcyclists. Go… no go….find a hotel and tuck in for the day? We are wet and cold and Noah’s ark just passed by.
China is a surprise! The country is so proud of its Olympics – the torch just began its journey across mainland China today. IOC Chairman, Roppe, stated that the West go a little easier on China. The country was a feudal state until 1949 and has made tremendous changes and the Olympics are opening up the country even more with great improvements in human rights issues, too. For the past three decades, China has focused on improving the lives of its people, not engaging in military aggression outside of its borders. Roppe reminded the West that European countries just gave up their colonies 40 years ago – along with all the abuses that colonialism entailed. We need to be careful who we point the finger at! .
The rain won’t let up. One and a half hours we waited under the gas station cover, but by 10:30am we realized we would not have enough time to ride 80km to our destination, so we turned back to Guilin, found another hotel and settled in to dry out. The rain did not let up until about 3pm. We’ll try again tomorrow. The weather prediction is for rain over the next 7-10 days! We can handle showers, but the torrential downpour for all day isn’t fun and can be dangerous, since cars don’t always see us, we can’t see pot holes and objects in the road, conditions are slippery and we can get very cold.
5-5
Not raining! We pack, gather Bici from his spot outside behind the hotel and ride off looking for a place to eat. The city morning traffic is thick as we join the motorcycles and bikes in our marked and set off lane next to the highway, seeing what we missed in the down pour yesterday. Soon after we turn north about 14km out of the city we pass through a small village and spot a nice noodle shop with a good hot bowl of noodles, meat and spices. This has become our new “breakfast of champions”.
The rain started soon after we left our breakfast spot so we stopped and suited up in our new rain ponchos ($2.50), blue and fuchsia. Don’t we look the sight? Our friends Dick and Betsy Jones had used ponchos in Switzerland and swore by them. Now, we do too.
Mountains loom on both sides as we work our way up a broad valley floor covered with rice paddies and villages. The climbing starts as the valley comes to a head and little did we know that a long climb winding up, up, up a narrow gorge passing cascading water falls was ahead of us. Long hours of climbing later, very tired, wet, cold we approached what turned out to be the top of the pass. Just below the lip we found an eating spot. Shivering, we asked if they could fix us something to eat. Wow, what a great meal and with hot tea to boot!
The ride on into Longsheng was interesting, introducing us to the wooden houses that this region is known for. We were dog tired so headed for a ‘benguan’ or up market hotel and found a good one for $125Y (less than $20) and in their small dinning room had a tasty three course dinner.
Chinese cyclist
2 & 3 Narrow gorge to Longsheng
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5-06
We took a bus trip to Long Ji where the ‘long haired’ Yao people have formed very steeply terraced rice paddies over hundreds of years. The ride snaked its way up a steep sided river valley dotted with water galls at every glance. We thought we were back in New Zealand. We met a young Aussie couple going up to stay the night in one of the mountain villages and asked if we could tag along since they will have a guide. The guide/hostel manager met us all at the end of the road and we all walked up the road, up the what seemed like millions of steps to heaven to reach her place and go on to the top of the terraced area to look out over the valley of villages and magnificent rice terraces. It looked like one was looking down on a topo map! It is early spring so many of the terraces are not flooded and lots of maintenance is under way. It is an awing sight as the clouds drift up and down the steep mountain slopes hiding their tops at times other times sliding way down and we are clouded in wet mist and everything around us disappears. The tracks are made of pieces of rock (slate) as are the steps. Footing is precarious at times, as streams course down the path with us. Green and mud brown are the predominate colors, the filled rice paddies are like mirrors reflecting the thick cloud cover. When the clouds rise, the leaves on the flora are speckled with jeweled drops. At trailside were wild roses, azaleas and hydrangeas to treat the eye. No planes, cars, trucks, motorcycles, chain saws, trains or other travelers. Quiet except for the twittering of the birds. We could actually hear ourselves think.
The villages made up of large long two and three story wood structures with lots of ornate word trimmed windows. Judee told me that the ‘arts and crafts’ movement in the early 1900’s was influenced by Chinese decorative motifs such as these. These villages are dark brown splotches hanging on the steep slopes and all are connected by a spider web of stone wall ways and steeps.
Back at the hostel we had a great lunch sitting out on the deck over looking the valley. While waiting to be served a number of local Yao women came and sat with us, chattering and trying to sell us some of their handicraft items. An old man joined us, lit up his pipe and told me to take his picture ($2Y).
On the bus ride home, we dozed, heads bobbing and bodies swaying down the canyon and back to our hotel.
5-08
Yesterdays ride into Sanjiang was wonderful. Although there were times of misty rain, the temperature was pleasant and almost the entire ride was following a big, lazy river on its down hill journey. Dredgers were lined all along the river – a gold mine for rock..
Road to Sangjiang
1. Supportive cyclists
2. River valley
3. Standing Rocks on roadside |
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We began to see the wooden houses of the Dong people. These are the ancestors of the Hmong who left China and moved into Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. The weather here snows in winter; bakes in summer, but the Chinese Dong seem to live far better than their southern cousins. Electricity, clean water and sewage removal are fairly new but enthusiastically embraced. We found a four star International hotel and settled in luxury for $22US.
The hotel was next to the town drum tower. This one was built in 1997, a massive structure of numerous floors, all built of wood without nails and supported on four humongous posts. These towers were historically used by the Dongs to warn the citizens of fire, invasions, or used as the site for celebrations. Today, most small Dong villages have at least one tower used by the villagers as a social hall. We saw many examples of these towers today as we rode to Chengyong, a tourist area in the midst of villages clustered in a lovely agricultural valley. We found good, simple accommodation and spent the day feasting on eye candy. If it weren’t for the Rough Guide, we would never have stumbled on this region, and back on the ‘big nose’ (foreigners) trail.
When we spend more time in the Chinese culture, we are amazed at the practice of flinging everything onto the floor. At the end of a large party at a hotel several evenings ago, the floor was so slippery with grease and phlegm from bones and meat and spit, we found it dangerous to walk to our table. Last night at the four star, a celebration was held in their big dinning area and while waiting to be seated, the group made a huge mess, throwing cigarettes, cig boxes, paper and whatever all over the lobby and entrance. Today we inspected rooms before they were cleaned and were appalled at the refuse on the floor. Things in China are much cleaner along the highways than any other part of Southeast Asia, even cleaner than most of the US, but inside, the Chinese have rather disgusting habits! We just don’t look.
5-9
Today’s ride to DuDong was to be 13k + 28k = 41k. After 59k we still did not reach DuDong. The rain began as a mist and turned into a steady rain as we climbed up and down the mountains. The scenery is rich! Green, terraced with rice and other vegetables and forested in areas. We passed lovely historic ‘wind and rain bridges’ (covered to protect inhabitants from wind and rain, plus providing a place to sit and socialize) and drum towers but were far too wet and cold to stop for photos. At 1pm we were cold to the bone and hungry – stopping at a restaurant, asking if they could prepare us a meal. French fries with beef and tasty sauces and carrots julienne with garlic and ginger, served with hot tea and rice was perfect. The rain was stronger so I engaged the young lady, trying to find out where we were – to discover we had made it to the outskirts of DuDong, our destination for the day. I learned they had rooms to rent and hot water showers, so we moved our wet stuff upstairs, showered and prepared to snuggle in the room and hope the sun returns tomorrow, or we’ll take a bus, if we can, to our next destination: Zhaoxing.
5-10
We woke tired after the late night karaoke party in our guest house. The sun was shinning, so we mounted Bici and followed the small cement road down the river over several steep shoulders and past many wooden Dong villages built in warrens on the hillsides near the terraced rice and tea fields. Many villages were connected to the road by wind and rain bridges splendid under the sun nestled at the foot of area mountains over the rivers that formed these valleys.
We came to TongLe, a market village. Such activity and many women dressed in the traditional indigo jackets, trimmed with silk ribbons stitched with patterns. Many in this area wear a white kerchief around their head or over their glorious hair often festooned with combs.
A few kilometers down the road a traffic jam of buses and cars filled the road. No one could pass. In the rains of the past couple days, the mountainsides washed down onto the road construction resulting in mud thigh deep. What to do? Several other tourists were proceeding in the same direction as ourselves. Luckily, they shared their guides who aided us in determining we could catch a boat to by-pass the construction problem. Two other local fellows offered to carry Bici (for a price) and all our gear 100meters over the mucky mud and down to the boat.
After our 15minute boat ride, we started down the road to the next town. The road is dirt and we are tired. Our destination is Zhoaxing, at least a 5 hour bus ride away. We turned Bici around and negotiated with a bus to take us. We are resting in the bus listening to the brisk breeze slow in this glorious sun shinny day.
The maps are still showing roads that are not yet constructed, and detail is non-existent. Even the guides pointed to towns, written in Chinese and English characters, claiming that to be our location only to go to the next town and find it to be pointed to as where we are. I think the road maps are China's dream scheme. One day the reality will match the maps. In the meantime, we hit loads of dead ends and turn arounds. This tends to be stressful, especially as we try to plan, asking dozens of people as we move along. One says yes, one says no, one says go this way, one says go another way. Lost in China! We’ve been in China almost a month and we are still in Guangxi province. Today we will pass into Guizhou province.
The bus coming through the construction from Sanjiang finally arrives and we switch buses and Bici is strapped on top, bags underneath and we take the last two seats across the back after climbing over bags of rice, buckets of produce, luggage and live fowl that filled the aisle. Again we bounce down the pot holed and sometimes very muddy road under construction. The bouncing is so bad it is not unusual to be airborne much of the time – kidney belts came to mind. When the mud passes the dust appears in the open windows blowing the rags of seats we are perched on. Our fellow passengers answer their howling cell phones, smoke and spit out the windows or on the floor where they have ashed their cigarettes. After awhile we leave the road construction and turn up a river valley on a good concrete road leading to our destination of Zhaoxing. We wind upward through a lush green setting: rice paddies, rushing river, steep mountain slopes until the valley ends and we start our long snaking climb up over the high mountain pass. Are we glad we decided to bus rather than ride the 39k! It took over 3 1/2hours before we rolled into town just before 7:30pm. The bus dropped us in the middle of town and within 50 yards I found an upscale hotel, a/c, western toilets, clean and neat. After quick showers, dinner across the street and in bed by 9:30pm.
5-11
Zhaoxing. A beautiful sunshine pours in our windows as we sit in bed having coffee before going out to explore this ethnic Dong village of wooden houses, patterned stone paths reminiscent of the cobblestones found in Portugal. The women of the village wear blue cotton outfits, the cloth of which is pounded with a wooden mallet making it shinny like polished cotton.
The village of Jilun up above beckons to us. We follow the signs up a stone path through the rice paddies red and green surfaces muddied with fish trials. The rushing stream bubbles and gurgles as we progress onward on the stone wall careful step by careful rising steeply. Soon we notice wooden houses perched on the narrow ridges above us and look to see where our path goes. Well, into a head wall of stones – so we head back and retrace our path downward.
Back at our hotel we met two couples: one Dutch, the other Tibetan. We joined them for coffee and learned a lot about what lies ahead of us. We understand that Tibet is still closed to foreigners and no one seems to know when it might open. We will still continue with our plans but may have to get creative! We all had a ‘bowl’ together and shared stories and experiences.
The afternoon we wandered the streets, alleys and village paths poking our noses in doorways and just breathing in the ebb and flow of ordinary village life. The warm sunshine and blue skies has been wonderful. The village is alive and vibrant (800 pop) as it supports the large agricultural area surrounding it. In the late afternoon we pass pony and horse carts, cattle, and many farm workers returning from their work on the fields. This is mixed with the children returning home from school – back packs dwarfing many of the smaller ones. It is a colorful and noisy stream of humanity and animals. Buses and trucks honk their way through town sometimes causing accidents. We observed a bus come into a busy area honking just as a motorcycle pulled out. The rider with small child hit a rough piece of road, lost control and fell over. The small child was hurt, picked up by his father and taken up the street to the pharmacy first aid station. The motorcycle left in the middle of the road. Such is life in smallsville.
5-13
Today’s ride to Congjiang was not arduous, although 26kms followed a rough dirt and rock road along the Rongjiang river. We stopped early to allow time to wash the dust of Bici, the panniers and out of our clothes. We tromped about town in search of an internet, still unable to find a machine with business software so we can compose our web journal or resize photos to post.
We were able to learn of the earthquake on BBC and CNN internet channels. It obviously was bigger news in the US since family and friends wrote to inquire about our safety. Although about 800km away from the epicenter, near Changdu, we felt nothing. It had to be the high range of mountains between here and there. Our plans were taking us to Changdu within the nest 2-3 weeks. We may be revising our plans – for that and for Tibet since foreigners are being denied entry.
Lunch was enjoyed at a street side stir fry shop. In all of Asia, China has served up good food consistently. Not many bones, fairly tender meat most of the time, great spices, and as with all Asian food: fresh vegetables and herbs. I think I am actually gaining weight on Chinese cuisine.
We followed the Rongjiang River for 82km to the town of the same name. The road is splendid. The villagers we passed on the road were dressed in ethnic clothing and prodding the many water buffalo toward the rice terraces. We had gotten a lot of information concerning the steep, mountain our route from Rongjaing to Kaili. So our plans were to bus tomorrow, but as we inquired at the station, we were boarded on a bus today. It looks like rain is coming, so we hope it is a good decision. I hate giving up riding this beautiful area.
5-16
Kaili. Here we think we have found a solution to our email/web issues, so we are holed up with the smoking Chinese game players in a huge internet place attempting to communicate with our friends and family. We will stay an extra day or two to get our ‘work’ accomplished. There is a CITS office here with gentlemen that speak English. These are tourist agencies that provide guides and tours for foreigners and this one is open to helping us plan a route through the Maio ethnic villages and onward toward the Yangtze River so we can cruise for a few days.
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