Guangxi to Guizhou
Travelogue from September 1-5th, 2003Right now we're in Guizhou province which is the poorest province in China. Last night it took us forever just to find a restaurant. There were tons of people selling barbequed tofu, lettuce or meaty tendrils, but no formal restaurants. A couple of men herded a pack of massive pigs through the night food market and the pigs ate all the garbage off the ground. We finally found a restaurant on the second floor of this building at 10:00 and ate dinner while the employees were having some kind of party and eating fish that looked like they had been dropped in a deep fryer whole.
We were so hungry because we'd spent the entire day on a series of buses traveling through a little traveled route between two provinces. As a rule, Bronwen and I don't eat on long bus trips. Lots of other passengers were thrusting their head out the window of the speeding bus from time to time, but apart from being hungry, Bronwen and I were fine.
The road followed this beautiful river and twisted along on ledges above it. The river reminded me of what I think I'd find in southern Alaska. It was very wide, shallow and clear, lined with tan colored gravel. There were big cedar looking trees that went from the ridges above all the way down to the river. Every once in a while there would be a village of beautiful wood houses and big tiled roofs. The minorities in the area also build wonderful covered bridges and the shorelines were filled with canoes and bigger boats. This is rice growing territory and there are terraced patties in every free space. We just spent a few days in a village up on a high ridge that is famous for it's rice terraces (pictured). All the buildings there are built with joinery (no nails) and one night we watched all the village men raise a new house. Three stories of wood frame and not a single nail. They pulled on ropes and raised the segments with cries of "yi, er, san!".
