I only decided to definitely visit Wuyuan at the last minute. I’m glad I did. There is a nice balance between nature and humanity. It has all the characteristics of China that drew me here in the first place. On the hills are impenetrable forests whilst in the valleys are rice fields, tea terraces, buffaloes roaming around, crystal clear rivers and streams and villages with quaint old bridges, chickens and dogs running free and activity everywhere you look and people with broad smiles on their faces. The bus from Tunxi was amazing; I love bus journeys through countryside. There was one other westerner on it, an Israeli guy who had paid almost double the price because he asked someone where the bus to Wuyuan was and she took 70kuai and waited 100 metres from the bus station, flagged down the bus and gave the driver 40 keeping 30 for herself. When I got off the bus I went for food and once I’d finished my rice and veg I went to get a bus to a small village called Qinghua. The dude who paid almost double for the bus had taxi drivers and tour guides around him like flies. I chatted to him and he didn’t seem too bothered. I got my bus to Qinghua and headed east admiring the scenery, chatting to the kids who followed me on their bikes (hello was about as far as the conversation went) then once out the village I was half enjoying the scenery, half on the lookout for somewhere safe to camp. After about half an hour of strolling along the road a motor bike ground to a halt and low and behold the Israeli guy jumped off, gave me a cigarette, chatted for 10 minutes then him and his guide headed off. I hope he didn’t get overcharged. An hour or so later I spotted an unused field on a riverbank that was out of sight of people, I watched the sunset on the river then pitched my tent.
There’s not much to do in a tent so I crashed out around 7pm. I fell asleep to the sound of crickets, woke up at 4am to the echo of I don’t know how many frogs and had my tent packed away and on the road just before sunrise to the dawn chorus of the birds. My mission was to get to Da Likeng for lunch. It was great walking about before anyone else was up.
I made it, I walked the vast majority and hitch-hiked about a mile on the back of a scooter. Wuyuan is the perfect place for hitch hiking. You don’t need to try, I turned down about 5 offers because I was enjoying the walk. I gave first aid to a university student who’d grazed herself when she fell off her bike. It was a waste of a plaster. What a blouse. She needs tto man up a bit. When we arrived in the village they were staying in, I got given free lunch alongside all the other students. My friend Per told me that the Chinese youth mature later as they are looked after throughout their student lives. I see what he means. They all get their meals bought and paid for and itineraries planned out for them; they neither have the responsibilities or independence that western students have. Even though they were all in their earliy twenties the males and females all had to sit in in different tables. Later that day I saw a tour bus of students get off at a village and some of them headed straight to the play park. It’s strange watching young adults all excited on a see saw.
There was an entrance fee to get into Da Likeng which I didn’t pay. I didn’t want to see the village as it wouldn’t have been that different from the other villages I passed through other than that it’s on the tourist bus tour route and it cost £6. I only wanted to pass through then head out into the hills to a remote village. I got given alternative directions by a man mentioned in my lonely planet as being a good guide for the hills. The book also said you shouldn’t go alone as you’d definitely get lost. I don’t have a problem with that, I quite enjoy getting lost. Needless to say, I got lost. I had been warned about snakes and wore long trousers just in case. I saw one snake wriggle about a metre away from me. I walked loudly to give them plenty of time to move out the road. The paths were steep steps the whole way on paths formerly used as postal roads. It’s hard work going up and down them, especially with all my belongings on my back. I must have seen tens of thousands of grasshoppers on this walk in all sorts of colours and sizes. Walking along the postal roads is like parting the red sea with all the grasshoppers clearing the road as you pass.
The view down towards da Likeng.
I decided to camp in a field just below where the agriculture starts and the forest ends. The owner of the field must have spotted me and came over as my tent was almost erected and the visibility getting poorer. That wasn’t what I wanted. He invited me to camp outside his house on a field that had just been cultivated and had nice straw for cushioning. He also invited me for an evening meal and force fed me rice wine which is as strong as any whisky but without the pleasant aromas. I was given rice, beans in a chilli sauce and tiny little fish which are eaten whole. The bones are too small to be noticeable and I just didn’t think about its eyes and face. It was surprisingly nice. He lives with his wife and has 3 grown up children in Nanchang. He has a nice collection of Chairman Mao posters on his wall in a similar style to psychedelic 1960’s posters. His wife was initially a bit stand-offish but turned out to be really nice. The farms are all run by older people whilst the majority of young people go to the cities. I’m amazed at the stamina of these folks. You get people who’d be locked up in old folk’s homes back in L’ecosse working all day in rice paddies and they seem like the happiest people I’ve ever met. I’d love to be able to chat in detail with them. They’ve lived in pre-communist times, through the wars with the Japanese, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and capitalist times. They’ve seen the changes in one lifetime that took Europe hundreds of years. On the other hand, they live a very similar lifestyle to how their grandparents would have lived with the exception of a few modern appliances.
I slept really well on the straw and didn’t get up until 6am. I asked the kind man who hosted me if I could work for him in the morning but he declined. I think it will be really hard to get casual labour in Guizhou learning to build traditional wooden houses. After a few hours walking and a bit of hitchhiking on electric scooters I ended where I’d had breakfast the following day. I bought the man who’d given me a lift for the last mile some breakfast then he took me around a few villages and a free museum. Once I’d gone as far as modern transport could take me I walked up another steep climb, through a forest then descended towards the village of Guankeng. Going down the steps with the weight of all my belongings did my right knee no good and I was hobbling along by the time I reached the village in late afternoon with 3 socks tied around my leg for support. I also got a huge blister on the sole of my foot, Since arriving in Huangshan I’ve gone up and down countless steps.
The guy who gave me a lift around a few villages
It is probably harmless but not what I wanted to see blocking the path.
Guankeng is a lovely wee place with a stream down the middle and lots of little bridges. It has only one road leading in and no roads in the village, only cobbled paths. Kingfishers swoop along the stream that passes through the village. I’ve seen three. It also has no street lights. After dark everyone just walks about with torches, not that many people wander about at night. I spent about £9 in two days and £4 was for the bus from Tunxi. I opted to stay in a cheap family run hotel which also is a home and farm building. The granddad was waiting for me as I staggered in to guide me to a place to sleep. How could I say no. The following day I took it wasy to give my knee a rest. I went for a short walk along a stream, did some laundry and sunbathed. It was bliss. Dragonflies and butterflies were drinking off my legs after I went for a paddle. If it wasn’t for visa restrictions and the impending winter I’d stay there for ages. Having been in Guankeng, all the other historic places I’ve been to seem like a token gesture of old China.
The following day I worked in a rice field harvesting the crops. It was hard work but it felt good. Armed with a sickle I chopped down quite a lot of rice. My technique improved as the day went on. I’m a good bit faster than the 7 year old kid but still much slower than the adults. It started to rain and I got asked to go back to the village to take in the rice that was drying on the roof. Following this the old man told me to shave. I hadn’t shaved in about 3 weeks and had no mirror. Luckily I had given my Chinese software to Dawn but forgot to take out a disk from the computer. It took me ages to get rid of my beard. The field was fully cut by 11:45am then I sifted out rice grains from the leaves that had been through the machine but had missed bits out. I reckon I got more rice in my hair than into the basket. There were hundreds of swallows flying around us. The rain picked up at lunchtime so we finished off the field then had the rest of the day to ourselves. Lately I’ve been listening to Neil Young in the evenings along with a bit of Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Runrig, 5 Years’ Time by Noah and the Whale and Bombay Bicycle Club. In the evening the whole extended family gathered round for an evening meal. I really like them. They don’t call tea ‘cha’, they call it ‘re shui’ (hot water) and they drink it all the time. In the 3 nights I stayed in Guankeng I got 6 buffet meals, 9 bottles of beer (500ml), unlimited tea, as much rice wine as I wanted, a clean bed, warm shower, a cake from the old man who ordered me to shave, a packet of double happiness from the boss at work (although I hardly smoked any as everyone else was giving me) and an education in rural Chinese life all for the equivalent of £10. When I told the boss I couldn’t eat any more rice because I was full up, he gave me a corn in the cob instead. In total I spent £19 in my 5 days in Wuyuan and had possibly the best 5 days of my life.
The old man on the right is the one who was waiting for me as I arrived and ordered me
The song I like is called Tao Ma Gan and is by Wulantouya, a Tibetan Singer/Songwriter - http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTk2MTEwNjQw.html it’s probably not that good if it doesn’t remind you of a time or a place.
No comments:
Post a Comment