Today was the day all of us mountain kids from Montana were looking forward to. We were finally going to get out of the cities and visit 3 parks outside of Guiyang. Because the farthest park was over 100 km from Guiyang, we left our hotel very early in the morning and drove to another nearby hotel to meet our tour group, and by 7:30, we were on our way. Almost as soon as we were out of town, our tour guide, a young guy wearing a T-shirt covered with nonsensical writing in English, began talking loudly and almost non-stop over the bus speaker system. I thought he was just giving a little background on the sights we'd be seeing, and then he'd stop, but no such luck. He seemed to drone on and on forever, until we arrived at our first stop: a needless detour to a large souvenir shop in the small and somewhat gritty city of Anshun. Dr. Liu had already warned us not to buy anything, but we did take a quick tour of the shop before heading outside to hang out while everyone else in our tour group continued their shopping. Forty-five minutes later, we were finally back on the road and back to the monologue. I didn't understand a word of it, and tried not to pay attention to him. Many of the Chinese tourists, Dr. Liu included, were asleep. At least the scenery was incredible: karst mountains and terraced fields and very green. We were visiting during the rice planting time, with lots of farmers in the fields, either planting rice or plowing the fields with water buffalo.
The view from the bus
After a long drive over some crazy mountain roads (and more villages, fields, farmers, and mountains), we arrived at the Bouyei (an ethnic minority) village of Shitou Zhai and the Longgong (Dragon Palace) Caves. The underground caves, which were only recently discovered, are huge, but only about 1 km is open to the public. The best part, though, is that the caves are partially submerged and the only way to see them is in a boat! The portion of the caves we saw were pretty cool, although kind of like the more commercialized caverns in the Shenandoah Valley, a variety of different colored lights were used for illumination. No music, however.
Entrance to Caves
Inside the Cave
Back into the Daylight
After the too-brief boat ride through the caves, we returned to the village, where some Bouyei girls had me try on a traditional costume over my clothes. At our bus, several of the older village women had set up shop, offering peanuts and such for sale. I took one woman's picture and, in exchange, I had to buy some peanuts from her. Then, every old woman there was shoving things in my hands, trying to get me to buy from them.
Bouyei Girls
Me in Costume
Bouyei Woman
Village of Shitou Zhai
After a long drive over some crazy mountain roads (and more villages, fields, farmers, and mountains), we arrived at the Bouyei (an ethnic minority) village of Shitou Zhai and the Longgong (Dragon Palace) Caves. The underground caves, which were only recently discovered, are huge, but only about 1 km is open to the public. The best part, though, is that the caves are partially submerged and the only way to see them is in a boat! The portion of the caves we saw were pretty cool, although kind of like the more commercialized caverns in the Shenandoah Valley, a variety of different colored lights were used for illumination. No music, however.
Inside the Cave
Back into the Daylight
After the too-brief boat ride through the caves, we returned to the village, where some Bouyei girls had me try on a traditional costume over my clothes. At our bus, several of the older village women had set up shop, offering peanuts and such for sale. I took one woman's picture and, in exchange, I had to buy some peanuts from her. Then, every old woman there was shoving things in my hands, trying to get me to buy from them.
Me in Costume
Bouyei Woman
Village of Shitou Zhai
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