A year away: April 2010

Monday, April 26, 2010

Guizhou under construction

The entire town of Xiaohuang, in fact most of the province of Guizhou, seems to be in a constant state of construction.

This old lady was cooking snacks at the foot of the steps to the local school. The man in the purple jacket was the best shot I could get of the "Dong Jackets" almost everyone in town wears - I think they are made from silk or other tough fabric, dyed purple/black and coated in something that makes them very shiny when new. Some of the jackets are worn to the point of tatters, but people keep right on wearing them.

More locals in Xiaohuang

April 26, 2010 - Xiaohuang, Guizhou, China

A few typical scenes from this small town

April 26, 2010 - Xiaohuang, Guizhou

Another town nearby where I stayed the night. Pics of local kids.

April 23, 2010 - Baode, Guizhou

This one too --- This little town was 3.5km up the road from Langde Shang. This guy and his buddies we having a party on the side of the road with a flagon of their homemade baijiu (rice wine). I was invited for a couple of drinks.

Baode, Guizhou

Whoops, this one should be before Congjiang --- As we neared the village we were mobbed by kids - these guys we more than happy to take photos with us. We were invited into an old woman's home for dinner. The view from the window was pretty cool - the house was perched on a steep slope as seems to be normal in these parts.

April 26, 2010 - Basha Miao Village and Xiaohuang Dong Village, Guizhou, China

From Langde I took a bus to Rongjiang and on to Congjiang - all day over some of the worst roads I've found. Around Congjiang are some cool Miao and Dong villages. The pics are a contrast - young and old - Miao and Dong minorities

Langde Shang

We didn't get to see any kind of celebration but I wish we had - the costumes are amazing. The shot inside the house is where I stayed for 20 yuan - about $3. Hot showers and a proper bed (albeit hard as a rock). The only drawbacas the pit toilet, outside. Definitely the worst I've seen so far - I think that's a work in progress because the rest of the place was pretty nice.

Langde Shang, Guizhou

April 23, 2010 - Langde Shang, Guizhou

This Miao village was on the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay route in 2008, but it's basically deserted now. A very cute collection of traditional wooden houses and stone courtyards perched on a steep slope.

April 23, 2010 - Kaili to Langde, Guizhou

Along the highway from Kaili small Dong and Miao villages are everywhere. The countryside is beautiful, but extremely poor.

April 24 - Kaili, Guizhou, China

After my flight from Shanghai to Guiyang I checked out a hostel, which was a waste of time so I hoped on a bus to Kaili, a couple of hours away into the rural heart of Guizhou. On the streets of this small city you're more likely to see farm machinery for sale than BMWs. This is most definitely NOT rich, developed coastal China. Just outside the main streets of towns you'll find farmers eeking out an existence on steep, unstable hillsides.

Shanghai

I treated myself to meat with a side of meat (actually the sides were veges and tofu). The cooking method was pretty cool - from the NW of China, I think. The bike pic is just one of Chinese randomness. A "Range Rover" "Land Rover" bike? I think not.

April 22, 2010 - Shanghai, China

After the bus from Huangshan I spent only one night in Shanghai in order to get a cheap(ish) flight to Guizhou. The city did look awesome by night and the totally redeveloped Bund area is a massive improvement over the way it was - there's not too many places in the world where a 16 lane highway culd be converted back to a 6 lane street with traffic lights and the freed-up space converted to a park, but China is one of those places. The riverfront looks amazing now.

The next few posts

The posts to follow are not in the real order of events. I still need to post about my travels in Fujian and Anhui, where I went before I went Shanghai and Guizhou, but hopefully you'll be able to reconcile the order in your minds (or just forget about it and look at the photos). I'll get to the rest later. Enjoy.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Last day in Malaysia

I had booked my flight out of Malaysia from Kota Kinabalu, in the northern part of Sabah province, to Hong Kong. Given the amount of time I'd already spent on Peninsular Malaysia and in Sarawak province on Borneo I didn't have a chance to spend more than a day in Sabah. As a change of pace from jungle trekking I decided to take a day trip out to the local island of Mamutik, just off the coast from KK. The snorkelling was pretty good, the weather warm and sunny - a pleasant change from jungle rain. Check out the pictures.

Next stop China!!