I’m writing this now while it is still fresh. It’s amazing what disappears from the memory when you are doing a lot of travel and sightseeing. I just finished my previous post and had completely forgot about Qibao, which was odd because it was interesting. Lucky there were photos to remind me to talk about it. It’s where Taamo tried to teach me to eat dumplings and I failed to learn. Apparently you bite the edge and suck out the juice, otherwise it squirts all over you. Guess who was grotty the whole time with stains down their front? Me! One thing I’ve noted here in China is that you don’t go hungry. Everywhere you go there is some kind of food for sale. Noodles, dumplings, all sorts.
Taamo took me for a walk locally and we had some street food for breakfast. Some vegetable rice buns, which look Pork dumplings at home but are filled with green vegetable and mushrooms. Then Taamo bought this pancake thing, with egg a few bits of onion, bbq sauce, chili and some crispy thing. It’s rolled up and you munch on it while you walk. It was tasty! We checked out the local English bookstore, where I bought a learn to speak Mandarin textbook as you do. One day she says! One day!
We found an out of the way place called, Books in Space. It was off the main drag and part of a house, sort of like a terrace house really. It was a cafe that had second hand books for sale for 10 RMB (about $2) and really good coffee. There was French music playing and it had a nice vibe. Very Western shabby chic I guess.
We also visited a new bakery called Lost Bakery and it had stuff in there to die for and boy I’d get fat if I could find my way back. So I’m staying away. The coffee was good and my apple tart was too.
Anyway, the tour. So Taamo gave me a few to choose from. I chose something that didn’t sound to strenuous. We went south to the Nanxi River Area. We went with Ok Deals tourist group. The group was smallish, around 30, laid back, but not slack. That meant we went where we were supposed to go when we were supposed to go but the itinerary was not excessive. Taamo reckons we went almost halfway to Taiwan. I guess he is right. (map Wikipedia commons.)
So bus and group were a okay! Six hour trip on the bus with two hourly stops. I was introduced to toilets in a big way. Squat toilets, bring your own loo paper and don’t flush it. Used loo paper goes in bins. Some of them don’t smell too good either. But livable.
We left at 7.05 am, not bad for a 7.00am start. Great scenery on the way. A long bridge etc. Mountains. Terraced rice fields, gardens everywhere. I saw sweet potato growing, taro, eggplant, green vegetables, potatoes and corn. Also persimmon trees with persimmons everywhere (Japanese kind I believe). Lunch was at 2.00pm but we stopped to visit an ancient village. This one the home of the head of the Chen clan.
Taamo took this one of a goat herder returning.
This is my shot using the panoramic function.
This is a close up of the roof tiles that I found interesting.
The food was very local. Lots of vegetables grown locally I guess. Some weird stuff too, but I tried most of it. I liked the tomato omelette, which turned up in most places. I’m thinking tomatoes grow locally too. Some thin slices of potato, gourd (winter melon?), fresh whole fish (I couldn’t eat that), rice cake etc.
The hotel where we stayed was out of the village proper. We had to be barged across by rope pulled by hand.
A few shots of the hotel. The rooms looked nice. The power was off. Some kind of trouble. The bathroom fitting leaked and the cleaning wasn’t quite the thing. Food was plentiful.
On the second day we went to a waterfall and mountain walk. Too many stairs and it was so hot. It also rained a bit.
On the barge.
The Dragon Waterfall.
Inside the waterfall cave. This had been extended by man. Quite extensive with temples inside etc.
Inside this part of the cave people could hire traditional costumes and take photos.
We walked up the mountain and found the source of the waterfall, and the former source of the waterfall.
Behind the dam wall
We sat under these rocks. We thought they might be Basalt.
At night there was a bonfire party. I didn’t hang for that but I did get to see some fireflies. Second night it was raining so they had a room party in the restaurant. The drinking, dancing etc went on till two am.
After the waterfall and lunch, we went bamboo rafting. It was wonderful. The rapids weren’t really rapids but you did feel the rocks bumping underneath. We had a very cool pilot/captain. Photo courtesy of Tour Guide Alice. It was so tranquil.
Before we left the area we went for the most amazing walk. These photos don’t do it justice. You lose the height impressions.
This is the view of the mountain/rock from the village. We walked to the river walk.
The goats near the bridge. This bridge was sealed off. My favourite parts? The bamboo rafting and the river walk, which was mind blowingly beautiful.
And finally I saw this at the hotel. A native, traditional raincoat?
That’s it for now. I’m having a home day and it’s wonderful. My sore legs can recuperate.
Waving from Shanghai.
Donna Maree Hanson, Author, Phd in Creative Writing 