Journey to the World

I was awaken early today, 6:15 in the morning. Basha village is still a little dark. Villagers are just waking up.

On the previous night I’ve booked a motorcycle for the next morning to take me from the village back to the bus station of Congjiang. From there I was planing to go to another village – Zhaoxing. The bus leaves early in the morning so you need to get up in time to catch it. The motorcycle arrived near my hostel at 6:50 as promised. I had a little surprise in the form of another passenger. A young guy hopped on the motorbike a moment before I had the chance to, and so we were three on a motorcycle driving down the slopes of a mountain back to Congjiang.

It was the type of old motorcycles with a big seat. Such a seat that even four people can get packed on if they really want to. Such motorbikes you see frequently in Vietnam.

The ride was quite easy. There was enough room on the seat for everyone. We arrived in the bus station after twenty minutes. The bus to Zhaoxing leaves at 7:20, and not as I was informed before (7:30) so we got there just in time.

In Zhaoxing village there are seven hundred houses of Dong people. Up until now all villages I visited were occupied by Miao people.

Zhaoxing is different than the other villages. Although it is not so big, it is lively. There is a small market, souvenir shops and quite a few hostels. Room pricing starts at 20 yuan for a lousy room and up to 60 yuan for a quality room.

You should know that the main road is faulty. In fact, it was so disrupted that one of the wheels of my huge bag got disconnected, and so I have conculded that bags manufacured in China, at least those with wheels, will not last more than a month. This was the second bag destroyed after a few weeks. Each time it was the wheels mechanism that got destroyed.

An extensive search in the village made me realize that most rooms are already occupied by tourists. Those that were not, were inside lousy hostels.

Eventually I came across a lovely hostel. Wooden rooms with an indoor shower with hot water, looked clean and new. The price was 40 yuan. I was told it becomes availabe at 12:00, but the time was just 9:45.

To avoid dragging my broken bag in the streets, I left them in the hostel and went touring the village. Wooden house, small stores, a stream that crosses the village. It even has a pagoda as well as wind and rain gates. Outside the village you can see the rice fields, and by the houses the locals dry the rice, chili and cotton on fabrics laid on the ground. On one of the trails I’ve seen woman dressed traditionally rolling strings, an old man weaving a basket, and other interesting sights. There’s a small factory in the village whose product was unclear to me.

There are two school in Zhaoxing. An elementary school and a high-school. You can visit them to kill a spare hour. Overall it’s a nice village. For some reason I haven’t found a special reason to visit it besides the fact that it was on the way to Sangjiang, Longsheng and Guilin.

At 12:30 I came back to the hotel. The owner, a nice man, informed me that the room will not be available today after all. He apologized and offered a room in the third floor without an indoor shower. As a compensation I received a discount – 20 yuan instead of 30 yuan. The owner was nice enough to help me fix the broken bag so I cleared all the junk, got it downstairs, where he drilled a new screw into the detached wheel. I guess it may survive a week before falling apart again. Enough time to buy a new bag.

For lunch I went to a local diner. Fried Potatoes specified in the menu turned out to be french fries with ketchup (10 yuan). I also got Onion Beef (12 yuan). Both were quite tasty.

Short Trek Outside The Village

After a while the village got boring, so I walked East (to the opposite direction of Congjiang) to visit two other villages. On one edge of Zhaoxing there’s a sign pointing to a national park. The trail starts from within the village and goes up and up toward a nearby mountain. There are two option to climb this mountain – the first is on a boring dirt road bending around the mountain. The other is on a narrow trail going up through the bushes. I chose the more interesting option.

It took me thirty minutes to climb on the interesting narrow trail till I joined the main road. It got boring again, and even the rice terraces in this area are less beautiful than other places that I visited before. I arrived in a rice field where I decided to stop climbing and start getting back to the village.

Rolling Tree Logs Down The Mountain

At that place I’ve witnessed a strange sight. Three people getting a big log of tree on an improvised biking equipment. Two stood behind the log while holding a metal rod on their soldiers. The rod was tied to the back side of the log. A third man sat on the front side of the log. The front side was attached to an axis which had a bicycle wheel from both sides. Using his legs, the third man tried to navigate through the steep bends of the mountain. He did not succeed too well, and so in every bend the two other men had to lift the log and turn it around to the correct direction while the third men enjoys the ride.

Even during the descends, the two men had to work hard and hold the log so it would not fall from the cliff along with the navigator. This all system was used broadly by villagers. These three were not the only people I saw using that technique.

Girl Basketball In The Afternoon

In the afternoon, there are activities in the local high-school – a basketball game for girls was one. Local student as well as occasional tourists gathered around the field to watch the game and cheer.

Local Show In The Evening

A local show of the Dong people started at 20:00. The actors performed in an amusing play to show parts of their culture. There are two stages in the village. Make sure to find the right one. The price of a ticket is a little expensive, 50 yuan. In case you’re already there it’s worth a shot.

Night-Time in Zhaoxing And A Local Pub

A laser machine installed in a local pub and Karaoke video clips caught my eyes. Inside I met a few Chinese art students from Tianjin University (near Beijing). They raved the village with two full buses (about 70 students) during a week-long tour to the villages around Guizhou. It seems as if this pub is used mainly by Chinese tourists and Karaoke is the main attraction.

During night-time the entire village is illuminated using special light. It turns into a really nice place to hang out in.

 

This article was published at 20-10-2008 Time: 15:30 and belongs to categories Basha, Zhaoxing, Far East Travel Journal 2008 - 2009, Villages, Guizhou Province, China, Congjiang. You can follow comments to this article using the feed RSS 2.0. You can post a comment, or trackback from your website.