So on a great hair day I set out to see the famous rice terrace! Which are beautiful mountains covered in rice fields as far as you can see and little villages where the farmers live. It’s about a 2 hour bus ride to the rice terrace and we were in a group of all Chinese except for one couple from Portugal. So the tour guide spoke in Chinese first and then did a quick translation for us. I don’t remember the guides name, he was no Young-young but still cracked me up. So he tells us, “70% of the money you paid for the tour pays for the bus, so no sleeping! look at all the beautiful mountains everywhere we go and get your moneys worth, when it gets dark then you can sleep!” we unload the huge tour bus and stand around careful not to lose sight of the tour flag (red and yellow just like 10 other tours had!) waiting for a small bus to take us up the whiney mountain. While we are waiting we find my Aussie friend! Her tour was mostly foreigners but she had been standing around waiting about an hour longer than us. So I feel my tour was just as good and I was glad I had pocketed my savings!
Taking the minivans up the mountain were terrifying. We shoved in there like a clown car! I literally sat on a wooden box behind the driver. And woman and her toddler sat straddling the gear shift! So it is a narrow dirt path with no guard rail and just enough room for a motorcycle between us and the side of the mountain. However as we are going up, buses are fighting to come down! And magically and painfully slowly they somehow inch by. About haft way up the mountain we find ourselves in a 10 car pileup completely blocked by another 10 cars above unable to get by. At this point Heidi reaches into her Mary Poppins bag and starts handing out snacks while the little boy beside me drops his pants and pees into a plastic bag his mom found for him, very common in China! I was just glad I squeezed myself enough room to keep my feet out of his aim. So we get to the almost top and run to the edge snapping as many pictures as we can! To which the guide urges, “keep walking, pictures later, its more beautiful higher!” It was already noon and we had quite a hick ahead of us! I had almost decked the guide on the bus when he explained “the people would be there to carry your things or you if you want to, but they charge 3 kaui per pound.” Then he pointed at me and said, “so for you, maybe it is better you walk, or very expensive!” I laughed and waved him off before the words even came out of his mouth. I am glad he didn’t feel the need to translate the joke to the Chinese. Either way, Heidi and I were the first ones to reach the village.
We ate at one of the farmer’s homes. They served my favorite dish in china this far! Bamboo stuffed with rice, carats and pork bits and then the bamboo is burnt on an open flame cooking the rice inside! You break the bamboo open and scoop out the now sweet and smokey rice. AMAZING! All the houses had peppers covering every walking path. I guess drying in the sun. We climb up to explore and found ourselves trapped by peppers! Heidi decided she had to eat one so just then the woman popped her head out of her home to see what the high pitch squeaking was right outside her door (aka my laughter). She agreed to let us buy some of her peppers and more hesitantly allowed us to take her picture! Then she invited us into her house to look around, it was small and bear wood floor and walls. Very modest but not lacking any necessities for a farming village. It was a great personal connection unlike the standard tour package. I felt like seeing her home I could imagine her daily life. She seemed very happy and content. I often wonder how different my life would be if I grew up on the other side of the world. I can’t go a day without my cell phone, but she doesn’t even see a need for electronics. Do the material things I can’t live without really make my life better or have I become a slave to them. I found myself not pitying but jealous of her simple life and the freedom from the world that she enjoyed. I wonder what she thought looking at us, was she envious of the life she imagined us to have?
After rush back through the rice fields and getting a little turned around we arrived back at the meeting place to head back down the mountain. Fortunately for us the minivans wouldn’t arrive for another 2 hours! Meaning we weren’t really late and didn’t get separated for our tour group, which was a real fear with 10,000 tourists. In the US we would have pitched a fit and rebelled against our guide, however the time went by very quickly. We had met a couple from Beijing with perfect English who had stepped in and translated for us at lunch. We learned that they had traveled to New York a few years ago and where very well educated on American culture. Their 7 year old son, Ronald as in Ronald Reagan not Ronald McDonald as I originally assumed, attended a British School in Beijing. We told them about teaching in the Chinese public schools and they shared their dissatisfaction with the public school systems. We were shocked to hear a Chinese couple blatantly say anything against the government. But it was fascinating to hear their opinions. Ronald spoke to us briefly, but enough for me to see he was very clever and was already developing a British accent in his English. It is always shocking to see a Chiner and then hear British English! There had been some construction around where we were to wait for the buses so there was a block of wet concrete and some board and nails. Every Chinese man that walked by the concrete grabed the tool and started to reposition the concrete. Ronald took this to a new level grabbing a hammer and pulling all the bent nails out of discarded board. The construction site had become a playground for all ages! Where was I? Do men in the US see a construction site and feel the need to go move everything around and play with all the tools? I think I just answered my own question. Maybe we are not so different, American’s feel the same need, we just don’t act on it.
We learned our Portuguese friends where going to Beijing for a business contract and just decided to come and travel 2 weeks before and make a vacation of it. So we introduced them to our new Chinese couple from Beijing, I think they made dinner plans for their first night in Beijing! That’s hospitality. They shared their frustration that they had no idea they were planning their vacation in the middle of Chinese national day, while all of china was vacationing. Their first night in Hong Kong was a nightmare after a combination of delayed flight forced them to miss the boarding crossing into Shenzhen and all the hotels were full except one with human size rats! They shared how hard it was for them to understand our guide’s English. I guess I have gotten used to the accent but I started thinking about how difficult it must be for them. English was their 2nd language, they spoke amazingly well but I am sure it took a great deal of concentration to understand my English. Then through in a heavy Chinese accent and broken English, they didn’t have a chance. How arrogant of me to assume everyone speaks English. And in china if you are a foreigner they assume you speak English as well.
By the time the minivans were able to make it back up the mountain we were shocked to learn that while we were on the mountain the workers had literally paved the road! I have never seen such efficiency anywhere else in my life. China has got it together. No exaggeration needed. It was dirt all the way up and they had magically laid the gravel in between the constant traffic jams. As impressed as I was I have to admit the ride down was increasingly terrify dodging cement trucks.
I haven’t even gotten to the best part of the day yet! We went to meet the Yao People. They were discovered in 1998! They lived in the mountains on the rice fields completely untouched by the rest of China until an airplane spotted the people while taking pictures of the Rice Terrace for post cards. The first roads where built to their village within the last 5 years. Before they become a tourist attraction the average annual income was 800 Yuan per year ($120 US). And the older people don’t have any government rights because they don’t have IDs or the Chinese version of SSN. The Government has started registering the young man and then babies, but they will not register the older people. They are now becoming a major tourist attraction, mostly for Chinese tourist. They have all handmade crafts that they self as souvenirs for very little money. As soon as we got off the bus we are attacked buy sales. Everyone wants you to buy the same thing from them and not the other woman. I have to wonder if this is really a better life for them. They are getting more money but they have become forceful and almost like beggars to the tourists. The guide explained their distinct culture. The women are the boss of the family. Men want a woman with a body that has 3 things that are big and one thing that is small. Not what I would have guessed. They want a big mouth, so they can yell across the mountains, big feet so you can climb up the mountain and a big butt so you will have male children. Small hands are best for needle work in the woman’s spare time! So I got 2 out of 4 so I am not a good wife in Yao terms! To show their love the men will step on the women’s feet lightly and the women some love, “they pinch the axe!” The woman all sang and danced for us to show what their daily life is like. And then we had a mock wedding ceremony. Our Portuguese friend was chosen as the play groom. The pictures are priceless since he is 6’5” and towers over the Yao women. They made me sing a love song and carry his bride around the circle on his back. It was great! Then the woman took their hair down. They grow their hair out their whole lives and it is almost 5 feet long. They cut their hair one time when they get married but they keep that ponytail of hair and braid it into their hair in a tight wrap around their heads. The single women all cover their hair under a silk hat. You can tell if a woman is married and how many children she has by how she wears her hair. Also they wash their hair in the old rice water so it says black even when they are old it never turns gray.
And now for the best part of the day! When we left the house the ladies did the show in, they lined up outside and pinched everyone’s butts as we walked by!!! No one warned us! So the pictures that I have of the Chinese people jumping in shock are Priceless!
Taking the minivans up the mountain were terrifying. We shoved in there like a clown car! I literally sat on a wooden box behind the driver. And woman and her toddler sat straddling the gear shift! So it is a narrow dirt path with no guard rail and just enough room for a motorcycle between us and the side of the mountain. However as we are going up, buses are fighting to come down! And magically and painfully slowly they somehow inch by. About haft way up the mountain we find ourselves in a 10 car pileup completely blocked by another 10 cars above unable to get by. At this point Heidi reaches into her Mary Poppins bag and starts handing out snacks while the little boy beside me drops his pants and pees into a plastic bag his mom found for him, very common in China! I was just glad I squeezed myself enough room to keep my feet out of his aim. So we get to the almost top and run to the edge snapping as many pictures as we can! To which the guide urges, “keep walking, pictures later, its more beautiful higher!” It was already noon and we had quite a hick ahead of us! I had almost decked the guide on the bus when he explained “the people would be there to carry your things or you if you want to, but they charge 3 kaui per pound.” Then he pointed at me and said, “so for you, maybe it is better you walk, or very expensive!” I laughed and waved him off before the words even came out of his mouth. I am glad he didn’t feel the need to translate the joke to the Chinese. Either way, Heidi and I were the first ones to reach the village.
We ate at one of the farmer’s homes. They served my favorite dish in china this far! Bamboo stuffed with rice, carats and pork bits and then the bamboo is burnt on an open flame cooking the rice inside! You break the bamboo open and scoop out the now sweet and smokey rice. AMAZING! All the houses had peppers covering every walking path. I guess drying in the sun. We climb up to explore and found ourselves trapped by peppers! Heidi decided she had to eat one so just then the woman popped her head out of her home to see what the high pitch squeaking was right outside her door (aka my laughter). She agreed to let us buy some of her peppers and more hesitantly allowed us to take her picture! Then she invited us into her house to look around, it was small and bear wood floor and walls. Very modest but not lacking any necessities for a farming village. It was a great personal connection unlike the standard tour package. I felt like seeing her home I could imagine her daily life. She seemed very happy and content. I often wonder how different my life would be if I grew up on the other side of the world. I can’t go a day without my cell phone, but she doesn’t even see a need for electronics. Do the material things I can’t live without really make my life better or have I become a slave to them. I found myself not pitying but jealous of her simple life and the freedom from the world that she enjoyed. I wonder what she thought looking at us, was she envious of the life she imagined us to have?
After rush back through the rice fields and getting a little turned around we arrived back at the meeting place to head back down the mountain. Fortunately for us the minivans wouldn’t arrive for another 2 hours! Meaning we weren’t really late and didn’t get separated for our tour group, which was a real fear with 10,000 tourists. In the US we would have pitched a fit and rebelled against our guide, however the time went by very quickly. We had met a couple from Beijing with perfect English who had stepped in and translated for us at lunch. We learned that they had traveled to New York a few years ago and where very well educated on American culture. Their 7 year old son, Ronald as in Ronald Reagan not Ronald McDonald as I originally assumed, attended a British School in Beijing. We told them about teaching in the Chinese public schools and they shared their dissatisfaction with the public school systems. We were shocked to hear a Chinese couple blatantly say anything against the government. But it was fascinating to hear their opinions. Ronald spoke to us briefly, but enough for me to see he was very clever and was already developing a British accent in his English. It is always shocking to see a Chiner and then hear British English! There had been some construction around where we were to wait for the buses so there was a block of wet concrete and some board and nails. Every Chinese man that walked by the concrete grabed the tool and started to reposition the concrete. Ronald took this to a new level grabbing a hammer and pulling all the bent nails out of discarded board. The construction site had become a playground for all ages! Where was I? Do men in the US see a construction site and feel the need to go move everything around and play with all the tools? I think I just answered my own question. Maybe we are not so different, American’s feel the same need, we just don’t act on it.
We learned our Portuguese friends where going to Beijing for a business contract and just decided to come and travel 2 weeks before and make a vacation of it. So we introduced them to our new Chinese couple from Beijing, I think they made dinner plans for their first night in Beijing! That’s hospitality. They shared their frustration that they had no idea they were planning their vacation in the middle of Chinese national day, while all of china was vacationing. Their first night in Hong Kong was a nightmare after a combination of delayed flight forced them to miss the boarding crossing into Shenzhen and all the hotels were full except one with human size rats! They shared how hard it was for them to understand our guide’s English. I guess I have gotten used to the accent but I started thinking about how difficult it must be for them. English was their 2nd language, they spoke amazingly well but I am sure it took a great deal of concentration to understand my English. Then through in a heavy Chinese accent and broken English, they didn’t have a chance. How arrogant of me to assume everyone speaks English. And in china if you are a foreigner they assume you speak English as well.
By the time the minivans were able to make it back up the mountain we were shocked to learn that while we were on the mountain the workers had literally paved the road! I have never seen such efficiency anywhere else in my life. China has got it together. No exaggeration needed. It was dirt all the way up and they had magically laid the gravel in between the constant traffic jams. As impressed as I was I have to admit the ride down was increasingly terrify dodging cement trucks.
I haven’t even gotten to the best part of the day yet! We went to meet the Yao People. They were discovered in 1998! They lived in the mountains on the rice fields completely untouched by the rest of China until an airplane spotted the people while taking pictures of the Rice Terrace for post cards. The first roads where built to their village within the last 5 years. Before they become a tourist attraction the average annual income was 800 Yuan per year ($120 US). And the older people don’t have any government rights because they don’t have IDs or the Chinese version of SSN. The Government has started registering the young man and then babies, but they will not register the older people. They are now becoming a major tourist attraction, mostly for Chinese tourist. They have all handmade crafts that they self as souvenirs for very little money. As soon as we got off the bus we are attacked buy sales. Everyone wants you to buy the same thing from them and not the other woman. I have to wonder if this is really a better life for them. They are getting more money but they have become forceful and almost like beggars to the tourists. The guide explained their distinct culture. The women are the boss of the family. Men want a woman with a body that has 3 things that are big and one thing that is small. Not what I would have guessed. They want a big mouth, so they can yell across the mountains, big feet so you can climb up the mountain and a big butt so you will have male children. Small hands are best for needle work in the woman’s spare time! So I got 2 out of 4 so I am not a good wife in Yao terms! To show their love the men will step on the women’s feet lightly and the women some love, “they pinch the axe!” The woman all sang and danced for us to show what their daily life is like. And then we had a mock wedding ceremony. Our Portuguese friend was chosen as the play groom. The pictures are priceless since he is 6’5” and towers over the Yao women. They made me sing a love song and carry his bride around the circle on his back. It was great! Then the woman took their hair down. They grow their hair out their whole lives and it is almost 5 feet long. They cut their hair one time when they get married but they keep that ponytail of hair and braid it into their hair in a tight wrap around their heads. The single women all cover their hair under a silk hat. You can tell if a woman is married and how many children she has by how she wears her hair. Also they wash their hair in the old rice water so it says black even when they are old it never turns gray.
And now for the best part of the day! When we left the house the ladies did the show in, they lined up outside and pinched everyone’s butts as we walked by!!! No one warned us! So the pictures that I have of the Chinese people jumping in shock are Priceless!
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