Tuesday, October 28, 2008

And back into the boonies

I'm in the middle of nowhere again. I've gone to the southeast portion of the Guizhou province, making my way toward Guangxi province and the backpacker town of Yangshuo. Last night, I stayed in a Miao (Hmong) village in a beautiful valley. While it's got a very touristy vibe to it, Xijiang is not the Disneyland of Lijiang, but a real village. Wooden houses are built into the hillside and the roads are stone. The people are incredibly friendly and hospitable. The woman sitting next to me on the bus today even paid for my ($1.20) ticket, despite my resistance.

Tonight I'm in a more developed town called Rongjiang. Tomorrow it's on to Conjiang (notice a pattern here?), where I'll venture down the road to Basha, which is supposed to be another nice village. After that, I'll make one or two more stops in this province before heading into Guangxi. About three more weeks in China, and plenty yet to see!

Hong Kong is next, where I'll spend a few days with Paul's dad, who's a teacher at the international school. There's been a bit of a change to the itinerary after Hong Kong, though, I'm afraid. I had been planning to go to Vietnam next, but that will have to wait til later, as something a bit more exciting is in the works. Where am I going instead? That's for me to know and you to find out. The only hint I'll give for now is that this place isn't among the countries I had initially intended to visit. That narrows it down by, oh, five. More on this later. And photos from these villages to come later as well!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

basha didn't appear to fit the "...jang" trend. Oh. And you're mean. Can't wait to find out what the post-Hong Kong plan is now.