Anshun Southern China

Anshun, Southern China

On this trip we also visited 2 Naxi villages.  The Naxi build all there building out of stone as opposed to the wood framed villages of the Miao. We would get on a bus for a few hours and then visit a village and then get back on the bus and drive to another one.  We would end back at the hotel in Anshun because the villages were way too small to have big hotels. One night while walking around we found a group of people had divided off a large part of a square and were dancing.  Mom was asked by a Chinese man if she wanted to dance.  She of course took him up on his offer.  She really enjoyed the evening. We also visited a cave that had a Buddhist temple in it and another cave that had a river coming out of it.  We hiked almost to the top of a mountain to visit another Buddhist temple.

One of the Two Naxi villages we visited.

Naxi village.

  Mom trying out to be a game show model.

 

  One of the small ally ways in the Naxi village.

Naxi village.

 

  The Ground Opera

The Ground Opera.

All the kids were very cute.

Naxi village.

Carol Larson and a girl selling vegies on the street.

He was also selling food on the street.

The entrance to a Buddhist temple that was half way up the mountain.

Some of the roofs of the Buddhist temple on the mountain.

 

  The roof top of the temple on the mountain.

View from the temple.

Mom stepping out on me. (dancing in the street at night, the tango)

Some kurst mountains.

This man was blind but could still smile.

A Buddhist temple inside a cave.

All the kids made us think of our grandkids.

  This was a kind of scary bus ride.

Boat ride into a cave.

From the cave looking out.

If you didn't want to climb you could hire two men to carry you up the mountain.

She enjoyed the ride.

We stayed at the same hotel as this wedding. Can you find me in the picture?

Mom and Carol and Merlene in Anshun.

The other Naxi village we visited.

Naxi village. Stone house but satellite dish on roof.

Is she cute enough?

Naxi village.

Naxi village.  This was a much poorer village.

This picture reminded me of  women in South America.

Little kids learning how to roller blade. This is late at night.

Guiyang Fall 2009

Guiyang

As I remember on our trip to Southern China in the fall of 2009, we first flew to Guiyang, the capitol of Guizhou province.  I remember we went out to dinner with Craig and Carol Larson that first evening.  We went into a place and just pointed to something on the menu and what they brought us was a big bowl of soup with vegetables and a little beef in it.  It was so hot and spicy that I was the only one who could eat it.  I had tears in my eyes and my nose was running and if was really spicy. 

Our first night's dinner in Guiyang.  Very hot and spicy.

The next day we went and visit a temple that was built part way up a mountain.  It was now a big park and we had to hike up to the temple. 

Walking on the streets of Guiyang.

These men on the street are playing Chinese Chess or Checkers.

Mom on the way up to the temple.

This was some kind of way station halfway up the mountain.

This is part of the temple complex.

Some of the temple complex in the background.

I think this in at the temple complex up on the mountain.

We then went to a market in an ancient village but alas I can’t remember the name of the village. In a video mom says it is Guiyang but I think that it was just close to Guiyang.  I think it might have been Quingyan.

The market street was very interesting.

Walking the market street was a lot of fun.

Lots of good street food.

I paid to ring the bell in one of the temples.

 

The wood carvings were beautiful.

Everywhere we went the gardens were beautifully cared for.

This man was kind of like a fortune teller.

I stopped in to help them make dumplings.

One of the villages we visited. Can't remember the name.

They set off firecrackers for no reason all the time.

This was our guide.

Fall Trip to Southern China

Fall Trip to Southern China

Because the Chinese celebrate for a week the founding of the republic and there was no school at all the schools all over China, we took a trip with other China Teachers from BYU.  Marvin Wu, a Chinese man who has been organizing trips for groups of BYU teachers for years, every year sends out a list of different trips that he has organized and we opted to take one that most of the second year teachers were taking.  Many of the first year teachers were going on the Silk Road trip that starts in western China and makes it’s way back to Xian.  We opted to go on the trip to many of the smaller towns in southern China that would visit some of the indigenous cultures of China.  There are 56 recognized ethnic groups in China. As I remember we flew to Guizhou and with about 45 other teachers traveled by bus to many different places in Southern China.  Craig and Carol Larson from Tianjin also chose this trip as well as Mike and Merlene who were from Mount Pleasant and became our good friends over the course of the next 2 years.  One of the first places we visited was Xijiang a Miao Jur village. Miao are one of the recognized ethic groups in China. I am going to break this trip up into a few post so they don't become too long.

Much of Southern China is terraced for growing rice,  all of the work is still done by hand.

This is the entrance into the village of Xijiang.

This was a welcoming committee.

The homes were built on steep land that was to rocky and steep to terrace and use for growing crops.

They dried corn everywhere they could.

They dried corn everywhere they could.

There houses were wood frame on top of a rock foundation.

 A video of the houses and crops.

 

Drying rice in a large open square.

The bottom floor of the house is for cooking and where they keep their water buffalo.

This is Carol Larson in the front room of our of the houses we went into. Second floor,

Life looked difficult and with most work done by hand.

Second floor room with loom.

Another front room.  Notice the pictures/posters.

The roofs are clay tiles.

The roof tops of the Miao Jur village.

Daily life, selling in the market.

Freshly butchered pig for sale on the street.

Mom dressed up in some of the local traditional clothes.  I think the two girls with us are tourist from another part of China.

Mom is third from the left and Carol is fourth.  All are tourists I think.

Mom and Carol embarrassing themselves.

Some really cute kids wanted their picture taken with the foreigners.

There are many interesting translations in China.

After our visit there was a performance for all the visitors.

After our visit there was a performance for all the visitors.