I was able to post a few pictures to my Flickr account, but by the time we reached Shanghai, I could not even access Flickr. I hope that it was just coincidence, as I would hate to think that I was responsible for further limitations on internet access in China.
But we are now home, and I can at least summarize the last week of our incredible journey. As we covered so much ground and the days were so jam packed from early morning until late evening, I will keep much of the commentary brief, but I do hope you will visit my Flickr site to see some of the 3,500 photos I brought back.
I'll start with the Dragon Back Terraced Fields of Longsheng County outside of Guilin (which by the way is pronounced "Gweelin" or "Gweeleen" depending on which native speaker we happen to ask). The mountains, about a two hour ride outside Guilin, are farmed by three differenct tribes, the Z'Huang who farm the lowest parts of the mountain, the Miao (pronounced as "Meow") who farm the middle reaches of the mountain, and the Yao, who farm the highest peaks. The practice of mountain farming dates to the days of the Mongolian raiders who periodically raged havoc on the farming communities, which then fled to the mountains. In order to farm they were forced to terrace the fields, most of which are irrigared from water flowing down the mountains to flood the rice fields. The terraces resemble dragon scales, as you can see from the following pictures.
Each tribe has there own distinctive costumes, although we only saw this in the women, the men wearing drab working clothes. In order to augment there income, many of the women offered to have there pictures taken with tourists for a small fee, usually 10 yuan, or about $1.50. One of the most enterprising was a group of women who had set up a tent at the peak and charged 40 yuan for a 5x7 photo that they took with their own digital camera, printed on a HP ink jet printer, and laminated in plastic, all within a time frame of less than 5-minutes. We didn't even see any electric wires in the immediate area.
The picture above is the eight of the twelve in our group that made it to the top. It was a grueling climb to the peak, even with the stone stairs set into the path, and four of our group elected to wait near the restaurant that we were to meet at for lunch just below the peak.
After eating, we walked back down to the shuttle bus that took us from the base of the mountain. It was about an hours climb up from the point that the shuttle was able to reach. Were we allowed, it would have taken 8-hours of climbing to reach to peak were it not for the shuttle from the base to the upper mountain parking lot.
When we reached the bus, we discovered quite a comotion as a group of Japanese tourists arrived with their luggage. They were planning on staying at the mountain top hotel and the only way to get their bags to the hotel was via baskets worn on the backs of women porters. The women were arguing over who would be in queue to carry some luggage, and the Japanese had huge suitcases. I don't know what they were thinking, but I can't even imagine traveling with bags that big domestically, let alone to China.
If that wrap on her head looks like a towel to you, you're right. They've been using towels as head scarves for as long as anyone remembers to keep the sweat from running into their eyes when working in the fields or as porters.
Our day concluded with a stop at the pearl factory, a government run outlet for the cultured and sea water pearls the area is famous for, followed by a visit to Elephant Trunk Park, which features a few rock formations that are supposed to resemble elephants. It seems that the Chinese consider this site as among the country's top three national sites, behind the Great Wall but ahead of the Terra Cotta Warriers. I wouldn'g even place it on the list (although it was a lovely park), but I'll let you judge. Here is a picture of the the most significant of the rock formations. Do you see the elephant?
The park was delightful to visit though, and we all enjoyed the views, including the costumed women who walked in the park to have their pictures taken.
The evening ended with dinner at Long Zhe Tea House, which presented us with a bowl of soup in a turine filled in Ying/Yang pattern of cream and green colors. I know I have a pictureo f the soup, but I just can't locate it at the moment.
Another thing Guilin is famous for is their massage houses. Several in our group ended the day with a foot massage, but Donna and I decided we had had a full day and were ready for sleep.
Rather than post the entire last week in a single entry, I'll continue with a few more postings for the last few days of the trip, covering a river boat trip on the Li River and an amazing outdoor show produced and directed by Zhang Yimou (the man who produced and directed the opening ceremony at the Beijing Olympics, and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), our visit to Suzhou (the Venice of the East), the water village of Tongli, and finally Shanghai (which includes a visit to the old Jewish quarters, synagogue, and Jewish Museum).
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