The Doctor and Stephen; our tour guide extraordinaire and his mighty steed.

local cow removal system

We were set up with a kindly older gentleman that Ed and I referred to as The Doctor, for no other reason other than perhaps he could have been one in a previous life, and his mighty van, Stephen. The Doctor spoke no English and Stephen was pushing twenty years old. And you know what…we had the best time together!

The Doctor took very good care of us. He made sure that we went to good villages, knew what to buy and what not to buy, and showed us to the finest fast food restaurants in Guizhou province. He made our Kaili adventure worthwhile.

quick view from the window

To picture Stephen, imagine a regular sized van. Now chop that van in half, add in a few rust spots, a broken third row seat, and some questionable break systems and you get Stephen. Yet Stephen did his part in holding in there on some of the roughest roads I’ve been on. The Doctor drove us on roads that required four wheel drive (Stephen without a doubt, did not have that); up and down switch back trails; up the tallest mountain and down the steepest road. Be happy I’m alive.



2nd view from Stephen's window



The best part about hiring The Doctor and Stephen was not the price, although that was great, but what we saw. He took many back roads to get us to where we needed to go and the country side in this province was picturesque. Imagine terraced rice paddies, full of bright green rice. Now place those patties on the most impossible mountain out there; so impossible that if you stand on the edge of the paddy, you will be looking down to a sheer drop of about 500 meters. Imagine wooden houses, every opening filled with drying ears of corn and birds going in and out of the houses to pick at the corn. And imagine you’re the only one around. It was the China you see in all those travel videos. It was perfect.

We went to the Shidong market (crazy—people come off the mountains once a week to sell/buy their goods here. What a mass of variety and awesomeness). We went river rafting Shibing on the cleanest river that I’ve ever seen. It was set in this canyon of limestone cliffs. They gave us an inflatable raft and a large stick (no not a paddle but an actual stick) and set us off down the river. It was eerie in the Jurassic Park sense, but wonderful at the same time. I want to go back. We saw the villages of Langde, Matang, and Shiqiao, Duyun, and Zhouxi. These are the people that wear huge amounts of silver headdresses and necklaces. They have a nasal type of singing that is so unique; I’ve never heard anything like it before. And they are known for their weaving and handicraft making (batik). Of course, they over produce the stuff and most of it is machine made now, but you can still find some traditional stuff out there. It was beautiful!

terraced rice paddy

I've added some of the 'outtake' pictures for you all to look at.. I'll have the much better ones up once Ed goes through and approves/disproves the ones he wants. 

White water rafting...yes with a straight up stick...not a paddle, but a stick.  Word.

Market in Shidong

Buying some Batik from the Matong Lady

And drinking beer on the river!