When our whole group of BYU teachers arrived, we boarded a bus and headed to Qingyuan ancient town. We visited a temple, saw a mountainside of terraced rice paddies, and shopped for embroidered purses and silver jewelry. We ate in the back of a restaurant, circular style. Tim was miserable because we only had chopsticks and he could hardly get anything to eat. The veteran BYU teachers told him he would learn to use chopsticks, or starve!
Saturday morning we departed for Kaili to visit Langde Miao Minority Village. What was supposed to be a 4-hour bus ride turned into almost 7-hours because of a leaking bus tire, and bumper to bumper traffic into the village. We spent a couple of hours sight seeing. Lots of cute girls in ethnic costumes with silver headdresses. They're quite famous for their embroidery, so I had fun shopping for just the right picture to hang on my wall in the apartment. A lovely hand-embroidered peacock. It was in a circular mat with a square frame, but I made them take it out so I could fit in it my suitcase. We also bargained for some embroidered squares and silver earrings.
Sunday began with checking the Internet for the announcement of the 3 new Apostles at General Conference. We held our own short sacrament/fast and testimony meeting. Tim and I were somehow elected to sing a duet, accompanied by our I-pad.
Jason, our guide, said there wouldn't be any shopping on this day, but we promptly proved him wrong. We wandered through 2 ethnic villages Xijiang and Leishan. There were wooden houses built right into the hillside. Very primitive living from 100's of years ago, but still there were cell phones everywhere. There was one little shop open with beautifully embroidered baby backpacks, ribbon trim, and other assorted fabrics. We nearly cleaned them out. Is there a "Sariah" in our group, or perhaps grandbabies on the horizon? In Datang we saw a little show with native dancers all dressed up in their native costumes. We bought more embroidery goods and had lunch in a traditional family house. Lots of good food, served on a very low table with very short stools. Tim is getting better with his chopsticks.
We returned to Guiyang (stayed in the same hotel every other night). There was a Walmart sign across the street. We ventured forth, hoping for a McDonalds dinner. Instead we encountered KFC, which really left us missing McD's, but we comforted ourselves with a Snickers bar.
Monday we travelled to Tintai. It was rainy and drizzly so we promptly purchased lovely batik scarves to keep us warm. We wandered through an old stone ethnic village, sampled freshly fried potato chips with chili spice--yes it gave me heartburn. We found cute ethnic dolls, an apron, silver necklace. Next we watched the Grand Opera, a martial arts performance where all the characters were wearing wooden masks. Some faces were white, others red and black. Guess who were the victors.
No plans for the name Sariah here
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