Onward To Xi Jiang Village

To the traditional architecture village of Xi Jiang- Got the second installment of cash money from the bank machine at around 3:00pm and then we are finally on our way on the the bikes! Dusty confusing way out of town, lots of construction a bit of ugliness give way to some decent hill-climbing and eventually a nice segue into some pleasant pastoral scenery. Take a right at the top of the long hill, pass the traditional-architecture village on the right. Pigs and chickens and rice fields recently harvested. Then a turn into a somewhat commercialized minority village (freshly built for tourists, it appears). Pass through this, then a good long downhill. Fortunately, the brakes on my bike work well after all. Not power-brake touchy, but with firm pressure, they'll haul the bike to a stop well enough, for sure. A break in a small village gives Kelly her first chance to experience local chinese bathrooms: the ubiquitous pit toilet, accessed via squatting.  

As we remount, a local old codger walks bike, pipe in mouth, and stares at us unabashedly. We get lots of stares. Even in the larger cities like Kaili, where foreigners are a common-enough sight, we got stares when we were on the bikes. In the countryside, even more so.  

Turn-off to the new road to Xi Jiang, which follows a stream and climbs steadily. We arrive in town just before sunset. Xi Jiang charges a hefty entrance fee; busses of Chinese tourists precede us. The town is a hustle of hawkers, tourists and locals, incongruously lit up with lights strung on the eaves of the traditional wooden houses.

We circumnavigate the town a few times before settling on an inn. The innkeepers are eating dinner and have a pretty grey cat name Lulu. The room is fine and comfortable. Its outstanding feature is a very large picture-window connecting the bathroom with the main part of the room.  

An unusually indifferent local dinner in what had been a promising restaurant, then an early lunch the next day that has some sort of blood-red tofu... two of our worst meals of the whole trip. Tourist towns, I guess...

Leaving town, long steep climb continues up and up and up.... not much traffic... the day is all up or down... eventually, we reach the top of the pass and have lots of fast straightaway descents into a little valley. Eventually, we reach a little village at a crossroads. They stare. We ask how to get to Kaili. They stare some more, talk among themselves and answer in a local dialect. Eventually, at a little store, we buy some tasty green-apple-flavored bubble gum and the proprietress tells us that yes, it is back that way a little bit and to the left. Down that popular dirt road we say from way up in the mountain. We backtrack slightly, and head off on the dirt for another six or so kilometers into Lei Shan. The last couple of kilometers we encounter the main road again, under construction.  

In Lei Shan, we stay in a weird new part of the city- new construction, but with old-style Chinese architectural touches. Very comfortable and clean hotel. Bikes downstairs. Wander around for dinner, but settle on the ubiquitous rice noodles.