Our last few weeks in China were hectic compared to our slow-moving 1st month. In the 1st 4 weeks we averaged one city a week, but in our final 2.5 weeks, we managed to visit 10 cities/towns/villages in the southern half of the country.
Our first stop after the wonderful Tibet was Chengdu, capital of the Sichuan province and known for it's spicy food and pandas. To be honest, we didn't do all that much in Chengdu aside from get our visas renewed, but here are some photos of what little we did;
Panda
Our hotpot!
The owners of the Tiny Mao MuseumOn a whim, we decided to head South East from Chengdu to Guiyang - theft capital of China and gateway to a number of small towns and villages we wanted to visit. Guiyang didn't have a great write-up, so we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually quite a cool place - a lot of energy and vibrancy with an awesome public park complete with wild monkeys!
Wild monkeysOur next stop was a small city called Kaili. Aside from a busy internet cafe and a small night market (where you can watch the nightly outdoor group dancing classes), Kaili isn't exactly action-packed... and the people there are unusually short... but it's a good place to base yourself for day trips to the nearby minority villages. we chose to visit the Miao minority village of Xijiang and spent a day wondering the cobbled streets and admiring their unique wooden houses.
XijiangFrom Kaili we headed to the stunning riverside town of Fenghuang. After a long ordeal involving cockroaches, a train, a bus, a thunderstorm and getting very lost, we eventually found our gorgeous little hostel nestled along the riverbank of this amazingly beautiful town.
Fenghuang
FenghuangWhat could be described as the Venice of Asia (but better), Fenghuang is a town you instantly fall in love with - despite the hoards of Chinese tourists and overpriced cafes and bars (hey, at least it has cafes and bars!!)
After barely seeing another foreigner for over a week, our next destination, Yangshou, and it's crowds of Western backpackers was a surprisingly welcome sight. The town itself is beautiful and set amongst karst mountains, but rain prevented us from doing many of the activities on offer in Yangshou. Instead, we indulged in long breakfasts (that turned into long lunches) and drinking cocktails with some great people we met along the way.
YangshouWhile our time in Yanghou was laid-back and relaxing, we also saw something there that nearly reduced us both to tears/vomit. This involved a farmers market and some very mis-treated animals, in particular, dogs... If you don't want to know more, we suggest you don't read on.
This market had a large section where you could chose your meat in live animal form. We understand where meat comes from and all of that, but the way these animals were treated was pretty horrible. Cages crammed with a mixture of live geese, rabbits, chickens, pigeons etc lined the aisles of the market. Other aisles displayed random animal bits such as intestines, feet and testicles and there was an aisle of dead geese with their slit necks hanging off the edge of the tables. While all of this was a little unpleasant, it is something you get pretty accustomed to seeing in Asia... but we weren't quite prepared for what we saw in the back of the market. Several stalls were selling dog meat... we're not talking just a chop or a fillet here and there, but whole dog carcasses hanging from hooks, dog heads lying on the table, dogs being skinned and gutted on the floor, and worst of all, terrified looking live dogs squished in cages awaiting their fate.
This market had a large section where you could chose your meat in live animal form. We understand where meat comes from and all of that, but the way these animals were treated was pretty horrible. Cages crammed with a mixture of live geese, rabbits, chickens, pigeons etc lined the aisles of the market. Other aisles displayed random animal bits such as intestines, feet and testicles and there was an aisle of dead geese with their slit necks hanging off the edge of the tables. While all of this was a little unpleasant, it is something you get pretty accustomed to seeing in Asia... but we weren't quite prepared for what we saw in the back of the market. Several stalls were selling dog meat... we're not talking just a chop or a fillet here and there, but whole dog carcasses hanging from hooks, dog heads lying on the table, dogs being skinned and gutted on the floor, and worst of all, terrified looking live dogs squished in cages awaiting their fate.
We found it difficult to conceal our anger and disgust at this, but experiencing different places, cultures and practices and dealing with them even when they upset you, is part of what travel is all about, right?
From Yangshou, we headed to nearby Guilin. By this stage we were tiring of Chinese cities, so we spent our time exploring a cave on the outskirts of the city with some super tacky lighting and hung out at the nearby Longji rice terraces.
Longji rice terracesIn 6 weeks in China we saw some truly amazing things and had an amazing time... but, China can be really hard work at times, so we were kind of ready for a change of scenery. We had originally planned to head back West to Kunming in order to get down to Sapa in North-West Vietnam, but, as we tend to do, we changed our plans at the last minute and went South-East to Nanning to get our visas for Vietnam and jump the first bus to Hanoi.
No comments:
Post a Comment