Tuesday 10/21/14 - Zhenyuan Ancient Town, Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave

We woke up at 6:15 a.m. and showered. At around 7:15, the doorbell rang again, just like late last night. I was in my towel so I just peeked my head out. There was a middle aged Chinese guide standing there looking mortified. "Nihao" I greeted him with a smile. He looked at me like a deer in headlights, didn't crack so much as a smile, waved at me, and then retreated down the hall. It was so funny!

At around 8 o'clock, we went down to breakfast. My stomach was feeling so much better today, so I was able to eat a normal breakfast! Craig decided to try a more local breakfast, so he went up to the noodle bar and got some very spicy noodles. The restaurant was much busier this morning, and there were three tables of westerners. I saw my friend who had rung our doorbell this morning. He was very careful never to make eye contact. He was abviously so embarrassed, but I just found the whole thing very amusing!

We stopped back at the room at 8:45, and I took a final dose of medicine just in case. Today was the Lusheng Festival in the Miao village of Gulong, and I wanted to be in top form. It was a 2 hour drive, and we left the hotel at 9 o'clock. We headed up the same bumpy comstruction ridden road that we had taken to Weng Xiang the other day.

As we progressed, Mr. Zhou thought that something was wrong with the van. He pulled over and looked under the hood, but couldn't detect anything. He started to drive again, but still wasn't comfortable. He started to suspect that something was wrong with a cylinder. He and Wang Jun were nervous because this was festival day, and they didn't want us to be late. But Mr. Zhou was understandably nervous about taking a malfunctioning car too far into the countryside, so he reluctantly suggested driving back to Kaili. Of course we agreed that this was the best course of action.

We drove back to town and he got a cabbie to lead us to a garage. After stopping into one garage, he then led us to another. This garage could look into the problem right away. We got out of the car, and poor Mr. Zhou kept saying "Sorry, sorry" (his only other words in English are "OK" and "morning"). We told him it was no problem, but we knew he felt guilty.

At around 10 o'clock, he and the mechanics looked at the car. We sat with Wang Jun at a table and chairs in the garage. It was surprisingly pleasant, since it had good airflow and we weren't overwhelmed by exhaust. The employees served us tea, which was quite nice of them. It was probably the equivalent quality to the coffee you get while your oil is being changed at home, but it did the job!

Wang Jun told us stories of his childhood which kept us very entertained:
Wang Jun started school at age 7 in 1980, when Deng Xiao Ping ruled the country. They studied Chinese, mathematics, painting, natural science, music, and Phys ed. His mom was a pediatrician and his dad was a traveling musician. Their combined monthly income was 75 yuan ($11 dollars). In order to buy anything, you needed government-issued coupons in addition to money. The coupons were more precious than money, as you could barter without cash, but you absolutely could not purchase something without a coupon. Wang Jun has one sister who is 5 years older than he is. They were always hungry. Only once a week they could buy 2 containers of milk and a little meat. The rest of their diet consisted of vegetables. Sugar was a luxury item, and when he was in 3rd grade, he smuggled some out of the house folded inside a piece of notebook paper. He and showed off to all of his school friends. He was the most popular kid in school that day.

Wang Jun remembers that when he was 9 years old (~1983), his aunt from the countryside came to visit and brought the family a large ham. His mouth still waters when telling the story. He enjoyed it so much that when he went to bed he couldn't sleep for thinking about it. He snuck down the the kitchen and hid a piece in his pajamas, returned to his room, ate some, and put the rest under his pillow. He had sweet dreams until his mom pulled on his ear to wake him up when she discovered what he had done!

When he was 11 or 12 years old, someone who lived on the same courtyard had a "TV set". He had no idea what it was but was fascinated by the 9" b/w box which showed moving pictures. This was his first introduction to Mickey Mouse and "Duck Donald." Everyone in the neighborhood always found excuses to visit the family with the TV. After a quarrel with his little friend, Wang Jun was told he was no longer allowed to come over and watch TV, and he was heartbroken. At that time, it cost 200 yuan for a TV - which was 3 months of income for his family. So it seemed hopeless to him that his family would ever be able to buy one.

But about 6 months later, he returned home from school one day to find a 12" TV set at his house! His pediatrician mother had cured a young boy from hepatitis. The boy's father worked in a television factory. He gave her the television set as a gift, requiring only that she purchase a 20 yuan TV coupon! Now Wang Jun's house was the neightborhood hangout, as they had the nicest TV! Wang Jun was overjoyed. But his and pride only lasted for about a year until another neighbor bought an 18-inch "colorful" TV, which usurped his glory.

These stories were very interesting to us. It echoes stories that we have heard from our parents about the 1950's and 1960's in the United States. The same progression happened in China, but 30 years later.

Wang Jun graduated from university in 1995. He did well so he had lots of opportunities: teaching, teaching English at the university, banking... He saw an ad for international travel guides. He wanted to meet foreigners and exchange ideas. Plus he would get to travel for free! He applied and passed all 6 license exam categories on his first try. And the rest is history!


Before we knew it, it was 11 o'clock, and the car was fixed. It had had a faulty spark plug. We were back on our way. We high-tailed it to Gulong to make up for lost time. We arrived at around noon. Wang Jun was immediately worried as we pulled into town and crossed the bridge - where was everybody? There were some people along the street, but he said that usually the riverbanks would be lined with people for the festival. Something seemed wrong.

He left us with Mr. Zhou at a restaurant for lunch while he went to investigate the situation. He ordered us a sour spare rib hot pot, a local specialty. Once again the restaurant had no tea, just hot water. But this time we were prepared: we had brought tea bags from the hotel! There was a hot plate on the table to keep the hot pork soup bubbling. They gave us a little plate of exteremly hot peppers and spices to dip the pork in, and there were fresh greens to add to the soup. Craig had a Snow beer.

Mr. Zhou was amused by Craig's Tilley hat, because the gromits and lacing resemble a smiley face. Without a common language, he gestured at the hat and pointed to his smiling mouth. We all had a good laugh over it. Mr. Zhou was definitely lightening up as the trip progressed. He was still extremely professional, but was starting to see us as more approachable and was showing more of his own charming personality. We liked him very much.

Wang Jun returned. He had inquired at a government building and was told that the festival had been postponed until November to coincide with the 55th anniversary of the founding of the village. He felt very bad, since the whole trip had been scheduled around the festival. We took it in stride. He obviously hadn't been aware of the schedule change in advance. Apparently, this is common of the Miao people, who only disclose their festival dates (even their popular New Year festival) a week or two ahead of time.

But, true to form, Wang Jun had already come up with an alternative proposal. He offered to take us to one of his favorite places in Southern China, but it was an additiona 2.5 hour's drive from here. We said that sounded great to us, but we were concerned as to whether it was ok with Mr. Zhou. He hadn't planned to drive that far today. Wang Jun talked it over with him and Mr. Zhou said that since we had been so understanding about the car trouble, he would like to return the favor. They also said that once we got there, we could take the expressway directly back to Kaili, and it would be a much shorter return trip. So even though things hadn't gone to plan, we were still going to have an adventure.

Wang Jun bought some huge pears (bigger than we have ever seen!) for dessert. We enjoyed them and then left the restaurant at around 1 o'clock. Although the weather had been forecast as breezier and chillier (and we had dressed for such), it was sunny and hot. Craig and I played musical chairs in the van to try to stay out of the sunlight. It was roasting! We felt sleepy and dozed on and off. The ride seemed infinite.

We arrived at Zhenyuan at around 3:15. It is a 1600-year-old ancient village surrounded by the Wuyang river. It is Han Chinese in origin and used to be the capital of the southeast area before it was changed to Kaili in the 1950's. It was a transportation hub, connecting Hunan province to Guizhou by river. There are beautiful old buildings which now house shops and restaurants. Picturesque Zhusheng Bridge spans the river. It is adorned by a pagoda and statues of elephants.

We crossed the bridge to the other side of the river where we visited Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave: a 600-year-old temple complex built into the caves in Zhonghe Mountain. It is unique in China because there are three religions represented in one complex: Budddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.

As we entered the Buddhist section, we saw a statue of the laughing Buddha, who is always cheerful and makes the best of bad situations. Wang Jun said this was us today - making the best of car troubles and the change of itinerary. We like to just go with the flow. That's part of the adventure!

We climbed a set of stone steps recessed into the mounmtainside. No photos were allowed inside the actual Buddhist shrine itself. While we were looking at the statues, an older Chinese woman came over to me twice and touched my shoulder. She was pointing out how much taller I was than her, measuring her height against mine, and giggling. She waved to us with a big smile. It was very cute.

The Confucian temple tower afforded a great view of the river and surrounding village. Craig was struggling in the heat, so we took it slow. We climbed up to the third level and the sunlight and blue skies were just gorgeous.

The Tao section of the complex was under restorative construction, so we couldn't explore it.

Wang Jun asked if we wanted to go back to Kaili for dinner or if we would prefer to eat here. He said that they light the village up at night and it is very pretty. We said that we'd like to stay if it was ok with Mr. Zhou to drive back in the dark. It was fine with him because it would be on the well-lit expressway. So it was settled.

Wang Jun gave us from 4:45 until 6:30 to wander around and enjoy the city at our own pace. After resting in the shade by the river for a few minutes, Craig started to cool down and felt much better. There were a lot of tourists here, but 99% of them were Chinese.

If we went into any empty shop, soon the place was packed with onlookers. We joked that we should earn a commission for bringing in new business. While we were looking into a shop, the baby of one of the shopkeepers came up to me on the sidewalk and touched my leg.

We bought some embroidered purses and glass marble eggs for our godchildren from a nice young lady who spoke fluent English and had an adorable 14-month-old baby girl named Gho. We then went into the next shop, which was run by the same woman and her husband. We bought a pair of dragonfly earrings to use as Christmas ornaments. The mother asked to get a photo of the family with us. Gho was adorable. She loved Craig and kept giggling. We posed with them for a photo, and got a photo of the three of them in return.

We continued down the street, browsing in the various stores selling souvenirs, musical instruments, sesame candy, dried fruits, and crafts. We peeked into one shop and I saw postcards! We needed more and Wang Jun had predicted that we wouldn't find any until the rice terraces at the very end of the trip. They were very cheap...10 for 15 yuan ( ~ $2.25). The store was cool and also seemed to be a functioning post office, with letters in little wooden cubbies.

We continued wandering around. Everyone was really friendly to us. Chinese tourists were renting bicycle rickshaw things, and they called out hello to us and waved. We went into a very cool shop with wood carvings where we bought an dragon carving for Steve. While we were there, Gho and her mom came over to say hi. "Hi Uncle!" the mother called to Craig, and she had Gho blow us kisses. She was so cute! The mom actually invited us to eat dinner with them! We would have loved to but we told them that our guide had already planned dinner, but thank you very much for the offer. They were so sweet!

Next we went into a subversive store that sold items emblazoned with different political slogans. One item was in extremely poor taste: a matchbox which said "Nothing is impossible!" and showed a picture of the World Trade Center next to a photo of Bin Laden. Too soon - and always will be. This was the only example of an overt anti-American sentiment that we had experienced in China. But in a store like this, there were opinions expressed which could offend anyone. It was rather exciting to see the extent to which freedom of expression is possible in modern-day China. Between this and 798 Art District in Beijing, very subversive ideas are being expressed in a country which traditionally has not tolerated dissent.

We met up with the Wang Jun and Mr. Zhou and walked to a restaurant for dinner. On the way, we poked our head into Gho's mom's shop and said goodbye. We sat in the outer room of the restaurant, and a bunch of Chinese tuorists came in soon afterwards. They hovered over our tabel for a while, taking great interest in what we were eating, the fact that we were using chopsticks, etc. We seemed to get their stamp of approval.

Craig had a Snow beer. I was super thirsty and saw a fridge with Sprites in it, so I asked for one. It was very refreshing. We had rice, "tongue-numbing tofu" with chilies, Chinese cabbage, chicken with chilies, pork with chilies and bell peppers, and seasoned "long beans" (green beans). Everything was very spicy as per Guizhou tradition, and it was all delicious!

After dinner, we poked our heads in one final time to say goodbye to mom and baby Gho. We walked to the river, where we could see Zhusheng Bridge, its pagoda, and the buildings of the Qinglong Cave complex lit up and reflected in the river water. Tourist boats were passing by, taking in the sights. The lighting on the architecture changed colors: from green to blue to red to fuschia. I went down to the river's edge to get photos of the bridge and buildings and their reflections.

There are shops which rent out traditional Miao costumes and take photographs of people wearing them. There was an entire extended family dressed up, being photographed against the backdrop of the lights and the river. They looked amazing! But Wang Jun was a little annotyed about the inauthenticity of it. This is a Han Chinese site, and has nothing to do with the Miao.

We left town at 7:45 p.m. Just outside of the ancient town is a very busy shopping street that was hopping with people. Obviously, when the Chinese come to the Ancient town for a vacation, they still like to shop for their favorite luxiry brands in this area.

We took the expressway home. It was much more direct and fast. Instead of roads winding around the mountains, we went right through them via tunnels (some of which were 2 km in length) and bridges across the valleys. All of the cities we passed looked likeLas Vegas with rooflines of houses, large buildings, and gigantic billboards all lit up.

We were back at the hotel by 9:30. We had missed the nightly action at the square, but we were exhausted anyway. I downloaded pictures, wrote in the journal, and we went to bed at 11 o'clock.



Zhenyuan Ancient Town
At the garage getting the van fixed

At the garage getting the van fixed

Empty festival grounds at Gulong

Empty festival grounds at Gulong

Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave along the Wuyang River in Zhenyuan

Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave along the Wuyang River in Zhenyuan

Zhusheng Bridge, Wuyang River, Zhenyuan

Zhusheng Bridge, Wuyang River, Zhenyuan

Buddhist temple, Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave

Buddhist temple, Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave

Zhusheng Bridge, Wuyang River, Zhenyuan

Zhusheng Bridge, Wuyang River, Zhenyuan

Zhusheng Bridge, Wuyang River, Zhenyuan

Zhusheng Bridge, Wuyang River, Zhenyuan

Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave

Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave

Shopkeepers and their daughter Gho

Shopkeepers and their daughter Gho

Shops and restaurants in Zhenyuan

Shops and restaurants in Zhenyuan

Zhusheng Bridge is illuminated at night

Zhusheng Bridge is illuminated at night

Illuminated temples, Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave

Illuminated temples, Qinglong (Black Dragon) Cave

Zhusheng Bridge and Qinglong Cave

Zhusheng Bridge and Qinglong Cave



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