China 2/12/2018 - 2/21/2018 |
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Friday, February 16, 2018 - Spring Festival Road Trip with the Cozy Family: Luoping Canola Fields and the Drive to the ShilinWe had a wonderful first day of the Year of the Dog.Wang Jun picked us up at the hotel at 9:30 a.m. We were still so stuffed from last night's feast that we skipped breakfast. We checked out of the hotel and walked across the street to the parking garage, where we met up with Ziting and Xiao Yi. Despite all of last night's fireworks, all of the debris had already been cleaned up, and the streets were pristine. We got settled in the car, the men in the front and the girls in the back. Ziting was a bit reticent at first, giving us her patented sideways glance out of the corner of her eyes. But she soon warmed up. We drove to the designated meeting spot in Guiyang, where we met up with the rest of our traveling caravan. We had expected Wang Jun's mother Chen Rulan, sister Xiaohong, and brother-in-law Yuan Huizong. We were quite surprised and delighted to find an additional 18 people, including Yuan Huizong's mother Chen Shanfang and various schoolmates of Xiaohong along with their families. Apparently, Wang Jun had originally planned this road trip for the smaller nuclear family. Xiaohong had been so excited about it that she was bragging to everyone who attended her 50th birthday party. All of her friends asked if they could come along, and the rest is history! All of these people are on a WeChat group which they have dubbed "The Cozy Family." They were very friendly and fun. It was only after coming home that we learned everyone's names and solidified their relationships to one another. While on the trip, names didn't really matter, though Craig and I gave them nicknames when talking amongst ourselves, based on their personalities or people whom they physically resembled. Liu Yan, Liu Jun, Liu Lin, and Liu Hui are siblings and close friends of Xiaohong. Liu Yan and her husband Hou Jun were traveling with toddler son Dou Zai. Liu Jun was traveling with her husband Jiang Shitou, and Liu Lin with her husband Pan Xiang. Brother Liu Hui had brought his daughter Liu Xinyan, who speaks English well though she is a little shy about it. The mother of these four siblings, Wang Xingbing, had also joined the trip. Another friend, Liang Bo, spoke English. He was traveling with his wife Bao Hong and their son Liang Jiaxuan. Single dad Zheng Yong was with his son Zheng Yuxuan. Zheng Yuxuan knew some English, and was quite formal and polite, making it a point to greet us any time he saw us. He would gain composure and enunciate clearly and concisely "Good morning," "Good afternoon," or "Good evening." Rounding out the traveling party were Yin Jihong and Li Ju. The latter really reminded us of Sonam's sister Lhaki in Bhutan! We greeted everyone, and they passed out numbered stickers to put onto the various cars so that we would be able to keep track of one another on the road. Our car was #6 and Xiaohong (who has the exact same car) was #5. The last car was #7. After filling up with gas, we got onto the highway and headed out of Guiyang shortly after 10 a.m.. The reason that so many Chinese take road trips during the Spring Festival is that tolls are free for vehicles which seat 6 passengers or fewer. For our particular trip, this amounts to a savings of around U.S. $150 per vehicle. We stopped at a roadside rest area at 1:00 p.m. and ate a picnic lunch in the parking lot. The weather was sunny and warm, with a nice breeze. Everyone got out of their cars and Liu Jun set up a crock pot of homemade spicy chicken. The whole grup was aware that Craig had been dubbed "The American Chili King" by Mr. Zhou on previous trips, so they knew he would like it. Wang Jun worried that it might be too spicy for me, but I have come a long way and can now keep up with the big boys. There were also leftovers from last night's New Year's feasts. We all enjoyed a nice lunch as cars sped by on the highway and people lit of fireworks on the surrounding mountainsides. Parking attendants made sure that other cars did not drive into us and that our picnic was kept safe. Groundskeepers picked up any stray trash or food debris which made its way to the ground. Everyone was eager to bond with us. Elderly Wang Xingbing sat on a small stool and observed us, smiling. Everyone was doting on us, bringing us more food, making sure we had napkins, etc. The young boys went into the convenience store and bought some snacks, which they shared with us. Though we weren't hungry for them after this large lunch, we put them aside to enjoy at a later time on the long car journeys ahead. We spent about an hour stretching our legs before getting back on the road. Wang Jun drove until he became tired, and then he swapped out with Xiao Yi. Ziting really warmed up to us on the car trip, chatting away in Chinese and playing games. She noticed that Craig and I have different eye colors than everyone she knows, and she inspected my eyes intently. We passed into Yunnan, the neighboring province. At around 4:30 p.m., we arrived in Luoping and stopped at Jinji Peak, a scenic area where rounded karst (limestone) peaks rise steeply out of fields of bright yellow rapeseed (canola) flowers. These fields, which cover over 100 square kilometers, are only in bloom at this time of year. Vendors were crafting flower crowns out of the canola blossoms, and the women each bought one. They presented one to me as well, which was very sweet. Ziting's was too big for her head and she ended up wearing it as a necklace. The beauty of the area was surreal and spellbinding. We walked among the canola flowers and could hear the constant buzzing of bees doing their pollination work. When all else was quiet, this was a low frequency hum, like someone running a lawnmower in the distance. The bees were not swarming, but if you looked closely at any given patch of flowers, you would see individuals doing their work. If we had had more time to spend here, we could have gone up an observation deck to get a view of the larger landscape. But we could see the deck in the distance, and it was packed with people. There was a man offering water buffalo cart rides. We felt bad for the buffalo, who was panting in the 84 degree heat and strong sun. We know that water buffalo need frequent rests and need access to water to cool down. This was not a good situation. We all took many photos of the dazzling colors. It was unlike anything we have seen before. As we prepared to leave, I stood up on a guard rail to get an elevated view and take some panoramic photos. Xiaohong was quite amused by this and photographed me in the act. She then friended me on WeChat and sent me the photos she had taken. We still had further to go to reach our hotel, so after an enjoyable 45 minutes in Luoping, we hit the road again. We were amazed at how well 3-year-old Ziting had handled such a long car ride. She napped and woke up completely happy. She was able to entertain herself easily, using a travel pillow as a toy amused her for over an hour! She pretended to apply makeup to herself and to me, and once in a while she played with a toy Rubik's cube for a few minutes. She took her shoes off in the car, and early on in the trip Craig had turned around and tickled her little stockinged toe-toes. She giggled, but made sure that her feet were out of his reach for the next 5 days of road trip! The sun set and we had no idea how much further we had to go. At around 7:45 p.m., we reached Shilin National Scenic Area, site of the Stone Forest. We arrived at the Yinruilin International Hotel, and Wang Jun checked everyone in. We took up 11 rooms total. The hotel seemed brand new. It had a spacious and empty lobby, a courtyard with a koi pond, and very modern, lovely, immaculately clean rooms. Unfortunately, we were shlepping around much more luggage than the rest of the group. Whereas they just had to pack for a several day road trip, we had everything with us. None of these hotel have bellmen, but the men in our group were always willing to help us. Ziting had actually handled the ride better than I did. My jet lag was catching up with me and my legs were cramped from being in the back seat, so I was cranky upon arrival at the hotel. That feeling quickly passed, however, as our huge group descended upon a restaurant next door to the hotel for dinner. We took over the entire place, bringing our own booze and the crock pot of Liu Jun's spicy chicken. Although Wang Jun had bought 10 bottles of wine for the trip, he had forgotten them at home. Oh well, they had brought so much Moutai (not the super premium variety we had had at Xiaohong's house last night) that I had more to drink than I needed. We found it interesting that although the restaurant had a bar, they did not mind us bringing our own alcohol. Nor did they mind the crock pot of chicken. I guess we bought so many different dishes to feed all of us that they still made enough profit. We all had a great time eating and drinking; toasting the new year and one another's company. There were many laughs and new friendships forged. The group was quite boisterous. Wang Jun had told us that his sister's nickname is "Big Voice," and she lived up to that moniker. Xiaohong and her friends played a raucous Chinese version of rock, paper, scissors. Many people were smoking cigarettes, sometimes through large pipes which resembled bongs. I took many photos, and Wang Jun explained to the group in Chinese that I would be posting them on our website. They were all quite excited about this, and Xiaohong said in English that they would be "SUPASTAHS!!!" Even if people only knew a few words of English, they were eager to communicate. As we drank toasts with Liu Yan, she kept saying, "I love you! I love you!" The proprietor of the restaurant found the whole scene quite amusing, and must have been all the more stymied by the fact that there were two Americans as part of this huge Chinese traveling group who had overtaken his restaurant! We saw him taking some photos of the proceedings with his phone. The group promised that when we got back to Guiyang at the end of the trip, we would all go out for karaoke. This sounded great to me; I have never done karaoke and have always wanted to. This group seemed the perfect audience for my karaoke debut, and we were sure that all of them would be quite entertaining! Even Craig, who has staunchly avoided any kind of public singing for his entire life, was charmed by the idea. He could envision himself succumbing to the allure of "KTV" with this group given the right amount of Moutai alcohol! We staggered back to the hotel next door. As we entered the cavernous lobby, their voices echoed through the building and we felt like teenagers trying unsuccessfully to sneak into the house after a late night of drinking. We took a photo in front of a New Year's poster in the lobby. We also got a selfie in the elevator on the way to our rooms. Luckily we had pretty much taken over an entire wing of the hotel, so hopefully no other guests were disturbed. It was a lovely start to the new year, and we looked forward to traveling further with this crew! Luoping Yinruilin International Hotel, Shilin |
 In the canola fields of Jinji Peak  Wang Jun, Ziting, and Xiao Yi at Jinji Peak  Xiao Yi and Ziting at Jinji Peak  Jinji Peak  Craig, Steph, Liu Xinyan, and Liu Hui at Jinji Peak  Yuan Huizong, Chen Shanfang, Chen Rulan, Xiaohong, Steph, Wang Jun, Ziting, Xiao Yi, Craig  Ganbei: Liu Yan and Craig  Yin Jihong, Liu Yan, Xiaohong, Bao Hong, Li Ju, Liu Xinyan, Yuan Huizong, Liang Bo, Zheng Yong, Craig, Wang Jun See all photos from February 16, 2018 |
 Jinji Peak  Jinji Peak |
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