Living in Guangzhou, I really get to experience the "city" life here. So, when some of my husband's Chinese coworkers invited us to visit Lianan with them, I jumped at the chance. I wanted to experience more of the "country" life here. I learned that this is a place that Chinese people like to visit to see some sites and to take a break from the city. There is a traditional group of people who live there called the "Yao." They are a mountain-dwelling people. It was beautiful, and peaceful and I really wish that we would have had more time to make more stops for photos on our journey to Liannan because there were so many interesting to see. The "photographer" side of me wasn't too happy that at times my only option was to take photos from a moving car.
WARNING: This particular blog has a lot of pictures. Mainly for family to enjoy seeing us, but I think it gives a good feel for what we saw in Liannan. Now that you have been warned, enjoy.
It took us about 3 hours to drive from Guangzhou to Liannan. We stayed there 1 night and 2 days.
As you can see, lots of mountains and lots of tunnels -- one right after another at times.
Rice fields in the city.
This little old lady was selling goods at the entrance for Sanpai Yao Village. Notice how she is bent over...permanently. I saw a few elderly people like that and I am guessing it is from working long hours planting rice. I have a tender heart for the elderly.
Typical scene during our drive.
At the entrance of Nangang Yao Village and this man was wearing traditional Yao clothing.
Inside of Nangang Yao Village, there was a small strip of little tents or vendors -- maybe 10 or so. We saw Chinese tour busses arrive -- but no foreigners, just Chinese people. In fact, I didn't see any other foreigners our entire weekend trip.
Our lunch walking around the coop.
Our Lunch destination (located next to the chicken coop). We actually heard our lunch becoming lunch while we sat outside waiting. A little strange for us Westerners -- we are so much removed from source of our food.
As you can see, the scenery was beautiful and the place was very serene. A lot of sounds from nature, not much noise -- very much a "country" feel.
Dried meat. The dried food industry in China must be huge because you can find just about anything dry and you can find stacks of it! Here Greg demonstrates how much he likes it. Yet, again, something we just aren't used to seeing in the states. But it makes sense if you have no other way to store food.
Our driver, Kelvin. He is the best! He always gets us to our destinations safely and on time, and so much more! It wouldn't be the same without him.
This little girl was very carefully and meticulously clearing the table for us. She was so focused on her job and just darling. It was very cute to see her carefully stacking the dishes or clearing the food into the bucket and then placing the dishes in a bin. We saw her about an hour later running around with her friends. I think her parents run the restaurant.
This was our lunch...notice the red dish has chicken feet. A delicacy here in China. . .not a delicacy back home. The best dish I tried was a bamboo dish -- yum! I stuck with mainly vegetables. Greg is much more adventurous when it comes to eating.
Traditional Yao dress. She had been performing in a dance.
These boys were watching the performance.
This lady had been standing behind us, outside of the building trying to watch the performance. She was dressed in traditional clothing, but was not a performer.
If you notice, the girl in the red coat is the same girl that had cleared the dishes from our table at lunch.
The little girl in the yellow shirt and red pants is "crouching" which is a very, very, very common thing I have observed both children and adults doing here in China. It seems to be a comfortable position when they just want to take a break, rest or are doing something close to the ground. I tried this position at home -- maybe it's because Im not Chinese, but it was neither comfortable or easy for me and I easily tipped over. Forget about Greg, I don't think he could even move half-way into that position.
I don't know exactly what this was, but they were on a table as though they were being sold -- Im not sure, maybe they were on display. If you can't tell in the picture, there are snakes, and baby mice in the bottles and I don't know what else. Kind of gross and strange.
These elderly people actually work there, singing, dancing, playing instruments and selling peanuts. Greg bought a small bag and we ate them, but they were kind of soft and not crunchy. But I have had soft peanuts in other place here in China, so I think that might be how some people like them.
I love this picture because it shows the way the umbrellas come out when there is sunshine.
This is only the cutest little old lady ever! We were walking by and she just had a huge smile on her face and seemed so happy. Notice her stockings -- I saw so many women wearing stockings just like that, same color too, with their pants tucked into them. Interesting dress.
It is traditional for the Yao people to do needlework or sewing and I understand they are very good at it. We just walked past these two ladies while they were working on needlepoint.
I took this picture of a mother and her baby at Sanpai Yao Village. She is traditional Yao -- and I read that the Yao people survive by farming and mostly live throughout the mountains. I have also read that there are subgroups who have their own customs and lifestyles.
This little lady could not stand up straight. She was "crouching" and peeling bamboo shoots to sell. How could I resist. I immediately purchased some bamboo and she insisted I wait for her to peel some more . We cooked it up when we returned home and ate it. I thought it was pretty good.
I guess he is not tall enough, he just had to get up on the stilts and show off.
Me, definitely not showing off.
They told me that this place was called "10,000 mountains." It was explained that there was a leader of great importance -- so much, that the 10,000 mountains would bow down to him. If you notice in the picture that the mountains really are leaning the same way. Kind of cool.
Amazing views.
Just a beautiful boy.
We visited Lianzhou Underground River which had beautiful surroundings. The cave was huge inside and for some reason the people who run things there really like to shine multi-colored lights on everything. It looks pretty cool, but at the same time makes it difficult to see the true structure. You'll see what I mean.
Getting on to the boat to float the underground river.
Colored lights and no colored lights (which I took out through the magic of picture editing software.)
Here is one great shot of some the surroundings for the entrance to the cave.
At Huiguang Tower. The Leaning tower of Liannan. And it really was leaning.
We decided to climb up the tower (at our own risk). There were no safety signs or anything really. It was a little scary to walk outside around the tower once we were higher. Greg only got half way because he was too tall to keep climbing the spaces which became smaller the higher we reached.
Greg, before he had to go back down.
This was the top. I practically had to crawl up the stairs because they became so small, but I did make it up there -- woo-hoo! Now I just had to watch my step going back down. I descended backwards most of the way.
One person in our group made arrangements for us to eat at this restaurant with a reputation for serving "fresh" food. And I'm sure it was fresh, since they only use the animals that are living there in the water or on the grounds. Kind of like a mini-zoo pantry, I guess.
Here we are eating with the group. A couple of the more interesting items included: a whole chicken with everything (head and feet), frogs and snails. Believe it or not, my husband just dove in and tried everything. And I mean everything -- like, yes, the frogs. We ate traditional style where everyone just helps themselves from the bowls and we all share. I don't want to brag or anything, but we are getting really good at using chopsticks.
Huangchuan Three Gorges, where we went to see waterfalls. Nice, but not exciting. Especially after seeing the cool Yao villages. This was good if you really just want to relax and take it easy. But the company was good and it was a nice ending to our trip.
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