Day 27 - Making it to Guizhou province and defying the road toll!

After getting back to Sanjiang we bought our tickets well in advance to Zhaoxing - a small village just inside the border of Guizhou province. We wondered why everyone got on the bus an hour early - but learnt the answer as soon as we got on: there is always at least one broken seat, and always one pair of seats that are closer to the seat in front of them. Unfortunately for us, on this bus the broken and the close seats were the same and we were stuck with them for the next 5, long, bumpy hours ...

With so many rocks and trees taken from the mountains, erosion can be really bad, resulting in huge landslides along the roads - the buses don't seem to mind though and they just ride on over! This can be terrifying when the drop off the road is hundreds of metres down! This particular trip was made worse when we saw a truck which had fallen after trying to pass a landslide - our bus driver wasn't fussed though and just drove on!

Our trip was made even worse when 'bullies' got on the bus, started up a gambling card match, and then proceeded to 'deal to' a passenger who stopped them cheating and ripping another passenger off. Luckily they got off the bus after this.

We made it to Zhaoxing - another Dong village, and settled in to another beautiful guesthouse for the night - we are starting to learn to say no to the places we first go to ( or are taken to) when they aren't too flash, and have been finding some real gems because of this! The Mei Da Inn we found was no exception - and the owner has a beautiful girl for Liv to chat to and giggle with!

We took the 'visitor's path' through the village and saw more beautiful Wind and Rain Bridges and lots of Drum Towers - which are scattered through the whole village, meaning we got to see a lot. However, we felt the locals didn't really want the tourist village they have become, and we felt like we were intruding - so this time we stuck mainly to the tourist track. We had a great dinner on a verandah overlooking the village and the river which runs right through it and provides a wonderful playground for the kids. Adam's new beer for the day went down a treat - and we enjoyed relaxing (and destressing after the bus ride) and people-watching. In the background you can see our accommodation for the night - the buiding on the right.
Early to bed, to prepare ourselves for the long day of buses ahead. We shared the room with the local mosquitoes - Mental note: mossies can find their way up boxer shorts, even if you DEET everywhere else!

Adlibing the backroad into Guizhou.