We woke at 6am this morning to the sounds of villagers going about their daily chores : women doing their washing in river, children playing, and men carting loads of bricks and going about with their labouring. After an extremely restless night on our rockhard bed, we headed down to breakfast for our preordered meal - we had utilised an english speaking villager the night before and had asked for tomato and egg (a good compromise between a Chinese and Western breakfast tastes). Even with the english helper, much was lost in translation, and although we received our tomato and egg, the dumplings we had been looking forward to were replaced with 2 big delicious bowls of noodles.
With a day of wandering planned, we set off in one direction, only to then zigzag our way round the alleyways and end up walking along a muddy gravel road in the opposite direction! The road went on for a long time, and although the heat was stiffling the scenery was stunning and we ended up walking for a good couple of hours - pasing through a village (consisting of 5 houses) and taking the occassional detour through the rice paddies!
After making it back to the village, exhausted by the heat, we sat and people-watched with our beer and sprite (our typical fluid order, other than water) under the shade of the Shenming Pavillion adding our wear to the smooth seats.
Reluctantly mounting our backpacks we said our goodbyes to our wonderful hosts, and ate our final village meal.
Back at the intersection we arrived at, we waved down the first bus heading in the direction we wanted to go, and promptly found ourselves back in Wuyuan! Straying away from our adlibing ways of turning up at the bus station and expecting to board, we actually thought in advance and purchased our onward tickets to Hangzhou for tomorrow morning - luckily getting some of the last few seats available. Though this means our journey continues into a new province, we wouldn't have been upset if we had missed the bus as there are plently of villages close by to explore - this is the joy of not having a written itinerary!
Battling the heat of the day, we walked through town to find a phone card and then (working) phone to call home - talking to Ethan, Dee and Mumbles absolutely made us smile from cheek to cheek, even if the call was only for the briefest few minutes.
We hurried back to our airconditioned room, a lovely respite from the village atmosphere we left, for a rest. Now all we have left to do is find food!
Adlibing it under the sun through the countryside.
No comments:
Post a Comment