GuiZhou Trip - Qian South East Miao, Dung Autonomous Prefecture, JunYuen

Page 5

to JanYuen [Settle-Far

] (30th Aug)

Wake up and wonder why people in the backyard of China start to take education very seriously.

Back in the old days when everyone was poor, the difference between farmers and city folks was not significant. After years of economic development, city folks have evolved into a wealthy class of people while farmers lag far behind making a few tens of dollar per year.

Looking at the huge gap in living standard, farmers start to realize that the key to catch up with economic development is education. They know that only thru education that their next generations will be able to get out of poverty.

Brush my teeth and hit the road again - one after another of course. Time for a little sight-seeing this morning. Heading towards WuYang [Dance-Sun

] River.

Hello cows .. ..
"Mo mo Kam" .. ..

"Hello ducks .. .. "
"Quack, quack Kam".. ..

Hello cows, heading for ShiBing?

WuYang River is said to be as beautiful as famous GuiLin - by local people, that is. Well, even GuiLin is very much polluted now, WuYang River is still a far cry from being comparable to GuiLin in magnificence and in scale.

However, it's part of the official "inspection trip". I have no say at all but go there and sight-see.

Sight-see .. ..	Sight-see.. ..	More sight-seeing .. ..	Fish from the river deep fried on board of our sight-see ship.
For every fish I eat, I swallow 2 oz of reused cooking oil. It's pretty yummy but I am sure it cuts short my life by 2 years per fish, I estimate.	Better put my attention back on sight-seeing than eating reused cooking oil.
Half of WuYang River is inside ShiBing, and another half in the neighboring county.	However, the 2 counties couldn't reach an agreement on how to split profit. So they splitted the river. That's why can can only do half of the river today.	It only takes 1 hour to finish touring the river. Maybe they can split the river a few more times into little ponds so we can sight-see on foot.	This is the end of the scenic area. The site is called "Peacock spreading feather". Bye bye.

By noon, we are at JanYuen the city. First thing I care about - what's for lunch?

GuiZhou meat. Sticky rice and meat stuffed in bamboo pieces.
3.5x

. BTW, you don't have to eat the bamboo. Or unless you find it delicious.

Guess 1,000 times and you wouldn't know what this is.

My best guess is "imitate crap" made with egg white (ShangHai dish). Well, guess again.

It's chicken breast. They must have used a laser gun to ionize the chicken breast first. 3.5x

Some people call this Chinese cheese. It's fermented tofu. Very common in China but this JanYuen version is VERY YUMMY!
4.5x

Afternoon nap is a standard routine for Chinese people. It might not have been written in the communist parties' rule book but everybody, especially older people and people in the less modern parts of China, follows it.

So everybody goes to bed after lunch. It's probably the only part of the inspection trip in which I have a say. It feels good to be in charge again. I am out taking PICs.

JanYuen is an important town back in the Ming Dynasty. In the middle of a vast continent, JanYuen is sitting on a river that runs all the way into Yangtze, and then East into the sea. She was an ancient logistics hub. Wow.

Get a boat and roll. Japan is just a few thousand miles downstream.	Ok, I got a boat. Who is rolling?	You? Nay, this fella is just ferrying people across the river, not across the ocean.	Inside view of a building above the river.
Outside view. Not bad they can park their boat right in front of the house.	The river may have lost it's importance as a transportation route, but it's still the big playground for kids.	Holy JUMP!!!	"Uncle Kam, gimme your camera .. .." says the cute kid.
Beautiful JanYuen and the river that made her important. Sorry, I didn't even ask what the name of the river is.	Houses beside the river. A little run down but I wouldn't mind living in them.	How narrow a shop can be? Eat a couple of Big Macs and you won't be able to walk into this shop.	It's such a long walk to the boat park .. ..
Oh, that's another house I want to live in.	Maybe not this one, it's not beside the river.	Live there, live there .. ..	Park there, park there .. ..

After the afternoon nap, we are brought to this secondary school in JanYuen.

Training in school by police.

School kids waiting to be admitted.

Notice board. I miss this chalk and blackboard combination.

This school subtly solicits for donation. We find that it's old building is a wood and brick structure - already a luxury in average GuiZhou standard. Nope.

An one hour break after the secondary school visit. We are tourists again.

This is the few old style wooden house left in JanYuen. If I remember correctly, it's over 100 years old.	JanYuen grandma and her 3 month old grandkid.	Looking down from one of JanYuen's tourist spot. "Green Dragon Cave" I believe it's called. Sorry I am not paying attention to names at all.	Old lantern.
The "cave" is in fact a bunch of buildings and houses. For unknown reasons, I am not interested at all.		When the photographer inside of Kam takes charge, the camera shoots in all directions, including downwards.

Major activity of the day. We visit a secondary school donated by mom and siblings.

Kung Fu performance in front of the new school building. That is a welcome for the guests.

The new classroom.

Behind the new building sits the old classroom. Grandpa had tears in his eyes when he first saw this building. He felt bad seeing kids fighting such condition.

The old classroom is now a dorm house. At the penthouse, it's the principle's room. Not very glamorous, is it?

So you think the students have their own bed?

Tell you what, each level of this bunk bed sleeps 5 students sideways. Beyond the reach of the camera, there are big gaps between the walls and the roof where rain and snow can get in on windy days.

But students are still happy because, more important than anything else, they can go to school now.

Used-to-be residence now used as a stuff room.

Time to say goodbye. Uncles and mom shake hands with school kids.

Work hard kids.

What it takes, and how much does it take to build a school in GuiZhou?

It takes an 3-party donation to initiate a school project. In grandpa's "school package", an initial donation of US$21,000 would be made. Local government would then chip in at least the same amount of money. Finally, local people and businesses would put in labor and material for whatever amount to complete the package.

Consider the future of a few hundred kids, US$21,000 is well worth it.

In the evening, we are invited to dinner by the secondary school's principle. Lots of liquor again. We have a good time round the table that even mom has filled herself up with a few glasses of liquor.

I get high and tell the principle, "you are doing a good job but please, don't get too proud of yourself. Keep up the good work."

I must be drunk.