GuiZhou Trip - DuYuen

Page 8

to DuYuen [Capital-Even

] (2nd Sep)

It's a big day for me. The family is going home today and I am left alone in GuiZhou. No more arranged activities and I will have my adventurous backpack trip from today on.

Or is that just wishful thinking .. ..

Kid on the street of GuiYang.

Meatless lunch at a Buddhist temple.

Meatless dish is a totally different concept in Chinese culture. Eating-loving Chinese wouldn't settle for plain vegetarian food like salad. They like to use lots of ingredients to mimic all sorts of meat.

This dish is 100% meatless but it looks like 100% pork. It feels 100% like pork in the month but not the yummy fatty taste and super cholesterol. Too bad. 3x

"Jade on Golden Hook" is in fact ToFu and bean sprout. A GuiYang dish. A little too plain but very healthy. 2.5x

Lotus leave rice loaded with cool ingredients. Duck meat look-alike, sticky rice, red bean paste, peanut. All that when chewed and mixed in the mouth turns into a heavenly sensation. First time I rate a dish 5x

full mark!

After lunch, the family heads for the airport. It's a brand new day for me.

What a GuiZhou dream trip is like? When I daydreamed in Hong Kong, I see myself checking out schools, I see myself living with village people and wonder how different it is from city life, and I see myself taking tons of pictures at not-yet-developed tourist spots. My blood rushes every time I dream that dream.

I know enquiring with travel agents, or reading backpackers' guide books can never make my dream come true. So I have to depend on grandpa's contact in MJ. Yet grandpa had warned me that MJ wouldn't let me go solo because they would label me as an "honorable guest" because of grandpa. They would put me in countless dinner reception but no village visit.

But what choices do I have? I have been talking on and off to Lao* Yang of MJ last week. I told him about my GuiZhou dream trip and I made it clear to him that I want be left alone or I will be going home. He said he would call local authorities and would make arrangements.

So help me god.

* "Lao" is a friendly salute meaning "old". It's for addressing people slightly older. Say if a younger guy comes up to me, he will call me "Lao Leung". And I will call him "Xiao Whoever". "Xiao" means "young" and is the opposite of "Lao".

2:00pm. I am the lone backpacker Kam again in a bus station. My instruction from Lao Yang is to "take a bus to DuYuen and find Li Zhu Ren ("Zhu Ren" is supervisor by direct translation. But in China, "Zhu Ren" is the head of something).

Nothing else. Ok, that sounds like the low profile trip I asked for.

DuYuen is a mid size city with 1.8 mil. population. She is the capital of QS (Qian South BuYi Tribe, Miao Tribe Autonomous Prefecture).

I am directed here because 1) granpa has built most of his schools here; 2) MJ has a better relationship with QS authorities; 3) QS is the most beautiful autonomous prefecture of GuiZhou; 4) QS retains the most original tribe culture of GuiZhou. Cool.

MJ's contact in QS is a government unit called the "Remote Area Support Office" (RASO, translation is not official). Providing help to remote and poorer areas, RASO comes to know every small parts of QS well. Most schools grandpa built are in fact under the help of RASO. Li Zhu Ren is the second in charge of RASO.

Li Zhu Ren takes me to this hotel, and this room where grandpa stayed when he visited DuYuen.	I know I am still living under grandpa's shadow but if the shadow gives me a room with a view like this, let it be.	After I settled down, it's past 5pm. Li takes me to this riverside restaurant where he stresses is a favorite place for "common people". So Lao Yang has done his homework telling everybody not to throw formal reception at me. But still, Lao Yang's work is only half done. By 6:30pm, half of the RASO is there. I start to have a bad feeling about this trip .. ..

Forget what animal this is. Some sort of rat as I can remember.3.5x	Again, I don't remember names for artificial stuff. This is .. .. a pagoda.	Walk back to the hotel after dinner. While I am taking PICs, 3 officials including Wang Zhu Ren, the head of the RASO are escorting me. They say they "have to bring me back to the hotel safely just in case". I have a bad feeling about this trip .. .. I am not all taht solo here .. ..

Liquor culture of GuiZhou - GuiZhou people say "rather get a hole in the stomach than have a crack in our friendship".

Like in most parts of China, liquor is the relationship builder. Thru drinking together, intimacy is tightened and deals are made. One might think relationship could be built with more health-conscious alternatives. Well, he's not wrong. But he simply loses the biggest socializing edge if he doesn't drink. Period.

Liquor is very hard in China. 20%+ alcohol content is considered the equivalent of water, 30%+ is "low" which doesn't have enough voltage to express the flavor of the wine, 50%+ is just right.

Drinking starts whenever people sit around a table to eat. If you are the guest, the host would raise his cup and say "Jing Ni [Respect You]". Then, sort of like setting the rule, he finishes or drinks part of the cup. The guest is supposed to follow the rule set out by the host and drinks his share of liquor. Other members from the host party would then take turns to "Jing" the guest. Challenge rounds may follow until you puke.

If you are the sole guest at a table of 12, good luck.

I was warned by Lao Yang of the liquor culture of GuiZhou so I am being very cautious to today. After being the sole guest of a table of 8, I still manage to take PICs on the way back to the hotel. Good start.