Becka and I have noticed something. All the men here transport things, such as firewood, using mules and ponies. All the women carry it themselves. And sometimes the bundles they carry are horrifying. Becka and I were mesmerised by what appeared to be a large bush walking down a hill followed by a dog. On closer inspection, there was a woman underneath.
Saw some youths today that were skulking in the village centre with music blaring out on their phones, fancy hairstyles and leather jackets. Teenagers are teenagers the world over!
Becka and I went for a bike ride today. Every now and then we'd hear shouts of "hello!" that we were duty bound to reply too and I suppose it was rather sweet to see the hailer grin proudly at being understood. One kid virtually got a round of applause from a gaggle of adults when it uttered those trusty syllables. Although three kids started to run after us shouting "hello!" and if we hadn't cycled as fast as we could, who knows what could have happened...
I'm not sure how far we cycled but in my mind it was Very Far. This was partly because it is a lot harder to cycle on stony roads ("g-g-golly t-t-this i-isss b-b-b-bump-p-py!") as well as the annoying abundance of unnecessary uphills. We are still undecided as to whether our breathlessness was down to us being unfit or altitude. I'll leave you to judge which is more likely on that one...
"Hello!"
"Hello..."
"Teehee!"
At first we cycled along the valley but eventually this narrowed and, confronted with a fork in the road with the left going uphill and the right, flat, we chose the right. This led along a c-c-c-cob-b-bbled path besides the river. The river was this fantastic aquamarine colour that just gleamed in the sun. Our eyes haven't seen that much colour in so long, I swear they swelled up with so much greeeeeeeen.
Although there was one thing about the river. We could have sworn we were cycling upstream but then we reached a dam that demonstrated quite plainly that we were going downstream. But it looked so like it was flowing the other way... *Chinese mind interference*
We carried on through little hamlets, occasionally passing a man with a goat, before being confronted with a hill that required Determination Mode to be engaged before we could ascend. This rejoined the road we had left earlier and thus we followed. The valley at this point had narrowed from a kilometre to around 100m. The sides were steep and had a few trees hanging on for dear life. Here and there were neat squares of grey tiled houses. Some of the hills still had a blanket of snow, which was odd to see from our sunnny, 15 degrees, road. On the fringes of the river were terraces. Again these were so green (green!) we had to stop and admire the patchwork pattern. There are a few places famed in China for their terraces but I bet Shaxi can rival them. Especially as Shaxi lacks the hordes of Chinese tourists venturing forth from their steel towers.
"Hello!"
"Hello..."
"Teehee!"
Chinese weddings have this very annoying tradition of throwing firecrackers everywhere. So you'll be snoozing in the sun and then "BANG BANG BANG". Shaxi seems to have a bloody wedding every day so my patience is wearing thin... I saw two 7 year olds playing with some yesterday. The boy was holding his lit one in the girl's face.
As always happens after I've been doing exercise, I am Very Hungry. Shaxi is beautiful and peaceful and remote but I would kill for a McDonalds Chicken sandwich and extra large fries right now.
Tomorrow we leave for Lijiang. This is another 500m up in the air. There is a yak meadow. You can ride yaks there. My health insurance only specifically excludes riding ostriches so nihao yak methinks!
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