At the bus station, on the way to the small village of Zhaoxing, I discovered hundreds of ducklings waiting to be transported, and a girl entertaining herself with them:
Resting among hills, Zhaoxing is a collection of wooden buildings that serve as homes and small shops and restaurants. Like Ping An, Zhaoxing is home to one of China's many ethnic minorities.
Zhaoxing during the day:
Locals doing their laundry in the stream that runs through the village:
Also like Ping An, the hills surrounding Zhaoxing have been used for generations for rice cultivation. While Ping An's terraces seemed to be similar in color, Zhaoxing's ranged from deep red to orange, brown, and green.
Zhaoxing takes on a different feel at night, when orange and red lights illuminate the village:
Following Zhaoxing, Fang and I traveled to the tiny village of Basha. While Basha is known as being home to yet another of China's ethnic minorities, it stands apart from other villages. This fact is immediately apparent in the way locals dress: males, for example, carry daggers strapped to their backs, and keep their hair in top knots. Basha's clothing is usually characterized by a deep, shiny indigo color, shiny because it is covered in eggs whites that are believed to serve as a mosquito repellent. Many of the traditions in Basha have persisted for centuries, strangely unaffected by globalization or tourism.
Local girls having popsicles:
A boy and his dad:
Working on a gun:
For the May Day festivities, Fang and I traveled to Xijiang, another ethnic minority village. The place was completely alive with activities, from dancing and singing to constructing new buildings and slaughtering pigs.
Construction workers on May Day:
Female dancers preparing for their performance:
Dresses for sale in the town center:
The local specialty: stewed fish. The man in this picture found out that I was interested in trying the fish, which was only served in enormous family portions. As a result, he invited Fang and me to share lunch with him and his family. The fish definitely deserves its reputation--it was great.
A common view in Xijiang: hanging corn
May Day performances:
Sometimes I became a bigger spectacle than the performance itself:
After hopping among ethnic minority villages, it was time for Fang and me to begin making our way to our boat that would take us on a cruise of the Three Gorges. En route to our boat, we stopped by the city of Guiyang, where we stayed with a wonderful host named Shirley, and her boyfriend, Charles. Shirley and Charles immediately invited us to join them and their family at a lakeside resort, where we flew remote control planes and helicopters, went swimming and kayaking, and did some skeet shooting. People had told me before I arrived in China, but now I know firsthand just how incredible Chinese hospitality is.
Charles with his RC helicopter:
Fang, Shirley, and helicopter:
Our little group posing with the RC plane:
The whole family and friends:
My first time shooting:
Going to dinner in Guiyang's night market was way more entertaining than we were expecting, thanks to the government-mandated English menus:
Fortunately, we found a great place that served paper thin tortilla-like objects that you stuffed and tried to eat in one bite:
One morning, while walking to breakfast, Fang, Shirley, and I ran into a large crowd of spectators on a bridge. We soon found the object of interest: a large woman performing aerobic exercises on a log floating on the river:
She noticed me and my camera, and began posing (not that she wasn't photogenic before):
Guiyang's Super Wal-Mart, entirely underground:
A large group of locals selling and trading carrier pigeons:
Next time: floating down the Yangtze, to the world's largest dam.
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