Miao Country
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2007
1
50
75
Trip End
Ongoing
Fenghuang,
China
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Dehang is a tiny village in the middle of three rivers (streams) where the scenery belongs on a postcard or two. We did a couple of walks along the cliff edges to reach the higher peaks (probably only 400m) accompagnied by buffalo/cows and where you can see rice/sweetcorn terraces even in seemingly impossible places. The terraces are probably created by dynamiting the land since we heard a lot of explosions and were worried about avalanches. At one point we came across an enormous cricket which probably feeds on the GM crops, but on closer examination appeared to have lost one leg
Walking the cow
. There was also a small(ish) snake about 60cm long which crossed our path, brown with red spots on its head, but we didn't discover if it was poisonous or not. Apart from walking we attended the free tourist shows which show off the Miao costumes via folkloric dances, fashion show waltzes and some sort of play. Simon got a drink of Miao wine and caught a packet of sticky rice which was thrown to the crowd and afterwards got involved in the dancing. The older gentlemen of the town make bamboo baskets which they smoke in the evening under the bridges, this is probably to tighten the weave or improve the colour, but make sure you don't have any washing hanging out to dry.Continuing our village visit we headed south into Fenghuang and much larger town than Dehang and more developed for tourism. However that doesn't mean it's bad because it's reasonably done, there is huge competition with the hotels and restaurants so prices are low and just walking around the town is great. A number of cafes and bars have opened their doors recently and appear to have European influence since they don't have a Chinese character (apart from karaoke), some even sell European wine. We spent several afternoons just relaxing, listening to the music which gets played whenever a boat passes on the river and drinking cafe with some Chinese on holiday.
The Hunan is rightly known for its spicy food, every dish has a pile of chilies on top to burn from your lips to the back of your throat and Dom will attest to even further. Apart from that the other choice food is sugar cane which people buy in forearm length pieces and chew in the street, a cross between a banana and a lollipop.
