Kid at Work? Play?
Don’t know where else to put this one so it falls here. This little
guy was sitting to the side of a very mini waterfall cascading down
close to where the bamboo boats put in and take out (next set of
shots). When I first saw him he was intently filling his bottle and
using it wash the other thing in his hand, which I could not identify
without being nosier than I am. He looked pretty intent on it, so I
don’t know whether to say he was working or playing!
Paul at the Falls
The shot of me with the waterfalls below and farther away was taken by
the friendly young soldier mentioned earlier. (Couldn’t get a picture
of him since it’s not permitted; indeed I hope in mentioning him here
I’m not breaking some rule…) The one with me and two young friends
was suggested by the taller of the two guys, in the blue athletic
gear: he came up with his camera and asked if he could have a picture
with us both, with the Vietnam side in the background. Then his
brother joined in, and I decided to ask his parents to take a shot of
me as well.
This kicked of a bidding war for shots with Paul: this family was part
of a bus tour from Guangzhou, and just about everyone on board lined
up to get a picture with me. In the background is Vietnam. And while
we’re at it, let’s not forget that during the US war against Vietnam,
China worked with the Vietnamese…but within ten years of the end of
our war, China and Vietnam themselves had engaged in some pretty
serious cross-border wars as well. I’m quite happy that these seem to
have calmed down — it’s nice that in at least some parts of the world
things may be getting more stable and peaceful.
After this you’ll see a few shots from on the boat, or close up to the falls.
Function & Beauty in Guanxi
Two more things I learned, between my trip to Detian, my couple days
up helping with the flood relief in eastern Guangxi, and the trip to
Longhushan (pictures follow these) is that 1) Every square inch of
Guangxi that could be used for agriculture or other economic
production, is; and 2) There are precious few square inches of Guangxi
that are not remarkably beautiful. You see here a shot of a small
terrace of rice paddies interspersed with some other vegetables — all
right next to the falls. This is classic: these folks wedge rice
paddies and other agriculture in anywhere they can, and always make it
look good.
Traveling around Guangxi, you see water buffaloes pulling plows or
wallowing in the water (my apologies that I can’t supply a photo —
the buses were always whizzing by too fast for me to get the shot, and
I’ve not yet seen one really close up while on foot), and lots of
farmers (that I’m really tempted to call peasants, by way of
indicating what seems to me the clearly hard lives they lead of very
physical labor over very long work days, with few days of rest
between…for a very low standard of living in return) out planting or
harvesting rice and so on. When I was doing these trips it seemed the
bulk of activity was around the rice harvest — bundles of rice were
always stacked by the side of the road, waiting to be picked up and
taken for threshing, one presumes.
After this shot, you’ll see one of the field workers walking down the
footpath that otherwise bears tourists, followed by several shots
taken from the bus en route to Detian Falls: the road up is pretty
spectacular in its own right. Though scary — those who’ve been to
Taiwan (Jill S, any chance you’re reading this??) can think of Taroko
Gorge in terms of scariness, and not be too far off. (This is a bit
more tame than my recollection of the east-west highway out of
Taroko.)
Longhushan Park
Though I’ve not checked to be sure I’m right, I believe the characters
for this park mean dragon and tiger mountain. It’s noted for its
monkeys — turns out Guangxi and southern China in general have a few
different species of wild monkeys, many or most of them endangered or
threatened to some degree. For me it was a great treat to see lots of
monkeys in their natural habitat acting as a troop or family, arguing
and bickering, carrying and caring for their little babies, and so on.
There’s not a lot of narrating to do on these shots since they’re
pretty self-explanatory.
Monkey Mother and Child
Yes, that second face you see is a monkey Mom with a monkey child. It
was great watching the kids hitch rides with their Moms!
(so much world, so little time....) 