The Dirty South

China's Guanxi province, population roughly 49 million, is a place i thought only existed in the land of my limitless imagination. All of the exaggerated expectations I had of this nation seemed to appear somewhere in my whirlwind 10 day stay here. Karst limestone peaks burst through the soil, reaching for the sun like mother natures equivalent of the Mayan pyramids. On every block, some form of spicy noodle aroma penetrates your nostrils. People are swimming in the river, meaning it's at least clean enough for your body to not dissolve upon contact. Old fishermen drift slowly downstream on handmade bamboo rafts. Amongst the beauty are shocking and sometimes depressing reminders. In my first destination here, Guilin, I passed a strange spectacle on the way into town, known as the "Bear and Tiger Mountain Village." I would later learn that here you can supposedly witness a group of calf's being introduced into an arena of famished tigers, who predictably tear them to shreds. Elsewhere, dog carcasses hang on meat hooks, while their kin sit idly in inhumanely small cages awaiting a similar fate. Nearby, a mountain of de-fleshed canine skulls, eyeballs still intact, sit staring at every would be customer. Walking the streets means constantly being greeted with a friendly hello, but most of these are followed by a sales pitch of "bamboo, bamboo," for a tour of the Li river on a bamboo raft, or "pretty young girl, sex message for you," no further explanation needed. I eventually caved in to the former offer, and with the help of a local, it ended up being one of the highlights of Guangxi.

On a day trip from Guilin, i went on a day tour of the Devils Backbone Rice Terraces, which are named for obvious reasons. Before continuing, I must make it clear as day that i hate organized tours, but due to time constraints this was the only feasible option. The site itself was amazing, with rice terraces snaking around a mountain of a mountain and disappearing into the foggy horizon. Still, the most memorable event of the day was a trip to a traditional village of the Miao, an ethnic minority in China, with a population of about 10 million. This topic brings me great discomfort because I cant really offer up any kind of practical solution. Amongst a group of other tourists, i was led through these peoples village as they supposedly engaged in their typical day to day affairs. The mirage of daily life was lifted by the end of the tour, as the tourists were treated to a performance of singing and dancing, followed by a mock wedding ceremony, in which 4 lucky foreigners were chosen from the crowd to join their pretend bride. Although slightly amusing at the time, I was nearly sick to my stomach at the thought of treating these peoples home like a living museum. Still, I couldn't help but take a few pictures.
Tourism provides these people with a great deal of their livelihood, but it seems unfortunate that it has to come from such an exotification of their culture. At least the Chinese are making an effort to preserve their diverse ethnic minority communities rather than eradicate them, like some unmentioned countries. It was fascinating to get a glimpse of these people, but I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable watching a couple feed their baby in front of their living room fire pit.

The majority of my time in Guanxi province was spent in the small river town of Yanshuo. Despite a plague of tourist focused businesses, this was my favorite place thus far in China. The surrounding area is full of small villages, temples, rice paddies and unreal rock formations. While browsing a menu in a local restaurant, I encountered a group of Chinese art students who proposed that I join them for dinner, since I was dining alone. According to lonely planet, this is the setup for a sure fire swindling in the immediate future. Despite this and the communication barrier resulting from our respective lack of English and Chinese ability, i joined the party. We feasted on the local specialties of beer fish, and chili snails, while attempting to string together some form of a conversation. This never really got any farther than me telling them my father was born in China, and that the food was delicious, but everyone seemed to be satisfied by the end of the meal. Not only did they not swindle me, they refused to let me pay, and we spent the rest of the night together in a bar, laughing at our inability to communicate.

The highlight of the region was definitely my accepting the offer for "bamboo, bamboo." This is almost entirely due to the fact that I went with a local, the owner of the restaurant where I met the honest art students. So, by the good grace of her presence, I was able to get a discount of about 70%. The cruise began from a famed spot, which is featured prominently on the back of the 20 yuan note.

From here, we rode upstream for about an hour, passing various rock formations known by such majestic names as snail hill and snow lion ridge, which all looked beautiful, but indistinguishable to me.

We were suckered into stopping on a small island, inhabited by an ocean of seafood vending women, but thanks to the local discount, managed to feast on fried shrimp cakes and an entire fried fish on a stick for $1.50. We made a u turn with the sun setting to the west, and a full moon rising in the east. So, the majority of the ride back home looked something like this.
I could easily have stayed another month in this place, but the combination of the weather being colder than I'd like, and the fact I'd already booked an outgoing flight, means I'll just have to come back again. The very next day, I touched down hundreds of miles away in Kunming, the capital of the Yunnan Provence. More to come...