By Akshaye Ghela and Max Kerr
We started the day with a soft morning wake-up knock at 7:15 am! We then packed our bags to leave the Xiao Ju guest house. Next was breakfast, which was a hybrid of Chinese and Western cuisine (corn flakes, toast with jam or fried eggs and Chinese noodles). After a short bus trip to the village, we arrived at the mountain where the local Miao village resides. We then began the 45-minute ascent up the pathway leading to the village. It was an invigorating morning walk and we drank lots fluids to keep hydrated and energised.
On arrival at the village, we rested for a short time at the house of the wonderful and hospitality of Mr and Mrs Li, who have been so gracious to host us these two days. We then embarked on another walk further up the mountain, where we would gain further insight into local agricultural practise through corn husking and sweet potato farming. We split into two smaller groups of 14 each, and practised each activity for 45 minutes each before swapping. The sweet potato farming involved utilising hoes and sickles in order to harvest the crop buried in the soil. The sickle was excellent at clearing away the knotted stems and leaves. The potato digging involved a special technique where the farmer would dig around the root of the plant in a circle formation, surrounding the root in a trench of soil, before pulling the potato from the soil. The first group managed to collect 85 kg of crop!
The next activity was the corn husking. In a house above the sweet potato field, we sat around oversized metal bowls, collecting corn cobs that had been threaded together. Wearing our protective gloves, we proceeded to husk the corn into smaller individual bowls, before pouring them into a large rice bag. The work was intensive but hugely satisfying, as the empty husks piled up. Though tiring, the work was ultimately rewarding as we understood what a small part of the daily lives of Miao farmers might be like – we are starting to learn about the reality of other lives.
Later, we returned to the Li household and prepared the table and chairs for a sumptuous lunch of fresh village food. The feast consisted pork with peppers, chicken with carrot, cauliflower, green lettuce, steamed rice and scrumptious chips. Once the lunch was over, we heard the noise of firecrackers, which is a long-lasting traditional practise for foreigners entering and leaving the village. Through our departure we then began our decent down the hill to reach our bus which would eventually take us back to the city of Guiyang. The walk was punctuated with astonishing views of great valleys and crevasses through the mountains.
After a lengthy bus ride lasting some 3 ½ hours, we reached our destination in Guiyang, The Regal Hotel. We quickly received our room keys and had ten minutes to freshen up before dinner. Dinner included sweet and salty pork, chicken with beans, beef with tomato, spicy potato and pork, fries and tomato sauce, rice noodles, pork spaghetti, steamed rice and for dessert a well-earned chocolate cake with strawberries. Dinner was well deserved and ultimately ended the day on a positive note before going to bed.
Max:
Dear family, hope all is well and that you are enjoying a peaceful household without me. I am feeling okay – don’t have too much fun watching all the Riverdale I am missing out on! The views and experiences I have had so far have been amazing – especially the pandas! I’ll be home before you know it with many photos to share. Love Max.
Akshaye:
Dear Family, I miss you guys very much and can’t wait to see you all. I hope everything is all okay at home and I am enjoying myself very much with all the experiences that I am having so far. I am still excited for all the places that I am going to for the rest of the trip in Xi’an, Shanghai and Beijing. My highlight of this trip so far has been the pandas and I am still looking forward to the terracotta warriors. I am enjoying the food and there has always been an opportunity for me for have some sort of meat and not just eat a vegetarian meal all the time. Can’t wait to see you all!
