Guiln Trip, Day 5

For the fifth day of the trip, out of the three options offered, I chose option "B" - hiking and kayaking. So, at 9:00, a band of TBC-ers (a relatively small group, to be honest) piled aboard a bus and were dropped off at a point on a small road that lead off the beaten track and out into the countryside, which was incredibly rich in natural beauty and curious sights.

As far as I can tell, these are graves of some sort. But don't quote me on that, because to be honest I'm only making an educated guess here.

Here's a puppy that left the safety of its house to sniff at a few of us, to the displeasure of its mother who barked warningly at us from a distance. 

These pictures are of one of the small villages we passed through, and as you'll note, it's all quite a far cry from some of the photos I've taken of Beijing and all its modern buildings that are sprouting up like weeds throughout the city. 

Even though rice probably makes up a third of my current diet at this point, it was only in Guangxi province that I finally saw rice farms for the first time with my own eyes. 

Finally, after about two hours of easy trekking, we arrived at another small rural town, where we boarded a boat that took us upriver a bit to another tiny town where we all had lunch at a tiny outdoor restaurant (a few tables under some tents, basically). 

 

As we waited for our meal, I decided to take several photos of the water buffalo and some locals in the nearby field.

Why the water buffalo hold such fascination for me, I still have yet to understand, much like fact that I have to stop and watch for a few minutes every time I come across a group of ducks here in this country. 

Seeing as the water buffalo were just divided us from a large stream, the temptation to photograph them up-close was just far too great to resist for another TBC-er and I. Fortunately, the smelly little things were far too lazy to really care about us (as were the adult buffalo, who preferred to continue cooling off in the water rather than pay us any heed at all.) 

After lunch, we all clambered back onto the boat, which took us a short distance upriver from where we all disembarked upon single-person kayaks. For the next hour or two, we all worked our way down river from there, enjoying the ride for all it was worth, or attempting to soak it all in, at least. I found out the hard way that I was particularly unskilled when it came to the simple task of propelling my kayak, and if I wasn't veering too far to the right, I was veering too far to the left. Needless to say, my inability to hold a straight course led to a lot of accidental bumping of fellow kayakers who were too close by.  

The entire time that we were traveling down the river, the boat that dropped us off trailed behind us all the way, just in case someone needed their help in any way, shape, or form, like one member of our tiny flotilla who broke his paddle after wedging too tightly it between some rocks.

Once we had reached our point of destination - yet another small rural village dotting the river, we had ten or fifteen minutes to wander about and take a break. 

It was there that I found yet even more farm animals to effectively capture my complete and total attention - in this case, a tiny chick wandering about. 

Afterwards, it was all back upon the boat to take us upriver to our starting destination, where the bus would be waiting for us. 













Here's a new sight that I actually witnessed several times that day - driveways or front yards absolutely covered with harvested rice set out to dry. 

All in all, it was an interesting day. As usual, the surrounding landscape and the scenery was nothing less than stunningly gorgeous. However, that made it all the more an incredibly stark contrast to the tiny villages scattered in the valleys and along the river. I guess it just shows that despite the economic boom that this nation is going through, not everyone is benefitting equally from it at all. 

Beijing''s central business district, this is not.