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As the day went on, more and more people started arriving. The walled in area could hold more than 4000 people but as the people kept on arriving they started spilling out over the hills and forest around the area. Water buffalo fights and horseracing competitions were also on the agenda and these proved to be of great amusement to the crowds as the bulls usually tended to dash away when ever possible. The festival ran over 3 days but we were there only for the afternoon before working our way back to the train station and back to Kaili. |
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Saturday November 2nd. we woke early to take a bus to the village of Taijiang. The sun was shining and it promised to be a great day for the weekly market held there. The town was known to attract the many local minority people in the area. We arrived shortly before noon to see the market in full swing. Vendors had their stalls stocked |
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and spread out over the many streets and alleys. As most markets tend to be, the areas were arranged according to the different wares that were being sold. We started off in the colourful street lined with clothes and worked our way through the many adjoining streets containing household wares, foods, fruits, cattle, and tobacco. The tobacco vendors were encircled by men lighting up their pipes, sampling from the various sacks containing sun-dried leaves. There were dentist stalls, where for a few Yuan you choose |
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from a box, a complete set of teeth, and have them made and then installed for you. And if by chance you still have your original pearlies intact - no problem, that can be rectified right then and there as well. All to the genuinely interested stares from the crowds gathered around. There were also the usual areas what I call the "squawking and squealing" market, where the animals were sold. Pigs and piglets in small wicker baskets, chicks, ducklings, live fish, frogs, snakes etc. Then there was the section of dried goods - these included everything from your basic beans, spices mushrooms, and rice, to the more elaborate items for Chinese medicinal use -such as all types of roots, sea urchins, starfish, insects, snakes, etc. Among the usual vendors here, there were the travelling peddlers - men who seemed to be doing a lot of talking and explaining of their products sold in small bottles. These seemed to be concoctions of the strange looking dried items on display. I asked my mom what it was they were selling but she claimed that judging by the many men gathered around...she could only venture a guess at |
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what it could be....! As for papa, He had no comment.... We also strolled through an area where the women had plastic sacks full of homemade dye, their hands dark blue from the indigo they were selling. This blue is prevalent in the local outfits of the minority people in the area. The long pleated skirts and jackets are basically dark blue or black and are then adorned with personal handmade bright coloured embroidered work.. We even tried to purchase one of the elaborate "silver" decorated child's headdress for me. But it seemed to be something handmade personally therefore cherished well. We did leave with some amazing peanut brittle and homemade sesame seed sweets. |
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Sunday Nov. 3rd we were packed and on our way early to catch a bus to Guiyang (capital of Guizhou province) where we planned to stay a night before taking the overnight train to Chengdu. We arrived in the town around noon, found a hotel for the night and went in search of the "amazing cinnamon buns" our guidebook mentioned. Alas - the city, like so many in China these days, was undergoing intensive construction. In the corner where the bakery should have been now stood a monstrous new office/condo tower. We stared at the nearly completed building with wide open eyes - ...."Our guide book published in Jan. 02 is the latest edition......we came to this city just for the buns...... LP will hear from us on this one!" (and so the babbling continued......). We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting the city's quaint flower and antique market by the canal. We also ran into Rolf once again and made arrangements to meet later for a Peking Duck dinner. Half-way through the meal, when another table was singing "Happy Birthday", he commented that we could sing for him too. It was his birthday! and so our delicious dinner turned into a celebration complete with a Chinese frosted cake we ran out to get from the nearby bakery. The cake was OK and almost made up for the non-existent cinnamon bun bakery. We bid our farewells once again to Rolf, knowing fully well that our paths might cross again some day in a neighbouring country. |
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