VOC's Travel BLOG

Coming out of Mr. Shis home, we were accompanied by a man surnamed Yang, deputy director of the village committee, to walk around the village. He kept introducing everything we saw to us on the way: the newly-built cement road through village, the four drum towers in the north, south, east and west, the elementary school built with mixed structure of cement etc.

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After saying goodbye to the happy old men in the Elderly's Recreation Center, we walked our way up along the stairs paved with slate. We then came to Feishan Temple, a place where the Dong villagers worship their ancestors of ancient tribes. It's located half way up on a mountain slope and occupies an area of thirty square meters or so, not that big. Both the threshold and the door frames are made of local shale of a sandy nature. Entering the temple, we could see a shrine in the center of the wall facing the door.

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Earlier this winter, four of us took a trip of over one hundred kilometers from Guilin to Sanjiang, a town in the Dong minority county where we spent a few days investigating the area. It was a great trip, which allowed us to explore the original ecological existence and experience the lifestyle of the Dong people. More importantly, we learned more about this ethnic group.

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The winding mountain road seemed to be endless. Sometimes it's so narrow that it's just alright for one car to get through. I had to hunk a lot whenever arriving at a sharp bend, in fear that people driving from the other direction might not see us coming. I dared not to see the beautiful views out of the windows, such as tea plantations, rice terraces and villages, all so appealing. Grasping the steering-wheel so tightly, my hands were wet. Including Ms. Zhao, there were five of us in the jeep, who are all supporting pillars of families with old and young. Could I afford to be careless, even for just a second?

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