Dragon Scale Stone Forest

At one point, a woman literally lunged forward, grabbed my arm, like we were long lost friends, smiling with the ubiquitous posing-for-photo peace sign at someone in the crowd with a camera.  Everyone was talking at once, pushing in towards us, vying for our attention.  A few Miao women, the local minority, with baskets of their costumes wanted us to pay them for photographs…I’m not sure if they were to wear the costume or if we were.  Others in the group wanted to be our guide and motioned for us to follow. But, mostly we were surrounded by curious tourists who could not believe 4 blondish, blue/green eyed, foreign women were also hiking up the hill.

really?

This weekend was significant for 2 reasons.  The first was I spent the day hiking with sunshine and blue skies during my first weekend excursion away from the city.  The second was I saw a path not to take, for any reason, during my time in China.  Both did by heart and soul much good.

Stephanie put the trip to the small city of Wansheng together, figuring out the bus and hotel.  Of course, we have to check-out and check-in with the Peace Corps Leave Log, according to the “Whereabouts Policy,” including all the details of who, what, when, where, bus numbers, phone numbers, hotel addresses, etc.  If we fail to check-in within 48 hours of our return, then PC will inform Washington, “who will then initiate the Peace Corps’ Worldwide Tracking and Support System.” Ok, avoid that.

early morning fog

Trouble started at the hotel when 4 of us tried to check into a double room, thinking to share beds and save money.  The hotel was much nicer than we expected, a 4 star that costs $48 a night, steep for our budget. One of the girls working the desk spoke pretty good English, so I was explaining that we are volunteer teachers and can’t afford a second room.  Unbelievably, she had just graduated from my university and had had the last PCV as a teacher.  She allowed us to stay in the room.  That’s how guanxi works here.

The next morning we took a mini bus up the mountain to Dragon Scale Stone Forest, Longlinshihai, a small area of the well-known karst topography in China.  These areas are also called “stone forests,” and this one is the oldest in China.

After the rough start to our hike where we had to flee that crush of people, we spent the day exploring, including a short walk through a weirdly lit cave.  We had sun and fresh air and mostly peace and quiet.  Mostly. 

Everywhere we went this weekend, we caused somewhat of a scene, and that caused some stress for us because so much unwanted attention is difficult to ignore, and more difficult to manage.  It’s a no win situation.  If we smile and act like we don’t understand what they are saying, then we hear all sorts of stuff; many just point and laugh and do the usual “HELLO!” If we say we can understand what they are saying, then we get a barrage of questions, over and over and over from taxi drivers, people on the street, while shopping, in restaurants, …everywhere.  Usually, they are super friendly people.

Humor helps. On the bus down the mountain, someone in the front said, “Look 3 foreigners are in the back.”  We yelled back, “There are 4 of us.” 

Ignoring helps. Later in the evening when Christine and I were shopping at a street market, a crowd formed to listen to us talk to the seller in our really limited Chinese.

I was shown what doesn’t help by a volunteer who has been here for a year and takes this unwanted attention personally.  The path I will not take is to respond with impatience, rudeness, or anger.  What I learned this weekend is my stay in China might take an unknown amount of patience and tolerance, and I hope this will not be a great challenge for me.  

the "dragon scale" effect

lunch? PB&J, oh yeah! 

inside the cave

rice terraces

duck on the bus, in a grocery bag