Ni Hao everyone...... sunday 13th March
As I have finished my Tai Chi lessons and Kailani has finished her Kung Fu classes we have free days again........but what do we do now?
After fartassing around this morning and umming and aghing in what to do..........we finally decided......at 2pm. Lets ride bikes to Fuli....mmmm nah lets just catch the bus. So we hop on to our bus to Fuli...(Chinese pronounce is Fwuli)....I love catching local buses, there is always so much to see and experience in catching these buses. It is one way to capture local life. Our bus by rights seats 9.....no.. but of cause not in Asia....it seats 17!! quiet comfortably. Of cause we are in the seats (well kind of seats) behind the driver and yes that just happens to face everyone else....yes a good view of the tourists...and for some reason, its always funny to watch us, even if we are doing nothing at all. So the bus ended up being much cheaper than any bamboo boat or bike....3 yuan....45c...and a 15 min travel trip..beats an 1 1/2 bike ride.
Arrived in Fuli town and walked to the old area....visited the farmers markets on the way...which is always an entertaining site....and a rare thing in asian markets...the smell was good. Cooking...mmm something was smelling good. One thing about China.....there are so many smells....but all to do with cooking and they all smell so good. So many times i have smelt something and want to eat and i'm not even hungry.
We wondered through this village and taking 50 million photos......loving it. It's an historic village with stone houses and cobbled lanes. It is famous for its handmade fans. We came across a few places that were making these.....they are huge fans. Interesting to watch. Lots of colours. You would walk past one house and in there you would see red fans lying around and then another house green and it goes on...each house seemed to concentrate on one particular colour.
It was a very quiet sleepy village....had that old smell, but in a good way. Oh and so many cute little old Chinese men and women....they were everywhere....so cute seeing one couple walking up the laneway holding hands....you don't see that....thats a rare picture. Lots of old people hiding in the doorways, sleeping. They must be so cold in these houses. They are all made of stone and its dark and damp.....narrow laneways...they dont use much electricity....i guess just lots of layers....and in the summertime it would be nice and cool.
Found ourselves by the river........surrounded by the beautiful karst mountains....water buffaloes hanging around and wait for it...the sun trying to show itself...something we havent seen much. It was very peaceful. I practiced my Tai chi beside the river, surrounded by water buffaloes, mountains behind me and the old village just over there...was a pretty cool spot to practice Tai chi.
We had lots of groups of boys yelling out and making noises.....some even yelling out...."i love you."..yep Kailani had a following. They had been following us for some time now...much to her disgust.
We stayed in Fuli for a few hours before we grabbed another bus back into town.
