Goodby Guiyang

So, tomorrow we leave Guiyang for Shanghai. We had a long bus ride today! Over three hours one way, luckily, it was a most beautiful drive through the mountains, I'll upload some photos. The end destination, though, was a huge dissapointment! We end up in the hills at what is supposed to be an authentic Maio village...The whole village is there to greet us & welcome us with rice wine. They play some music, dance a couple of dances and then surround us (literally...surround us!) with their baskets of trinkets for sale! It was really bad! We even had to pay to use the bathroom! I did not buy a thing & didn't even use thjeir facilities! As we were leaving, a couple more busloads of tourists were being warmly greeted into their lair.

Again, it's the way things are done here. The local tour guide is supposed to arrange the things that you wish to see, BUT...inevitably, they have their own agenda and places that they want to take you8. Prof. Rick was discussing lunch options for tomorrow and it was a major accomplishment to get KFC take-out instead of sitting down for a full meal at a restaurant of the guide's choosing! And you wouldn't believe how tiny she is! I think I have a photo of her.

Yes, the Pizza Hut pizza was just like at home to me. Tonight, I'm staying in and blogging, then while I'm packing up for tomorrow I'm going to splurge on a room service hamburger! It is such a waste of time to sit down for an hour or more for both lunch and dinner every day! Lunch I have to, because we're out and about somewhere, but dinner is optional. Not that I don't enjoy tasting the foods (some of them) and talking with the group, but time is a precious commodity.

I really enjoyed being able to see some of the countryside the last few days. It's nice to be out of the cities for a while. If I had lots of money and was going to live in China, I'd probably live up here in the countryside, it's cool & green and pretty. The only problem is some people around here eat dogs!

Let's see, today our lecture was on the Economic Development of the Guizhou Economy. The speaker talked of opening up more villages like we were dragged to today as tourist draws, developing more roads to connect the province with the coastal regions and turning over the lumber industry to the individual peasants to develop and maintain!! So, it sounds like within a few years, there may not be much beauty left in the province...all in the name of $$ and capitalism. The Chinese have overlearned the concept of capitalism, I tell you!

Well, tomorrow we will be learning some things on the Long March and visit a Research Center for Nature Protection and Community Development to hear their message. I wonder how it will compare to today's lecture? Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Shanghai. Hopefully, the hotel will have a good business cetner like this one so I can easily keep up on my blog etc. We even have one whol, entire free day in Shanghai on the 21st, I think. I'll be figuring out how to get to the airport and the hotel I'll be at for the last two or three nights on my own, without Ming or Prof. Rick to help me.

Hope everyone is doing well and that my animals are doing fine as well. Matt...write...

Steph