The Red Earth Country

10/30
The Red Earth Country
Friday, October 30

On the Road Again
With a new car and driver we set off for the countryside. After driving through the industrial area of Kunming, roads clogged with trucks and cars, air thick with pollution, and us choking in the back seat, we final emerged into the countryside What a delight!

The road narrowed to two lanes and climbed up steep hills and along river valleys full of rice paddies and small villages. The juxtaposition of old dark brick buildings with curvy slate roofs next to tall stark white modern homes among the farm fields was truly a sight.

Old adobe brick farm houses sit among modern farm homes

The terraced yellow corn fields, dark muddy rice paddies and greens of various fall crops created quite a beautiful scene. We drove through several steep mountain passes and over several huge bridges, including the longest in the province of Yunnan.

longest bridge in Yunnan Provinc

A roadside stand after the Long Bridge

Red Bull - a Chinese favorite...

The sides of the roads are steep: these prevent erosion

Way below you could see small villages surrounded farm fields.

Going Rural
After several hours we reached an area where the road became unpaved in sections and we weaved through more small terraced farms and tiny villages. Occasionally, we had to slow down or stop for the odd water buffalo, herd of goats, or cow on the road. Wooden carts pulled by water buffalo or oxen were as commonly seen on the roads as cars in some regions. Women wearing colorful scarves and clothing worked alongside the men and their draft animals in the fields either harvesting or ploughing.

Mr. Wang (the "Cutie") and the "Girls"

Our new driver, Mr. Wang, patiently honored our frequent request to stop for photos. It was very interesting to see the older Adobe brick houses with their courtyards consisting of stables and food drying areas alongside very modern homes with the same courtyards and amenities. As there is a lot of clay in the soil, there were lots of brick factories along the way. In addition, there were cement brick factories, both of which provided material for the newer homes.

Construction is everywhere in China, including small towns and villages

Surprise Restaurants
We have eaten at some wonderful family owned restaurants that would have been impossible for me to imagine would  exist located behind a shop or perhaps a seemingly tiny snack bar, or even just down an unlikely alley.

You get the whole chicken including the rooster's head and feet!

Vegetables are fresh, and meat may be a bit unusual in the cuts: for example you get the whole chicken in bits including the head, the organs and the feet! But, everything is delicious. Lots of chili peppers and garlic to keep the senses happy,

A Magical Land
Continuing along steep, winding roads we entered a magical area of rolling hills with undulating terraces of bright greens, golds and browns. Known as the Red Earth Country, these hills of deep red soil are famous for their gorgeous scenery.

The vivid colors of the terraces, offset by rugged blue-gray mountains in the  distance, with small villages and farms dotted along the hillsides were extremely picturesque. Some of the farm houses had large murals depicting local scenes and people working in the fields painted on their outside walls. We stopped numerous times, sometimes alongside well dressed "city folk" driving their Audis and BMWs, everyone snapping away with their cameras.

At several scenic overlooks we encountered local women, often very colorfully dressed, who would emerge from a tiny hut to ask for a fee to use their property for pictures. We also stopped many times to photograph some of the more interesting buildings and farm carts.



Farming 101
It is interesting that the farmers here still use oxen, water buffalo or mules to pull a single blade metal plough. The grains are hand cut using a scythe, collected by farmers and transported by those same animals back to the farm to be processed and stored. It's like going back in time, and although it's charming to watch, this is backbreaking work.

Many of the homes in this region had large murals of rural life pasted on the outside walls. Maybe for the benefit of the tourists?

In one of the towns the local taxi was a two water buffalo driven cart with seating for eight with a canopy over it for sun and rain protection.

David explained that in the very steep areas, the farmer would only be able to work the fields with animals because they are just too steep to bring in a tractor. He also said that this region was very poor, and behind many other parts of the country.

The little hut this lady used for shelter as she waits for photo-tourists

In fact, some of the rural farms had only received electricity within the past 5-10 years. We did notice, however, some of the farmers passing us in their oxen driven carts were on their cell phones.

Best Hotel, so far...
Just before dusk we drove several miles down a lonely farm road and reached our hotel for the night. What a treat! Part hotel and part farm, the hotel was built to replicate an ornate traditional Chinese guest house, complete with an instrument room, a tea room and game room.

The guest rooms surrounded several attractive courtyards, a river ran through the property and there was a man made pond with a bridge and gazebo over it. A special hit for Edie and me was the rabbit farm, with a basket of greens available so you could feed them. We never saw the other animals but we smelled and heard the cows.

And they even had a bunny farm!

Our room was quite large and luxurious, complete with a heated mattress pad, which was quite handy since it was a very cool night.