We would stop for lunch at the Yao Minority village. This are is noted for its beautiful women who only cut their hair 3 times during their life time. They have a specific hairstyle that tells about them. We would have lunch with the Yao Minority and then see a Cultural Show about the women and their hair.
The first picture is a view of the homes along the river. The second and third pictures are where we ate lunch. The facility where the food was prepared is on one side of the road and the covered outdoor eating area is across the highway. There are three people pictures next. Loved their traditional dress.
After lunch we walked down the highway and took a hanging bridge across the river. Alan made sure that bridge was rockin' and rollin' while we crossed. Thank you very much Alan McKay. Then we strolled through the homes on this side of the river to the building to watch the program.
The Cultural Show began with some traditional dancing. A display of tools used to work and live was given. This was followed by a reenactment of how the girls get married. This was done with men from our tour group as part of their cast. One part of the ceremony was the drinking of a shot glass full of their locally made liquor. Alas, our group did not drink. Miles, the really tall young man, 'accidentally' spilled his glass on his t-shirt as he drank it. He had a big smile because he was very clever at participating but not drinking. Then they brought out the second shot glass and a glazed look of concern came of his face. Very cute. The finale was the care of their hair. When the hair is cut, it is saved and folded in with the real hair and used as part of their hairstyle. All the hair from their life is buried with them when they die. They believe it to be a story of their lives. Their hair is brushed and washed with rice water. It never turns gray. Which helped my gray hair to stand out to them. An elderly lady was brought out and her hair was let down, brushed and restyled. Behind her the young girls stood on rock bleachers and undid their hair and restyled it. The next to last picture is Claude with the different hair styles. The girl on the left is single because her hair is put up on her head and completely covered with a scarf. This shows she is available. The lady in the middle is married but has no children. You can tell this because her hair is put up with no knot in the front and it is not covered. The third lady on the right is married with children. You can tell because her hair is up with a knot showing in the front over her forehead. It was a very good program. Totally enjoyed it. Bought a blanket on the way back to our bus.
Our final stop for the day was at the very top of Longi. This area has the mountains carved into rice terraces. There is only one crop to be grown each year so all their rice is for the village through the year. They also have tea plantations up here but we saw the rice terraces which they were beginning to get ready for this year's crop. The road stops below the village. We would exit our bus and hike to the hotel at which we would spend the night. Older women and a few men would come to our bus with huge baskets. We would give them our overnight bags and they would put them in the baskets and run them up the mountain to our hotel. This left us to deal with the uphill hike. Thought it might kill me. Really, I did! Several in our group could not do this hike and for them they had rickshaw looking chair with no wheels. It was carried by two people and used the same steep stairs we took to get them up and down the mountain. They could do that way before we all trudged up the mountain. It was an experience and worth it for a night on this gorgeous mountain spot. This was easily our favorite hotel room of the trip. We felt like we were living in a tiny home. The shower and toilet occupy the same space! After settling into our rooms and before dinner, we climbed the rest of the way up the mountain and then back down to our rooms. May I just state here that the lemon chicken we had for dinner was delicious. Alan always told us the lemon chicken was really fish whenever we had it. But, after our hiking this day, it was still particularly delicious.
All the construction going on is because Longi has been discovered. All the concrete is mixed by hand in little puddles on the ground and placed where it needs to be. Bamboo is cut and used for scaffolding. The horse in the picture above is used to carry things up and down the mountain on the same stone steps on which we walked. The huge baskets they carry on their backs is the only other way to get things up and down. I could easily go back here and spend a week and stroll through the rice terraces and enjoy the fresh mountain air and the good food. Lovely experience and so happy we got to visit this place. Such a contrast from the huge cities we would visit next. A great way to experiences the differences in cultures in China.
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