To Wenmingjie: Valley of the Donkey & local market

March 17, 2007

Nanjian is nestled in spires that remind us of Bryce, not only the landscape is different, by being more arid, we seem to be in the "Valley of the Donkey".

Donkeys and carts are on the city street waiting as their owners sell their produce, mostly sugar cane. Rachel had been thinking yesterday as we passed stone carvers making the Chinese headstones where were the cemeteries. Today we see a few graves among the planted fields but not with the newer looking stones.

We get to a wider valley and the road is gradually gaining altitude. Besides aloe plants that are huge, we see prickly pear and organ pipe type cactus. The hillsides have many narrow tracks crisscrossing and occasionally we still see donkeys being led down to the main road. Many people headed to the local market to sell their goods.

The roofs to the houses have changed a little in architectural style with a series of rounded ends rather than the upturned style. We see one pagoda high on a hilltop and another on the end of a town. Rachel says, "The top of that pagoda looks like what was on the Muslim houses/mosques in Indonesia.

We decide to stay in Wenminguie and take on the climb to Dali tomorrow. The town is bigger than we thought it would be and looks nice; we've seen a few women in traditional hill tribe dress. We cycle down a long boulevard, mostly empty looking buildings. The town looks bigger than the amount of people we see on the streets. The impression is "build it and they will come" feeling. As if the town was planned and built and now waiting for people to move here rather than being expanded as more people move in.

Patrick checks out a hotel while Rachel watches the bikes. Many women with their heads covered walk by. Three women come up to me and want to take my picture with them and soon 2 men come up also. Patrick returns and says the hotel is Muslim, friendly and a nice room. Soon we are settled in and cleaned up by 2pm and out exploring the town. We find the local market, eat a noodle dish, take lots of pictures of people, return to the room to rest and go out again around 6:30pm.

The market is closing down, Patrick finds a place to eat on a side street, and we have magnum ice cream bars for dessert.