Getting there and lunch

These are the new, high quality roads!
It got a bit rougher as we treked on -- the car with us kept bottoming out and getting stuck!

A comfortable and relatively lavish home was awaiting us... as well as a lot of excited and really wonderful people!

We hiked down after driving in as far as possible.

The hike was about 30 minutes straight down, winding through several households with angry cows, ferocious dogs, braying donkeys and awed mountain people!

Aren't their homes beautiful and peaceful?

When I told one of the women that it was a very beautiful place, she insisted it wasn't.

I'm not sure if she was being polite or just numb to the beauty.

Laney has a thing for tractors. This one's for Grampy and Grandpa Bill.

(And beside her is one of the many cases of beer being hauled down for the celebration.)

We sat down to lunch very soon after being welcomed and offering our gifts.

There was a whole crowd of dogs who followed their various owners

(or the smell of raw meat...) to the party.

They helped themselves to the scraps under the table.

There were a few skirmishes, but luckily not at our table.

Resting up for the trek down.

And... the meal! White yams, pork fat, crinkle cut potatoes (Yes, I think they're fried! But still pretty crunchy. With hot pepper and MSG.), and pork strips with green pepper.

We also had cabbage and chicken in pepper sauce (above), seaweed, and spicy rice noodles.
And rice, of course!