After Dinner Hike

After the meal we were told it was time to "play." When we asked for further clarification, we were told we could do whatever we wanted. We jumped at the chance to go exploring. It was absolutely gorgeous. We took our girls, a little five year old new friend, and three big friends on a 5 mile hike around the rim, up and down in the fields and trails through the mountain.

The girls loved forging ahead and collecting pieces of nature.
We met a sweet lady who took a break from the party to get some work done.
It was beautiful to watch her work.

The girls ran off the trail to gallop through the rice plants.

As a gardener, I cringed... as a mom I smiled!

We let them run loose a few minutes before reigning them back in.

The terraced fields are each so unique and aesthetically pieced.

At one point the trail got a bit sketchy... especially for our friend in high heels.

Above, Em is carried across. The girls always willingly let people schlep them along the trails. No complaints from them!

We walked all the way around from the other side to see an entire breathtaking panorama.

Above, a river meanders quitely through the middle left.

For me, the miles and miles of terraces never get old.

A little rest. As horrible as I felt that Laney puked all over our new friend (three times), it was reassuring to see how much he enjoyed her. They were definitely still friends!

Can you spot the woman working?

We had an after-meal snack along the trail -- lychee fruits.

(And no adventure would be complete without an "I Love NY" sighting!)

My Grandma Friend

This precious old lady's special hat denoted her as a grandma.

Isn't she cute? She spoke hardly any of the national language, but she sat with me, held my hand, and asked me lots of questions in the tribal language that I couldn'tt answer!

I was able to tell her that I had three daughters (she was delighted when Laney skipped up.) and she was able to tell me that she is 83. She was so proud!

I got her some teas and we shared a few laughs.

I felt so rude that I could barely talk to or understand her, though!

Matt said later, "You mean just like everywhere else?" I thought, no -- at least in Mandarin I can SAY when I don't understand! I can ask questions. I can make small talk.

And that is when I realized how much I've learned!

This beautiful woman kept our bowls topped off -- no dwindling rice mounds aloud!
Hanging on the front porch...

...Helping with chores!

This lady seemed perfectly happy to leave the celebration to tend to the fields.

Attending to the prized head --
the little guy seemed like he was taking notes while his Daddy shaved the bristles!

These kids were really shy at first, but ended up having a great time playing with the girls.

I thought it was really funny when the big sister

formed the little guy's fingers into this "cool" pose :)

These guys were busy playing this popular gambling game all day...

Sort of an Asian poker, I guess.

People are oftened gathered at shopfronts, sometimes squatting on the sidewalks,

really into this game!

This adorable grandpa was hanging out with the little one while his wife and daughter prepared the meal.

Emma's little friend shared candy, played in the dirt and made stick castles,
and went exploring with her.

This sweet enthusiastic woman was SO eager to practice her "Bye-bye" with me.

I think she actually meant "Hello," but it sure wasn't bad

for a lady who doesn't even speak the national language!

Sausage Making!

Our First Sausage Making Adventure

...So perhaps one if the most exciting parts of the day was our participation in the sausage process! One of our friends came to ask us if we wanted to watch, and the next thing we knew we were plunging our hands into the blood to stuff the intestines!

Well, THIS was the washing up... but we could see why the tough old guy plunged his hands directly into scalding water from the stove. (Probably nothing to do with germs on his part, but the sheer stickiness of it all...)

Sorry these pics are backwards -- this is me stuffing the finished work into the big wok full of boiling water.

Pretty uniform, eh? Not bad for the first time. When I asked the old man he told me "Hao de."

...Almost finished.

Looking a little lumpy. The novelty was wearing off, but we wanted to do a good job and not leave them with sub-par sausage when they only have a chance once a year!

Everyone was crowding outside the door to watch the action!

This is the oven on which it was cooked.

They had a very efficient system -- extra rice just in case, a steeming "tent," serving basket, and a two burner oven. (One heating clean water and one boiling sausage.)

The girls were sickly fascnitated but unwilling to touch it. (Thankfully, since I'm not sure how I could have tactfully forbid it!) The stuffing is rice and pig blood. Very sticky and certainly not something I want under their nails or stuck to Laney's cast!

Matt started looking a bit green...

As unsanitary and crude as this kitchen was, it was really quite beautiful.

These are the real pros at work...

See how clean the old man's is? Ours was all messy. Good thing we got the small intestine!

I discovered the technique AFTER Matt was well underway. They fold it back on itself, then roll it out as they stuff. This makes it easier, much more uniform, and the outside is left clean!

It is a bit of a messy job, though!

This was beforehand. They soak the intestines to make them supple and ready for stuffing.

We were really glad to get the chance to learn something new and have fun with them. They sure got a kick out of our bumbling attempts!!

Dinner!

We were anxious to get going, but they had prepared another huge meal for us.

We sat down in anticipation of just what we might find!

This time Emmy's little friend joined us.

Emma REALLY enjoyed the noodles!

The fare also included (clockwise from lower left) pork fat globs, fresh sausage, porkwith unidentified green veggie, chopped whole chicken, peanuts sauteed with MSG and little fried rice "dipping chips", "aged egg" (hardboiled, soaked in mare urine, and buried in the ground for a while), and snow peas with crinkle cut spam stuff.
In the middle are some sort of really spicy pork with red peppers and fish.

Oh, and at the back between the two little girls are the noodles!

We picked up the rice chips and filled them just like Tostitos Dippers ;)

Umm... nobody touched the sausage at our table!

The fish was stuffed with green veggie and pepper. Though I didn't get the veggies in time, the fish was quite good.

A closer shot of the spiciest pork -- look at all those peppers!

Heading Home

We had wanted to leave before dark, but our driver didn't signal us until just before sunset. We were rewarded with some spectacular views! Above, notice the skill with which our driver navigates the crazy mountain paths while talking on his cell phone and smoking a cigarette!

Emma and I lagged a but behind as we hiked up to the van -- gorgeous, huh??

The big power lines through the picturesque terraced fields are so incongruous.

Sorry about the reflection - this one's taken through the windshield. Note the blind corner on which he is passing? The one with the huge droppoff down the side of the mountain?

VERY common...

Apparently it's perfectly safe as long as you honk just before you make the turn!

The road workers camps along the road, lighting fires to cook their meals just as they would at home. These must have been higher ups, because they are generally only the size of a very small closet.

Villages like these are nestledin all through the mountains.

... and the mountains seem to go on forever!