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June 6, 2009 I didn't really know where I was going, and I experienced
these beautiful and unique places moment-by-moment, as I came across
them. I'll share the pictures in the same way. These pictures are
from my and Lisa's cameras, which is fun to get more than one perspective.
So, we were on a chicken bus headed into the mountains.
I was studying a text book and Lisa borrowed a good
book from me to read, to pass the time. We took that small bus to a town a few hours away.
Then we switched to an even smaller bus and drove for another hour
or two. We came to a very small town and then jumped on a "3-horse
car" to travel to our destination village from there. Along the
road an old woman jumped aboard, after finishing her day's work in
the fields. She was dressing in the old style traditional clothes
and it was beautiful. She let me take her picture a lot. Our (3-horse car) motorcycle cart broke down half
way through the drive, so we got out and walked around, enjoying the
mountain river flowing next to the road. It was so perfectly clear
it was shocking. I could see every single tiny stone at the bottom
of the river, no matter how deep it got. The pictures don't begin
to show the beauty of the slightly green tinted water. I jokingly
debated with a passing girl if there were any fish in the river. I
said there weren't cause I didn't see any and I could see EVERYTHING
in the river. The girl laughed and insisted there were plenty of fish
to be found. The motorcycle got fixed and we were back on our way.
We came to our destination village, which has slowly been developed
into a tourist attraction, of sorts. The people in this special area
build their houses out of wood, instead of concrete like most of the
country. These wooden homes were all beautiful, although built with
variable skill. There was a hotel on the small main road, which was
set to accommodate many people. At this time of year, and with the
economic problems, they were very short on guests. I think Lisa and
I rented one of three occupied rooms. The workers were dressed in
their traditional minority clothes. The office wall had many minority
artifacts, including a set of small stringed instruments. The blending
of old world and new technology is always amusing to me. This man
was playing a solitaire billiards game on the office computer. We rented a room for the night and the worker took
us across the bridge to the lodging buildings. The mountain river
was right in the middle of this village and a small road followed
the river through the mountains. Absolutely beautiful. Although, I
will admit that the beautiful wood carved windows for each room could
have used glass to keep out the MANY mosquitoes which were thick along
the river way. I am still itching bites along my legs a week later.
But it was worth the experience, without question. Here is another funny example of the old world meeting
modern technology and commercialism. These beautiful bamboo rafts
were holding gas pumps and next to them were bumper boats. Funny,
but kinda sad. From my hotel room I had a great view of the village
across the river. And I could look straight down into the deep, clear
river. It was so cool and special. After dropping off our bags Lisa and I went in search
of a very late lunch. Attached to the office for the hotel was a nice deck
that went out next to the river. We ordered some food and then went
out there to eat. Outside of the main strip of tourist buildings was
the more common villager houses. They were built from scraps of wood,
and put together as best they could. It was quaint, but I was thankful
we weren't staying there. After eating we decided to rent mountain bikes and
explore the area. This small strip of town, less than 100 yards long,
was packed with typical tourist novelties. You could rent ATV's, mountain
bikes, book someone to drive you to beautiful scenic spots, etc. There
was even white water rafting and zip-lining available down the river.
No one was doing that at this time of year, but they had pasted advertisements
for it on the sides of their buildings. It was a bit surreal. The
bike ride was great. I haven't ridden a bike in a long time. We wanted to ride the bikes to a beautiful waterfall
that was supposed to be nearby. After riding up and down hills for
a while we started to wonder where this waterfall was. We asked some
people in a small hut on the side of the road. They told us it was
very far away, over a few mountains. One man had a big truck and he
offered to take us up the mountain to his village. We parked the bikes
next to the hut and jumped in the truck with a few others. We drove
up a VERY steep road, winding along the side of the nearest mountain. Eventually we rounded the top of the mountain and
came to a beautiful small village. This was a picture into real life
in this area. They people were all standing around on the dirt roads,
chatting with their neighbors as everyone began to come home from
working the fields. The houses weren't too sturdy, and most were two
floors, with pigs and cows living on the ground floor. It was beautiful
and historic and I really enjoyed walking around the village. As Lisa and I walked around I spotted a strange looking
dog. It had a normal looking head, but its body was weird. I realized
it had lost most of its hair and the rest was sticking out in small
patches. It was a sad, strange sight. As we walked up the road we passed many curious village
people who shouted out "HELLO!" in their local dialect,
and some in English. The people living here could not speak any of
the standard language for this country, and even Lisa (who grew up
speaking the generic local dialect of the area) was unable to speak
their village language. But she could understand a little, and translated
the many offers we got from passing strangers to come to their home
to eat dinner together. The generosity from these people who have
so little, and work so hard for every single meal, was touching and
convicting. And yet it is what I have experienced every time I travel
to small villages. My experience has taught me
that the less people have, the more generous they are. Lisa was trying to chat with this little girl, who
was hanging out on the roof of her house. I thought she had a great
view, but had to laugh at the huge satellite attached to her small
wooden home. The one thing everyone in this country has is satellite
TV. This was not a replication of the infamous Michael
Jackson incident of waving a baby out a window. This woman just really
wanted her baby to say "hello" to the foreigner. We walked past a really cute puppy. Then the hairless
dog came up and I realized that it must be the puppy's mom! Although
maybe not, since Lisa then informed me of an ancient proverb which
says that "mom is where the milk is." We walked around a bit longer and then the man who
drove the truck invited us to come into his home for a moment before
we returned down the mountain. We climbed up the hill and were welcomed
by these sweet little kids, one being his son. When we walked up the stairs the first thing I saw
was an old loom set up to weave fabric. It was exactly like so many
I have seen in museums, but this was a working model, currently in
use. Beautiful and really cool. I sat down on the little stool to
demonstrate how small the chairs are in villages like this. As soon as we arrived and the man had served us water
in small tea cups, his mother arrived home from working in the rice
paddies. She had on the beautiful minority clothes and she let me
take her picture several times. It was so cool to see people still
living in this traditional style, wearing the old clothes and living
in such a simple way. It's almost rude not to show people the pictures after
you take them. The man went down to get his truck turned around (which
took about 15 minutes on the narrow path in the village) and Lisa
and I walked out of the village to the main entrance, to wait on the
truck to come. We saw many cool things and passed the local school,
which had a courtyard full of goats and kids playing ping pong. Once the truck arrived we ended up having to wait
another half hour while some cars drove up the mountain road. It is
very narrow, and barely wide enough for the truck. So you have to
wait for people to finish coming up before you can head down. We spent
the time enjoying the view from the overlook into the valley. The last picture above is the man who owns the truck.
He was a really nice guy, as is everyone I meet around here. While
waiting to leave I watched many people hike up the side of the mountain
carrying bundles of grass or vegetables or rice or something. At one
point a long row of people came walking along, like the 7 dwarfs coming
home. It was funny. We finally headed home and crashed out in our hotel
room, reading books and watching TV. The next morning we decided to rent a 3-horse-car
to take us to the pretty waterfall we had seen pictures of. There
was a group of 4 retired women that were kicking around the village
on a short vacation. They were all in their late 50's, and were kooky
and spazzy and hilarious. They could speak a few words of English,
which they loved staying over and over while making eye contact with
me. They were good friends who cracked each other up, and were great
traveling companions. We decided to go together to the waterfall. After riding in our little motorcycle cart for quite
a while, we reached the end of the road and then hiked along a dirt
path through the mountains and past several beautiful villages until
we reached the river leading to the waterfall. We passed some local
people working in the fields on the way there. They were kind enough
to pose for pictures. Some funny things about these older ladies with Lisa
and me is that they were wearing nice outfits and two of them had
heals on. I personally felt that I was the only one appropriately
dressed for hiking in mountains and splashing in creeks, but I was
vastly outnumbered. These ladies were also funny in that they all
love to sing, and are currently taking singing classes together. They
are all retired teachers, and have the comfort that comes with being
old friends. I laughed so much during our journey together. As we
hiked along the trail, I took a video of them singing and joking around.
Click below to watch the short video clip. When we arrived at the base of the waterfall area,
there was a little shack along the dirt trail. About three guys were
hanging out there, and had tickets you had to buy to go see the waterfall.
It was about $1.50 per person, which was highway robbery, as far as
the older women were concerned. They put up such a fuss and debated
over the price and their deserved discount for about 20 minutes. Eventually
they convinced the man to bring the price down to $1.20 per person
for the 4 of them. Obviously the waterfall was beautiful. Partly because
of this blue-green lagoon at the bottom, again with totally clear
water. How something can be blue-green and totally clear at the same
time is a mystery to me. I can't explain it, but it was really cool.
We spent over an hour there, just taking pictures, splashing around
at the bottom, and reveling in the scenic beauty. Of course I was drawn to climbing to the top. The
man who sold us the tickets had acted as our guide, and he seemed
to sense my character quickly, so after we had taken pictures for
a while, he began beckoning me to a narrow stone stairway that led
to the top of the waterfall. He only had one arm, but he climbed really
well! It was really fun for me to get to the top and see the view
from a different angle, all the while reveling in the glory of the
One who created all these amazing and
unique scenes I had come across this weekend. We got to observe some unique creatures after we hiked
back to the shack at the base of the waterfall area. A brightly colored
butterfly, a bag of snakes, and a cool turtle. When we hiked back to the road, our motorcycle cart
and driver were waiting patiently. Along the path back, we passed
another woman wearing her minority clothes. Lisa explained that they
have different colors depending on your age and marital status, which
is why this woman was wearing purple, but most older ladies were in
blue. I took a self-portrait right before leaving the pretty
mountain. What a unique and special place. As we passed through the
main village I spotted more people wearing their special minority
clothes. Walking alongside were boys sporting their NBA gear. You
are likely to find just about anything in this country, I think. Lisa and I traveled all day to get back to my home city by dinner time. Lisa stayed at my house and then went home the next morning. We had a great weekend together. I think about how busy and tightly packed our schedules often are in the USA. We don't leave room for any spontaneous event. We often don't leave room for simply connecting with other people. We're all too busy. I sense that type of schedule pushing in on me again as I near the time I will return to the States. I hope I can fight against it. If I filled my schedule here with activities and obligations, I would never have had the chance to go visit a friend and go on an impromptu trip to some mountain village she heard about on TV. And I would have missed out on so much. Lisa and I had a wonderful time together, full of good conversations and new understandings of each other. And I would have missed out on moments of reveling in the absolute wonder of the glory of the One who created all these unbelievable places in this world with just a thought. My absolute most favorite days are like this past
one where I hiked through the mountains with old friends and new,
to see some marvels of nature and be overcome with the LARGENESS of
the One who could make it all and hold
it all in the palm of His hand. He leaves me amazed again and again,
especially in this country, where I make time to go where He leads
me, rather than pre-planning every moment of my life. As though I
could have ever planned a weekend so wonderful! June 21, 2009 I am missing out on some very fun plans that my family has to spend time together on this special day. I can't wait to hear all about it, and of course, I wish I could be there with them, making memories together. I love you guys. I want to share the highlights of the past few weeks with you. This past week was pretty uneventful for me, as I spent most of my time studying and getting together with local friends. It was a good week, but nothing to write about in a blog. Last week, however, included a few fun and unique events. I made some new friends who were traveling around this country on vacation. Last year I met some of their friends and showed them some of the beautiful places I enjoy visiting in this part of the country. So this summer I had the pleasure of hosting a new group of traveling Texans and showing them the places that are most special to me. We spent nearly all of our time together out in my favorite small town. None of them got sick on the bus rides out there, so right away I knew I had a good group of adventurers with me! It was pouring rain most of the time we traveled around,
but they had great attitudes and it didn't stop us from getting out
and seeing the sights. We met up with Lisa and she made special arrangements
to show them the local museum for the minority people group represented
in that area. Although I don't really care about going to the museum,
I thought it was really sweet of Lisa to arrange this for our guests. That night, after dinner, we walked around the town
square, which was full of people. The square was PACKED that night,
as the rain had let up for a few hours. Old women were doing various
forms of aerobic line dancing and ballroom dancing. Old men were smoking
and watching the old ladies dancing. Kids were running around with
yelling parents chasing them. It was a fun scene to share with my
new friends. They immediately wanted to join the action. Most of them
tried out the women's line dancing and then my friends decided to
share a little of their American culture with the local people. Shortly after that we decided to break up the crowd
and move on. But it was a great night and Lisa and I were thrilled
to get to know these new brothers and sisters. I wanted to give my friends a taste of the true villages
where many people live. I also wanted to show off the beautiful landscape
this area has. I took them to one of my favorite places. We had great
conversations with Lisa while we traveled around during the day. You are missing some of the best stories about our fun week of exploring with these new friends from Texas. But some stories must remain untold..... The Texan friends were so generous while we traveled together. One gift they gave me was a request that I pass on some of their generosity to my friends I meet with weekly at McDonalds to study. So last Sunday I treated the McDonalds group to lunch. Of course we went to Pizza Hut.... the best place in town! Lucy was excited to build an architectural masterpiece
with her salad bowl. I have mentioned this before, but at the salad
bar in this country, you only get one trip, and have one small bowl
which you fill with as much food as you possibly can. Lucy was very
proud of herself after about 30 minutes of hard work on this project! I didn't personally eat any of the salad, but we also
enjoyed some other dishes, including my FAVORITE guilty pleasure;
super supreme stuffed crust pizza covered in dried hot peppers! Man,
oh man is that good! We had a wonderful time together and I was grateful
to my Texan friends for instigating this special outing. |
