Part 1
The Karst
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Mister it's time to awake. We have sunrise! You say you very serious so I very serious!"
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Yeah I'm coming," I barely mumble
"Ok meet you in lobby. 10 minutes!"
I roll over and look at my watch. 4:30am on the dot. This is currently my third day in a row waking up at this time. I told Mulan I was serious about my photography and she knows the best light in the day is sunrise and sunset. The time where dramatic colors blanket everything, shadows are long and ever reaching and the world is just waking up.
I throw on some filthy and unwashed clothes and stumble down the stairs still half asleep. Mulan informs me that we have about a hour walk along the Li river before we get to the boat and then about an hour boat ride to the spot we will be shooting this morning. She puts a flashlight in my hand and takes off. We begin our walk going through the incredibly rural fishing village we slept in. The town is only accessible by boat and it is deep with in Southern China's karst landscape. Huge 1000ft limestone cliffs go straight into a deep blue and green water. The spires are everywhere and seem to go back into the distance forever. The town we sleep in still does almost all things traditionally. There is power and the Internet, but only select houses have a TV and all of their means of survival are still done traditionally. The stray dogs sing us a symphony as we dodge chickens on our way out of the town. We continue our walk down the bank until we get to the dock. The dock is a narrow strip of rocks stretching a small distance into the river. Since China was one of the first civilizations, the dock is estimated to be about 3500 to 4000 years old.
We board the bamboo raft with an aging gentleman that will be our captain. As we shove off into the darkness I notice he doesn't use any method of seeing ahead of him. He has just traveled the river so many times he knows all the ins and out of it. Later on the silenced is breached by the shouts and banter of the local fisherman. As we go past one he shouts at our captain to stop. He paddles over and asks for what I only can assume was a ride up the river. We have and engine and our captain obliged him. This is what we came here for. A sunrise shot of the fisherman on the Li River. But there is something different about these fisherman.
We arrive at the spot he needs and he lights a lantern to hang on the front of his raft. As the light slowly surrounds the raft and pushes back the darkness I see the two birds sitting on his raft. He yells a few sentences at a fisherman across the river and pushes his birds into the water. The black birds slide into the water and disappear under the surface. About two minutes later the bird reappears and hops back onto the boat. The first one waddles up to the fisherman and he opens its mouth. He curses and tightens the string around its neck and pushes it back in. When the second one pops up however, I can see a fishtail poking out of its mouth. The fisherman snatches the fish from its grasps and pushes the bird bake in the water.
They don't use nets or lines or rods or reels. They use birds. More specifically the cormorant bird. Still in the traditional where they train the birds to swim under the water, catch a fish and return to the correct boat. To prevent them swallowing the fish they tie a string around their necks preventing them from expanding their throat and eating it. It might sound cruel but they employ the one in nine rule. Every ninth fish they let the bird eat it and the birds seem perfectly happy. All of the fisherman are very proud of their birds and when he saw I had a camera he insisted that I take a picture of him with his birds. He was enthralled with my camera and kept asking if he needed to move anywhere to get a better shot so long as I continued to show him the pictures I took. He would then give his critique with either a pat on the back or throwing his hands up in disgust.
The sun rises and we make our way back to the town. Only the noise of our little engine echoing of the limestone cliffs to accompany us back.
I throw on some filthy and unwashed clothes and stumble down the stairs still half asleep. Mulan informs me that we have about a hour walk along the Li river before we get to the boat and then about an hour boat ride to the spot we will be shooting this morning. She puts a flashlight in my hand and takes off. We begin our walk going through the incredibly rural fishing village we slept in. The town is only accessible by boat and it is deep with in Southern China's karst landscape. Huge 1000ft limestone cliffs go straight into a deep blue and green water. The spires are everywhere and seem to go back into the distance forever. The town we sleep in still does almost all things traditionally. There is power and the Internet, but only select houses have a TV and all of their means of survival are still done traditionally. The stray dogs sing us a symphony as we dodge chickens on our way out of the town. We continue our walk down the bank until we get to the dock. The dock is a narrow strip of rocks stretching a small distance into the river. Since China was one of the first civilizations, the dock is estimated to be about 3500 to 4000 years old.
We board the bamboo raft with an aging gentleman that will be our captain. As we shove off into the darkness I notice he doesn't use any method of seeing ahead of him. He has just traveled the river so many times he knows all the ins and out of it. Later on the silenced is breached by the shouts and banter of the local fisherman. As we go past one he shouts at our captain to stop. He paddles over and asks for what I only can assume was a ride up the river. We have and engine and our captain obliged him. This is what we came here for. A sunrise shot of the fisherman on the Li River. But there is something different about these fisherman.
We arrive at the spot he needs and he lights a lantern to hang on the front of his raft. As the light slowly surrounds the raft and pushes back the darkness I see the two birds sitting on his raft. He yells a few sentences at a fisherman across the river and pushes his birds into the water. The black birds slide into the water and disappear under the surface. About two minutes later the bird reappears and hops back onto the boat. The first one waddles up to the fisherman and he opens its mouth. He curses and tightens the string around its neck and pushes it back in. When the second one pops up however, I can see a fishtail poking out of its mouth. The fisherman snatches the fish from its grasps and pushes the bird bake in the water.
They don't use nets or lines or rods or reels. They use birds. More specifically the cormorant bird. Still in the traditional where they train the birds to swim under the water, catch a fish and return to the correct boat. To prevent them swallowing the fish they tie a string around their necks preventing them from expanding their throat and eating it. It might sound cruel but they employ the one in nine rule. Every ninth fish they let the bird eat it and the birds seem perfectly happy. All of the fisherman are very proud of their birds and when he saw I had a camera he insisted that I take a picture of him with his birds. He was enthralled with my camera and kept asking if he needed to move anywhere to get a better shot so long as I continued to show him the pictures I took. He would then give his critique with either a pat on the back or throwing his hands up in disgust.
The sun rises and we make our way back to the town. Only the noise of our little engine echoing of the limestone cliffs to accompany us back.
Part 2
The Terraces
After one more day in the karst we head to the Longii rice terraces. This was the number one thing I wanted to see on this trip around the world so I could not have been more excited. The majority of our 3 hour drive to the terraces was uneventful. Our driver is really into American hip-hop and he insisted I put my Ipod on and play songs for him the whole way. But my joy suddenly stopped when we got to the pass.
Now coming from Jackson I thought I knew scary roads. But the motorbike ride in Vietnam taught me I didn't know danger at all. But sketchy mountain passes I do know right? I've driven Teton Pass in a raging snow storm with visibility at 6 inches and semi trucks strewn all over the place. I've flown up and down Curtis Canyon with no regard for falling off. Surely a mountain pass in China can't be that bad. Wrong. The pass starts by shrinking down to about one and a half lanes wide. And we start up. Incredibly steep and narrow the road winds up the mountain. But the higher we climb the worse it gets. Huge drop offs start to appear and hairpin turns come out of nowhere. Every single turn in the road is a blind one and you just pray no one is one the other side. There is obviously no guard rail and the more we climb the worse the road condition gets. Huge pot holes and frost heaves break the road up into small islands of asphalt. Oh and did I mention that there are of course motorcycles flying everywhere with out a care in the world. But our driver doesn't seem to care either. He just continues to bob his head and mumble the words to 1970 Something by Notorious B.I.G. Teton pass has nothing on this road and when we reach the top I had never been so happy to get out of a car.
From here it was about a three mile hike up to the top and along the ridge line to get to the town. The town is built on the side of the mountain very near the peak. As we round the corner all is revealed. A small quiet town with tile roofs and and bamboo paneling. All around it in every nook and every available spot there are the rice terraces. Carved into the land long long ago to change the landscape into a real life topographical map. Every spot is used by these stair step like formations and terraces where the rice is grown. We arrive in a guest house with no power. The power is shut off during the day because everyone is on the terraces. My bed consists of a bamboo mat with a feather stuffed mattress on the top. The town is built vertically so first floor is the ban, second is the kitchen and living area, third is the rooms and the streets consist of narrow stair ways leading up and down the terraces. A man's wealth is measured by weather he has wooden flood gates, stone flood gates or metal ones. The kids only go to school to the equivalent of fourth grade and then join their parents on the terraces. Chickens are literally everywhere and everyone knows everyone.
The beauty of this place is staggering and every morning I awoke I had to pinch myself to make sure I was actually there. They did find a place flat enough for a basketball court where I got a game together. Me being the tallest person in a 100 mile radius, I played center. But make no mistake about it, this basketball court is their only source of entertainment and the guys I played with were more than decent, they were really good. It was a crazy experience and I'd love to do it again.
China lived up to expectation and I can't wait to go back. The country is huge and there is so much that I missed and didn't see. From here my stereotypical euro-trip begins. Back to western society. I fly from Hong Kong to Rome and will do most of the rest via train. The posts will come quicker as a jump from country to country in a hurry. Plus I will actually have access to a computer unlike before. I had no access to the outside world in China at all. The firewall over their internet prevents the use of any website where you could potentially say something bad about the Chinese government. No Facebook, no YouTube, and defiantly no blog written by some punk rebellious 19 year-old American delinquent.
The pictures you see are only about 1% of the amazing photos I have of this beautiful landscape. A lot of them are similar so I spared you guys the boring droll of picture after picture of landscapes. But do not fear, I took about 2000 pictures in a weeks time. snap snap snap snap snap snap
The pictures you see are only about 1% of the amazing photos I have of this beautiful landscape. A lot of them are similar so I spared you guys the boring droll of picture after picture of landscapes. But do not fear, I took about 2000 pictures in a weeks time. snap snap snap snap snap snap
As always thank you for the wonderful support and kind words. I love all you guys and will be home soon.
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