Seven (or eight) Dong villages of Chengyang

Like Longji this was another cluster of rural villages, this time half an hour from Sanjiang on the bus where rural life continues, one imagines, largely unchanged over the years and there is little in the way of modernisation or western tourists.
The big selling point of the area is the wind and rain bridges, the one below at Ma'an being the largest and most famous. There are no nails used in its construction, just wood and one presumes a good understanding of forces.

On a stroll on our first afternoon we noticed how they use the water from the lower level river to irrigate the higher level rice paddies:

These water wheels are spaced apart down the side of the fields, the strength of the river being enough to turn the wheel so each bamboo tube can carry its watery load. When it reaches the top of the wheel the angle is such that it pours the water into other bamboo guttering which flows over to the field. Brilliant.
On the next day we hired bikes and headed out along the road that links the villages. After realising we'd ridden right off the end (probably because we were being idiots and racing each other up the hills) we turned back and found a small turning up a hill. Described as a lung buster in the lonely planet and not far off in reality we rode for 40 minutes up the hill (good training for the last stage of our trip) until we reached Gaoyou village. We managed to pick up a warm can of sprite (on the way up we had discussed whether anyone would have hauled a fridge all the way up the hill, turns out they had, they just hadn't bothered turning it on), and sat in the village square until our lungs got back to normal before starting back down the hill. This turned into a race between us and a pursuing car (if we got stuck behind him on the twists and turns we would have had exhaust fumes all the way down so it was in our interest to stay ahead). Helped slightly by a herd of cows we managed to stay ahead and free wheeled back to the (not very) main road and started the cycle back to Ma'an.

[Sam looking a little rosy after the climb]

The next morning we went to a local cultural show in the next village. This photo was taken seconds before the lady on the left, with no warning, tipped the contents of the small white cup down Alistair's throat. It was some (presumably) rice based spirit and it was 10.30 in the morning! [its worth mentioning here that the headwear sported by these ladies bears, in colour and stickingoutness, a resemblance to some of the headwear seen previously on Robin Rose :) ]

The ladies then made it back on stage and we were treated to some singing, and funky wooden instrument playing.