Monday, September 19, 2005
MOON FESTIVAL RAVE, BBQed FOREIGNERS & TOO MANY GOD DAMN STAIRS
After stepping off a 6 hour bus ride 70km south of Liuku we wandered through this small village looking for a place to eat lunch. On the way we met a lady selling grapefruits who invited us into her home in a tiny Yee (a hilltribe) village. There were about 12 houses in the village. They fed us and implored us to stay for the Moon Festival (a national holiday and party on the autumn full moon, where everyone gets drunk, dances around and eats "mooncakes" - big cookies.) The whole village showed up around 8pm. The local government official opened the celebration by saying that they had never had foreigners there before and they would teach us their culture if we would teach them ours. They danced (more circle dance,) We sang American Pie. They did another dance, I juggled. And so on and so forth.
The next part of the festivities was the lighting a fire and tossing people up and down over it. Everyone was BBQed, some more voluntarily than others. Then we set off Roman Candles and some other fireworks. The ones bought earlier that day were neat, the ones that were quite old exploded on the ground terrifying everyone.
After the traditional festivities were done, someone put on Chinese Techo and siezing the opportunity I decided to turn it into a rave. I broke out the glowsticks which had mixed results....the youth loved them, the old people were freaked out and left :)
This morning we walked 4km up to a Buddhist temple in a place only a Buddhist would think to build it... on the side of a mountain. The hike up took 2 hours, and after an hour hiking through fields of coffee beans and corn we came to stairs. I lost track at 500something but there were some really steep points that made me question if I really have gotten over my fear of heights. The temple and 3 waterfalls on the mountain were spectacular and we spend a few hours up there.
Now in Liuku for tonight...tomorrow we go to Fugong. What we do there I do not know.
After stepping off a 6 hour bus ride 70km south of Liuku we wandered through this small village looking for a place to eat lunch. On the way we met a lady selling grapefruits who invited us into her home in a tiny Yee (a hilltribe) village. There were about 12 houses in the village. They fed us and implored us to stay for the Moon Festival (a national holiday and party on the autumn full moon, where everyone gets drunk, dances around and eats "mooncakes" - big cookies.) The whole village showed up around 8pm. The local government official opened the celebration by saying that they had never had foreigners there before and they would teach us their culture if we would teach them ours. They danced (more circle dance,) We sang American Pie. They did another dance, I juggled. And so on and so forth.
The next part of the festivities was the lighting a fire and tossing people up and down over it. Everyone was BBQed, some more voluntarily than others. Then we set off Roman Candles and some other fireworks. The ones bought earlier that day were neat, the ones that were quite old exploded on the ground terrifying everyone.
After the traditional festivities were done, someone put on Chinese Techo and siezing the opportunity I decided to turn it into a rave. I broke out the glowsticks which had mixed results....the youth loved them, the old people were freaked out and left :)
This morning we walked 4km up to a Buddhist temple in a place only a Buddhist would think to build it... on the side of a mountain. The hike up took 2 hours, and after an hour hiking through fields of coffee beans and corn we came to stairs. I lost track at 500something but there were some really steep points that made me question if I really have gotten over my fear of heights. The temple and 3 waterfalls on the mountain were spectacular and we spend a few hours up there.
Now in Liuku for tonight...tomorrow we go to Fugong. What we do there I do not know.
