The camellia conference is officially over. The closing banquet was last night. The hosts served a type of Asian liquor that comes in very fancy red bottles and is 57% alcohol. In her inimitable (albeit charming) style Nancy got the party rolling and then graciously exited just after 9 p.m. Some of the crowd she had assembled was Aussies (who are undoubtedly the world’s champion partiers). One of them told us today that the party did not break up until after midnight. Fortunately for all concerned today was largely a travel day with lots of time to sleep on the bus.
Travel like that does not create much to write about. We saw a variety of countryside and stopped to tour one magnificent estate. It was an ancient and (to my surprise) privately owned estate open to the public. A written description cannot possibly do it justice. Even the numerous photos we took will be inadequate. The place contained art work, scrolls, sculptures, numerous types of potted plants (including, of course, camellias in full bloom) and even (to my great disgust) peacocks. When we are back home I will post a photo album dedicated to this place alone.
One thing that was emphasized again by rolling through the countryside for over three hours is the astonishing contrasts. Poverty and filth cheek by jowl with wealth and luxury. Just one example: Our bus convoy often passes other vehicles on the road as we have the police escort. However, the roads are narrow and the oncoming traffic is forced to pull over and often to stop. At one point today our driver leaned on the horn as we passed an ancient beat up old cart being wheeled along the road side by an older man in traditional work clothes. This forced a brand new Mercedes coming in the opposite direction to pull over and stop while we went around.
On that same note we arrived at our current lodging (the Guan Guang Hotel in the town of Lijian) which is brand new and ultra modern after driving through a scruffy obviously poorer section of town. The style of these older, poorer areas seems to involve a ground floor where garage doors are lined up one after another. When the doors are rolled up the shop inside (everything from food stalls to DVD shops to auto repair facilities, you name it) is open. Presumably the family that owns and operates the business lives on the second floor above the commercial establishment.
We are here and touring the local sights (I have lost track of what they are) all day tomorrow. Then on to Shangri-la the next day. If you thought Shangri-la was a fictional place you are correct. Apparently, however, several places began capitalizing on this name to promote tourism until earlier this century when they got together and settled on who got to be the Shangri-la. If you are curious the story is on the Internet or can be found in the material I posted about this trip earlier on the blog.
Good night.
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