Guizhou - The road less traveled in China - Chapter 2 of 9

We checked into Shiyou Binguan in Yingpan DongLu which was nearby to the CITS office. The hotel was old and musty. We had a room with twin beds and an attached shower room for 80RMB. There was no hot shower but we could ask for hot water to pour into the little bucket in the shower room. The dirty bathroom had a broken vent glass, hence it was really nasty and cold during shower time. The dim light in the cold night made me a little uncomfortable. Our beds were equipped with electric blankets. But since I never tried one in my life, I feared I would be electrocuted! Considering the fact that we were sleeping for the night , we did not want to spend time searching for a better hotel. We dropped our luggages and turned on the electric blankets before rushing to meet a Miao lady who was awaiting us at the lobby.

I have forgotten the lady's name. She and her husband had a vast collection of old minorities’ textiles, needle works and handicrafts stored in their 4-storey home in Kaili. It is not unusual in many parts of China for business to be operated from home. They typically have contacts with many freelance agents who bring customers to them. Take note of ladies around town, bus and train stations with business card. They will try to coax you for a visit to see the minorities’ crafts in Guizhou.

Her house was only 15 minutes' walk from our hotel. But we decided to stop at a restaurant for dinner before heading to her place. I still remember the tomato egg soup we had in the cold night. It was a delicious meal in the cold winter.

The 4-storey house was narrow and sandwiched in between other similar buildings. Her husband was out sourcing in the far villages. She led us upstairs to a big room full of the minorities’ handicrafts. Most of her collection are from Guizhou and nearby provinces. We were mesmerized! Suddenly excitement overtook exhaustion! So many precious woven textiles, embroideries, minorities costumes, silverwares and baskets scattered around the room - on the shelves, cabinets, tables, hanging on the walls and in boxes on the floor. We could not take our gaze off  the beauty before us, as our hands were busy feeling the texture of the materials.  I recognized some of the fabrics, but many of the items looked fresh to me. We asked for a look of the minorities’ shoes and she led us to a different room. Gosh, it was another room full of collection! We were interested to buy but were drawn back by her steep prices. We felt like the fat meat on the chopping board!  While I don't claim to be an expert, I know what I was doing. But since we had taken so much of her time, we bought two pieces of old embroideries as a gesture of good will. It was expensive but I guess it was the price worth paying for a fruitful and educational experience.

We jumped straight onto our warmed bed as soon as we were back in the hotel room. It is unusual for people who come from tropical countries to take shower once a day. However, we were too tired to take a shower before bed and the cold water was not very inviting...