Apr 11, Saturday, Puzhehei

Unfortunately, the day is overcast and chilly.  Breakfast was extremely limited…noodle soup with lots of strange and unknown condiments available to spice it up.  Since we hadn’t a clue as to what any of the condiments were we went with straight noodle soup, boring but filling.  On the up side…the breakfast eating area was on a deck right on the lake so we could enjoy the great views.

We took a drive into the village for a half hour walk.  However, Frank inadvertently left his phone in the car and, apparently, the driver took the car off to get it washed after yesterday’s muddy, bumpy ride.  So the half hour walk turned into about two hours as we couldn’t find the car.  

Awesomely beautiful location.  Who wouldn't love living in a place this scenic.

The area is covered with lakes and rice paddies and was very picturesque.

There were the usual animals to be seen.

This is a good representation of rush hour at the village.

Puzhehei is undergoing a lot of construction to accommodate the growing number of tourists.  This gentlemen is hauling up wheelbarrow loads of bricks (that is being hand loaded by a lady down below). 

We stopped by a site where they were constructing a guest house.  These ladies are hauling up buckets of dirt from a well that is being dug.  There was a man at the bottom of the well doing the digging and filling the buckets.  The well was to supply water to the guest houses.

At this point Frank haled a horse drawn buggy and we headed off towards the hotel…only to run into the driver.  

The itinerary today included a boat ride on the lake that would then take us to a couple of caves.  Because of our colds we opted to forgo the boat rides and took the car to the caves. 

The first cave had several lakes, giving wonderful reflection and a lot of colored lighting to make it look more interesting.  

The second cave was more of a grotto and had a number of Buddhist shrines in it.  

There was a lovely garden at the opening of the cave and a shrine for incense.

We also walked through the tourist/food stalls adjacent to the caves.  Many of the food vendors had live food from the river and wetlands in the area…small fish, snails, eels, grubs, toads, frogs, and fresh water shrimp.  There were also a number of chickens in pens, waiting to become dinner.

EELS

VERY BIG SNAILS

CRAWFISH

TURTLES

SMALL FISH

FROGS

Frank was very happy to host us on this trip as he said he didn’t get to lead many tours in the area so was enjoying the visit.  He also said we were the first American’s to visit the area, which might be true, since most western tourists go to Guilin, which is similar but much prettier, and it is a very long drive to here.

When we got back to the hotel we didn’t have any hot water so after dinner they moved us to another room with hot water…hot showers were welcome.