Zhaoxing

This is a shot of the village Zhaoxing where we're staying. It's the most touristy Dong village we've been to, with hotels, restaurants, and of course an internet cafe, but it's also a working village with many farmers and people living in ways that don't involve tourists. It's tucked away in green mountains and surrounded by these paddies.

They have fields everywhere! The mountains are all cut into steps so the land can be cultivated despite its natural slope. Farm land in the US means as flat as a calm ocean, but here farmland is in the moutains! Much harder to work and each field is much much smaller but great views. It's so green and peaceful here. People live in these wooden houses with their animals in their basements, but they still have their flat screen TVs and satellite dishes. We saw a new wooden village under contstruction, and it was being built the same exact way as the older ones. They are happy to live this way it seems. If ain't broke...