Hi there! I used to be fairly regular on here, but haven't had the chance to get out much the last few years. The last ten days I was on a holiday/ trip in the south east of guizhou province, china. That area is well known for having a lot of ethnic minorities, forests, mountains, rivers, and fairly isolated villages where people still use a lot of traditional skills in their every day lives. I think a lot of people here would be fascinated by it, so I thought I'd do a little write up. First off, here are some photos. Emailing photos to the UK and getting them put on facebook is not the easiest way, but hopefully you can see them. The album is mix of stuff my friends and family want to see, and ones that I added for people here, so you'll need to scan through them.
I'll write more if people are interested, and feel free to ask questions. Personally, I think that this country is neglected by the bushcraft community, and there's a lot of mutual learning to be done. In some of the villages I went to essentially everyone is a (professional) bushcraft practitioner. I speak the language, so what I'm relating is what I've been told by people there if I haven't seen it myself.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152109962206351.1073741834.578081350&type=1&l=acca65d4c1
Phil
P.S. Some things to look out for amongst the photos:
masses of stuff hand-crafted from wood. People are building wooden houses with hand tools as we speak. I learned quite bit so ask away if you're interested. I saw a lot of work done with just hatchets and 8 inch sheath knives, but there are also a lot of billhooks in use, as well as sickles for harvesting. I also saw tools including bow saws, morticing axes ( I think) and a side axe or two, as well as plenty of other things. My particular favourite was the big knife with grippy handle that they said was just for killing pigs!
communal fire pit under a drum tower in dong minority village. people sit around a fire together in the evening.
village blacksmith's stock (yes, I was a customer!)
old man using an axe to shape house timbers
one-trunk-worth of planks tied together with bamboo
seeds for producing tea tree oil
corn left to dry in the rafters. used for pig feed.
wood stoves
rice fields
barrel bound with bamboo
wooden frames used to dry glutinous rice harvest
camp fire at a company dinner I got invited to
me (blank) firing a black powder rifle belonging to a dong villager. they still hunt quail with these- not just for show.
half a basketball court on top of a small mountain, that has somebody has put a sawmill in!
beautiful blue fabric made water resistant with the addition of egg white and much beating with a mallet
mini-poncho woven from some part of a pine tree, I believe long needles, to drape over the shoulders and keep off the rain.
working cows- they still plow the small mountain fields in some places, and small rotivators are used in others.
One thing that we don't have pictures of is my last night there- I got invited to dinner at the local blacksmith's workshop, got fed and watered with spicy beef jerky and home made rice wine, and then couldn't find my hotel because I was mildly drunk, and they'd turned off the lights and closed the steel shutters. Happy days! Hahaha!
I'll write more if people are interested, and feel free to ask questions. Personally, I think that this country is neglected by the bushcraft community, and there's a lot of mutual learning to be done. In some of the villages I went to essentially everyone is a (professional) bushcraft practitioner. I speak the language, so what I'm relating is what I've been told by people there if I haven't seen it myself.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152109962206351.1073741834.578081350&type=1&l=acca65d4c1
Phil
P.S. Some things to look out for amongst the photos:
masses of stuff hand-crafted from wood. People are building wooden houses with hand tools as we speak. I learned quite bit so ask away if you're interested. I saw a lot of work done with just hatchets and 8 inch sheath knives, but there are also a lot of billhooks in use, as well as sickles for harvesting. I also saw tools including bow saws, morticing axes ( I think) and a side axe or two, as well as plenty of other things. My particular favourite was the big knife with grippy handle that they said was just for killing pigs!
communal fire pit under a drum tower in dong minority village. people sit around a fire together in the evening.
village blacksmith's stock (yes, I was a customer!)
old man using an axe to shape house timbers
one-trunk-worth of planks tied together with bamboo
seeds for producing tea tree oil
corn left to dry in the rafters. used for pig feed.
wood stoves
rice fields
barrel bound with bamboo
wooden frames used to dry glutinous rice harvest
camp fire at a company dinner I got invited to
me (blank) firing a black powder rifle belonging to a dong villager. they still hunt quail with these- not just for show.
half a basketball court on top of a small mountain, that has somebody has put a sawmill in!
beautiful blue fabric made water resistant with the addition of egg white and much beating with a mallet
mini-poncho woven from some part of a pine tree, I believe long needles, to drape over the shoulders and keep off the rain.
working cows- they still plow the small mountain fields in some places, and small rotivators are used in others.
One thing that we don't have pictures of is my last night there- I got invited to dinner at the local blacksmith's workshop, got fed and watered with spicy beef jerky and home made rice wine, and then couldn't find my hotel because I was mildly drunk, and they'd turned off the lights and closed the steel shutters. Happy days! Hahaha!
