China By Foot
(On pedals.) In a burst of ideological metamorphoisis, we rented a car.
Thanks to a fortuitous and hastily arranged partnership with Guilin's 好伙伴 ("Good Buddy") rental service, we have adjusted our travel/research style. Our grungy, overloaded backpacker disguise has served its purpose, helping us to infiltrate the ranks of Kunming's hostel-dwelling international granola corps a few weeks ago. Bit now, our days of being admonished by friendly innkeepers ("Wow! Look at all your stuff. Most people only need one bag ..."） are over. Well, probably not.
Our newly borrowed camoflage/chariot: a lipstick-red 2005 Kia 千里马 ("Thousand-Mile Horse"). The better to blend in to the colorful and scenic Dong and Miao minority country for the next few weeks as we village-crawl accross the border from Guangxi into Guizhou.
