This has been a fascinating area of China to visit and one we may not fully appreciate until we reflect on the trip back home. Weixin in north-eastern Yunnan province has probably seen few foreign visitors. I've not seen one western face in three weeks - other than those ugly mugs of the Yorkies and Badgers. What I have seen is a dull grey part of the world developing at a phenomenal rate. This isn't your Beijing or Shanghai this is 'no ones ever heard of' rural China. At every turn there is development, development, development. The mountainous valleys are overwhelmed with strip development, roads, concrete, houses, concrete, quarries, viaducts, tunnels and much more concrete. Every journey from base to the caves involves 'heart in your mouth' overtaking of an endless line of grinding lorries moving 'stuff', mostly gravel, from one place to another. It's so overwhelming to see, especially if you worry about leaving the lights on at home - don't. We're never going to save the planet!
You can't blame the people they're just doing what we all did during the industrial revolution - except we never had plastic back then. What a friendly, polite, lovely race of people they are even though the language barrier prevents real social interactions, for most of us anyway. And the consumer society has taken hold where every other shop is full of colourful fashions and the rest mobile phones. Of course the diet takes a little getting used to as the earlier post suggests and it is true that one could starve to death if one doesn't learn to eat with chop sticks.
But what of the caves that brought us to this Chinese backwater. Well some are full of rubbish there is no denying, in others we have not been the first, as ancient nitrate works, stal mining, budha statues, roads etc all testify to previous visitors. But we have seen some great caves, 50m diameter chambers, forests of caramel coloured rockets of stal, grand sweeping passages and draughts which blow your clothes off. 12km surveyed in eight days so far, and virgin stuff too, but this is the least promising of the two areas. As I am waiting to fly home tomorrow the rest of the team are set to move to a new area where massive rivers sink and a tienkeng 600x300x200m await investigation. I kinda wish I was staying another week, oh well, Leck Fell on Sunday anyone.