Feasible as a day-trip from Sanjiang, MAPANG lies some 30km north of town via a change of buses in Bajiang, and features a huge drum tower with an unusually broad rectangular base. The last buses back to Sanjiang leave late afternoon, though it’s also possible to hike from here to Chengyang in about six hours.
The most interesting corner of this land, however, lies northwest across the mountains from Bajiang along the Meng River, which ultimately runs down from the north to Chankou on the Sanjiang road. The daily bus from Sanjiang to Dudong (departs 8am) crosses these ranges, emerging 33km away above a deep valley containing the tiny, dark-roofed village of ZHUOLONG, where Deng Xiaoping rested up during the Long March. There are two drum towers here, but press on a couple of kilometers north to BAXLE, whose bright green and yellow bridge was built in 1980 (purists night notice a few nails in the decking). The cobbled village square in front of Baxie’s drum tower also has a small stage carved with monkeys and lions for festival performances. The oldest surviving bridge, built in 1861, is in the next village north, HUALIAN, after which comes a unique two-tier example at the village of BATUAN, with one lane for people and one for animals. This bridge still has its shrine, a cupboard with a bearded god on a stone slab, and, at the far end, a path leads along the riverbank to where tall trees shade a small new temple.
At the end of the road, DUDONG was a centre for guerilla action against the Japanese during the 1940s, and its newly built drum tower is the highest in the region. There’s a guesthouse (@) and an excellent two-hour hike uphill from here to GAODING, an attractive Dong village with six towers and nothing but wooden buildings.
After a night in Dudong, either catches the 8am bus back to Sanjiang, or the Tangle bus as Far as MENGJIANG, an interesting village only a few kilometers south of Zhuolong. Mengjiang is half Miao, half Dong, each community settled on opposite banks of the river. After generations of fighting over land, their leaders became reconciled in tile 1940s, and together built tile tradition- ally designed Nationality Union Bridge across the divide. Today it’s hard to distinguish between the two communities, as both dress similarly - women wearing heavy metal earrings or a piece off white cord through their lobes- though the drum tower is, naturally enough, on the Dong side. It’s a great place to wander between the large houses and out into the fields, and tractors can be hired for the run down to TANGLE. Here you’ll find a store, a hostel and an early-morning minibus for the ninety-minute ride back to Sanjiang.
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