As we approached late afternoon, we decided to go out and check out a place near Wenchuan (汶川) named Yemen Guan. Yemen Guan was a pass that Liu Bei (劉備), the King of the Shu Kingdom, had his troops hold in the Three Kingdoms Period, guarding the road into Sichuan. Given my interest in the Three Kingdoms, we couldn’t help but take a look.
We found a bread van that was going to Yemen Guan:
They let us in for 2 RMB per person:
The ride was short, as it was only 3 km away. We passed by the blue temporary shelters, and a couple bends later, we were there.
There was nothing, really, except just a bend in the highway sandwiched by two tall, outcropping rocks.
"Is this really Yemen Guan?" we asked.
"Yes it is. There's a sign somewhere around here with an inscription or something."
We got out, and the van drove off. However, we could find no sign of anything, literally. There was nothing here of note, other than a landsliding mountain on other side:
and broken railings near our end of the highway:
Apart from a couple people doing some land surveys, there was no one else around. However, when we looked down, we spotted a village below:
It was in bad shape:
We decided to go down and take a look. Walking down the rubble, we slowly reached Yemen Guan village. Buildings were broken, collapsed structures everywhere.
A leaning two story building looking like it's going to fall:
Another leaner:
Houses with only walls left standing:
However, there were still some people around, and some signs of repair:
But the place was in bad shape:
It was easy to envision large boulders falling from the top of the mountain, raining down on the village:
Some of the villagers have turned their ruins into make-shift houses:
While Baba and I walked around, we ran into one of the villagers. His name was Mr. Cao (曹), and he now temporarily finds shelter inside a makeshift house made of bamboo strips:
After we introduced ourselves, we started discussing the events of the earthquake.
“So you were home on the day of the earthquake?” I asked.
"Yes, but I ran out! I feared for my life!"
“What about your family?”
“My wife was in the fields, working. My kids were in school.”
“Did the school collapse?”
“No, we were quite lucky.”
“How many people are in your family?”
“There are three of us. My son is 10 years old, though he lives at boarding school most of the time."
“So this is Yemen Guan?” Baba asks. He points up.
“Yes, but I don't know much about it."
“So what do you for a living?”
“I don't have a job...”
“What did you do before?”
“I was a farmer. I worked in the fields. But they aren't really viable now.”
“What about the winter?”
“I live here in the winter as well.”
“Does it get cold here?”
“Yes, but we can build a fire in our temporary shelter.”
"But when will you fix up your house? Next year?”
“Yes... this is just a temporary shelter.” He pointed to the building that had walls made of strung-together bamboo fiber.
“How will you build your new house?”
“The government will provide us loans...”
“How much do you think it will cost?”
“At least 50,000 RMB for materials and labor. This time, we're of course going to build our houses much better.”
"How much does it cost to get people to help build your house?"
“It’s 60 RMB for unskilled laborers, though you have to provide them meals. For skilled laborers, it's 120 RMB.”
“That’s pretty expensive.”
Just then, Larry called and said he’s going to head back first – he found a 1 RMB bus he wants to take back to Wenchuan. We decided to meet up with him later. After the call, Mr. Cao invited us to come in to sit and relax.
“Why don’t you come in? Take a break. Have some tea with me!” We went in. He unlocked his temporary shelter, and pulled his guard dog out of our way. We went inside:
He bade us to sit. "I'm going to boil some water... do you want tea?” He smiled and showed us his water kettle. It was all messed up, disfigured by the rocks:
“No, that's okay. Why don't you sit? Don't bother with the water. We just want to hear more."
"Okay, sure."
“So you have electricity here?”
“No, the electricity is down right now.”
“What about water?”
“We bring it down from the highlands. We have to boil it. Would you like a cigarette?"
"No, that's okay - we don't smoke."
Baba re-engaged him in the conversation. “But at least you don't look hurt.”
“That’s right.”
“And though your house is down, you can rebuild.”
“Well it’s not just my house, but I lost many things too. Refrigerators, appliances, etc. But you're right. I'll find a way. After all, if you're still alive, if you still have energy and a good attitude, you'll find a way live well. I just need to give it some time.”
We changed subjects. “So what is your biggest expense?”
“Food. But we eat very simply. Mostly vegetables, we grow ourselves. We do need to buy things other than vegetables though.”
“How much land do you have?”
“Enough so that we can grow all the vegetables we eat and also have surplus to sell. We have a three-wheel rickshaw we use to carry stuff to the marketplace in Wenchuan. It takes about 30 minutes – just 3 km away.”
We thanked him for showing us around, and taking the time to meet us. He even gave us a couple pears to take with us.
We went back up the slope and onto the highway, and in a few minutes, Baba managed to flag down a tractor hauling supplies. They were heading towards Wenchuan, and so we jumped in:
The fellow in the back is Mr. Qin (秦), and his older brother was driving in front. They are from Maerkang (馬爾康), and were hauling supplies back home to rebuild their house, so they were happy to help other strangers.
Mr. Qin:
Mr. Qin's brother:
They dropped us off at Wenchuan, where we saw a reconstruction of a major building going on. The building must have been demolished or it had completely fallen apart, since all I could see were rocks left on the ground.
Spot where they are rebuilding a building. Must have been demolished. Empty space with lots of rocks now.
We head back to our hostel, where we had a gotten a triple for 45 RMB. It was getting dark, and soon we didn’t have any light in our room. Apparently, Wenchuan often loses power at night even six months after the earthquake, but the landlady was working hard on getting the generators on for some electricity. Soon, the lights came on, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough to go around, and we saw the folks next door were still sitting in the dark. According to the landlady, they were longtime customers and are used to power outages, and they understand that it's more important to serve new customers. Looks like you incur negative hotel points in Wenchuan. :-p
It was a long day, so to recap, here are the hitchhike rides we took today:
Maoxian – a guy took us a short distance to Larry.
Maoxian – Ms. Zhai took us back to the bridge
Maoxian -> Wenchuan: A guy took us there for 30 RMB
Wenchuan -> YemenGuan: A guy took us there for 6 RMB
YemenGuan -> Wenchuan: Mr. Qin took us back for free
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