news.imagethief.com

Happily to work, safely return home. A slightly surreal couplet slogan painted on the wall of an exercise garden in Xiazhuang village. Not a great photo, but worth capturing.

The figures on the corners of the eaves of the Silver Pagodas. Look out behind.

After our hike we had a picnic at the nearby Silver Pagodas, at the foot of the craggy Silver Mountain. We had the pagodas almost entirely to ourselves, a pleasant change from my previous visit when the grounds were thronged.

More festively attired girls in Jiuduhe, swaning for the camera. A younger brother was too shy to get close to a camera-toting laowai.

A villager winding his way down the paths behind the village.

Young girls playing in an irrigation ditch behind Jiuduhe village. They're in their finest for Qingming, the grave-sweeping festival, which was being observed on the day of our hike. The girl on the left has a scarred face, or a pigment disorder.

Either cherry or ''mountain peach'' (which may be whiter). Either way, they were everywhere, gorgeous, and full of bees, butterflies and birds.

This friendly gentleman, minding a few head of cattle, helpfully gave us directions toward Jiuduhe. Four wandering foreigners must have been the highlight of his week, and he seemed reluctant to let us go. As we paused at a fork two hundred meters down the path we could still hear him yelling, ''straight ahead!''

And the flowers ain't bad either. My hiking companions, Mrs. Imagethief, Yeen Yee and Wai Feng, surrounded by the blooming mountain peach flowers.

From the ridge behind Baihe, a spectacular view across the valleys to the north, and three lines of mountains.