swept off my feet

I've had a strangely eventful- and at the same time uneventful, week. Monday I went back to my village, as planned, did some interviews that evening and was then invited to join the family planting rice the next day.

I was quite excited about becoming an honorary peasant, not to mention doing something physical. And it wouldn't be the first time I've done farm work. Then next morning we set off through the village, me with a basket on my back and a couple of hoes slung over my shoulder. We got to the fields, to one side of the village and I stepped on a piece of very slightly uneven dirt.... and my ankle gave way and I lay sprawled inelegantly in the dirt under my basket and hoes. Not the first time I've sprained my ankle, hence ankle is weak and sometimes gets sprained for no apparent reason.

I sat in the dirt for a while, hoping it would get better, while occasionally a local (the whole village saw me topple into the dirt) would come around and look at my ankle and then try to rotate it vigorously... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH.

I sat around for about an hour, and it didn't improve so I hobbled back to the house. There 'mum' applied some oily stuff from an eyedropper to my ankle, rotated it again and made me sit with it in the sun. They all thought I was very strange to be asking for ice, especially as no one in the village has a fridge.

In the evening they offered to get the doctor for me. I asked if he had ice. "No, but he will give you an injection (I assume to remove the swelling). I vehemently declined. I then had another problem to consider. I was sleeping in a room on the first floor (which was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate to), not to mention that I would at some point need to climb the mountain out the back to go to the toilet (you can use the backyard for a wee, but not...) and climbing the mountain was no longer in the range of possibility.

One of my brothers there offered to get me ice from Lige- as he has a motorbike which is very convenient, as he likes to mention frequently. I convinced him to put me on the back of the motorbike instead and take me back to Lige, where I could take a nice ground floor room and hobble out the back to the toilet as well as get regular ice. He drove me back very slowly and carefully, avoiding all the bumps (and there are many). Thanks Erche!

Spent the last few days convalescing and applying ice and smelly oil to my big puffy foot. Got the bus to Lijiang today and find myself able to walk quite well. Just a little swelling still. My mum and Aunty will be arriving tomorrow. Looking forward to that.

On the bus was a cardboard box with three chooks in it. They kept sticking their heads out of the box and escaping. I took a couple of photos. That kept me amused for a while.