The Longji Rice Terraces are absolutely other-worldly. They are only about 2 and a half hours away from the city of Guilin, but if you take public transportation, you have to take a combination of 3 buses to get there. (Are you impressed that Joey and I did that on our own?! Well, we did have the initial help of our friend Sunny :)) It was a long journey, but as soon as we arrived at Longji we felt like we were on a different planet. It's autumn now at the terraces, so the fields are turning golden, but there was a cool cloudy mist blanketing the terraces. The air felt clean and fresh (for a change!) Joey had the name of a cute cabin hostel from our other Fulbright friends who'd traveled here with their Chinese friend in April. The recommendation was great- I absolutely loved where we stayed :)
Joey and I spent two nights, and one very full day, in Longji. During our full day, we woke up around 8am and left for our morning hike. We did a circuit hike, and were slightly disappointed by all of the mist (there was very low visibility). Around 11am we stopped for a delicious noodle lunch at a restaurant that had an open air balcony overlooking the terraces, and then we continued on a second, different hike. All in all, we hiked 10+ miles. The longer afternoon hike was even more beautiful than our morning hike. We ran into a pair of women from the "Yao People" tribe, who told us to follow them to their village. Joey and I spent the next hour hiking behind these two, teeny tiny, middle aged Yao women- carrying bundles of sticks in their traditional attire. When we stopped for a rest, they (amazingly) took down their floor-length hair and showed us how they bundle it to wear as hats on their heads! It was absolutely incredible. However, once at their village, inside their wooden home, they wanted money. They tried to sell us junky souvenirs and lunch. I bought an overpriced drink haha. When Joey and I decided it was a good time for us to leave, they followed us, demanding 40 Yuan (quite a lot of money!) for taking photos with their hair down. I gave them the spare change I had, but Joey and I were both disappointed that the women had feigned kindness, when they really only wanted money. We decided that the place where we initially "happened" to see them an hour back, was actually a point where they connived to pick up tourists and lead them to their village. This was not the first time they'd done this, and it was deceitful. (Also ineffective, in that I would have paid them to take their pictures if they had been up front with me about wanting money for a picture. Perhaps it is a difference of culture- the order in which money is asked for/ exchanged?) Joey and I were happy to be back on our walk alone.
Back at the cabin, I had the first down time I've had this entire month really. I mean,
real downtime. It was wonderful.
Enjoy these very unique, beautiful pictures! I would come back to Longji, but I would like to see it when the terraces are green in the summer!
One of the 3 buses Joey and I took from Guilin to get to Longji
This woman from one of the local hill tribes was
teeny tiny!
Joey with all of the stuff he's traveling with before
going home to America!!!
Walking up to our hostel
Rams' horns...used to make beautiful hair combs
mule!
Our cozy cabin room high up in the cool mountains!
Interesting menu: "Quick fried wood frog,"
"Braised old pumpkin," "Fried natural bracken"
(I don't know what that is either)
"Please be one and half hour in advance to order 'Charcoal
Roasted Free-range Chicken'" Well, the chickens definitely
are free range, and the 1 and a half hours is so they can catch it!
Dinner!
Braised fish, and sweet and sour pork. Both DELICIOUS!
So much corn was hanging on the homes outside
It was very pretty :)
On our hike, it was so misty that you could barely see
3 meters in front of you! This is a rice terrace, and you
cannot see anything except for mist in the distance!
Misty...but you can see the rice terraces!
Joey and I on our morning hike
A home with nothing but mist in the distance
A mystical, misty path!
Me!
We hiked on several of these routes :)
A villager carrying a traditional basket
Cool shot of Joey with the mist in the background
Me!
This old woman was standing by herself, blessing
the rice terraces (I think!)
The BEAUTIFUL rice terraces of Longji
I love this shot...so misty and magical!
Me!
Do you see the standing water in the terrace?
Golden, not green, but still out of this world
Hill top farm!
Really, really cool to hike in the terraces :)!
I've never done anything like that!
A white rabbit, just hanging out
So beautiful
Do you see the village in the valley?
I like this windy shot I took :)
Me and...mist!
More rice terraces
Bamboo!
Me again :)
First time I've seen pine trees in a while, too
Joey!
The rice terraces were so cool...I can't imagine how long
it took to make them, or the depth of knowledge one must
know about rice in order to grow the rice appropriately!
I like this picture hehe
You could pay for two people to carry you like
the emperors used to be carried in chairs like these!
The Ping'An Village
Someone getting carried in one of the chairs
All of the buildings in the town looked like this
Cooking bamboo stuffed with food over the fire
Pretty vegetables :)
Joey dough-y banana pancake!
Fried noodles!
Someone being carried in a chair through the rice terraces
The path up to our hostel
Happy Fall from China!
The two little ladies we met who told us to "follow" them
Beautiful...
They kept looking back and checking up on us
Me!
Joey and me
If you look closely, you can see the terraces, and a
different village towards the center
Self portrait
On her head...that is all hair!!!
They took their hair down for us...so long!
Yao People
Then they showed us how they bundle it on their heads
Money shot: Joey holding a hair ponytail one of the
ladies handed him hahaha
Twirling their hair...
Holding it out!
Joey looks so big next to them!
And finishing bundling it on the front of their heads
And the walk to their village continues...
This is one of my favorite shots of all time
Right out of a storybook.
In the village, not only is rice and corn grown, but all
different kinds of greens and vegetables. The villages
are impressively self sustainable :)
They were drying licorice outside of their home
Bright black ducks :)
