The Dragon's Backbone

We left Sanya on our 3 hour bus ride to Haikou just as a tropical storm was developing. We realised how lucky we were having had beautiful sunny weather for the past four days.

The next stop was Guilin, merely a transit point from which to explore the outer villages of Ping'an and Yangshuo. A quick insight into the city of Guilin was positive, beautiful gardens and lakes, a main street catering to bother Chinese and Western needs, and less busy compared to many other Chinese cities. A highlights in Guilin included watching an English performance by children from a local library goup, and being introduced to the crowd as the two special foreign guests from Australia and being asked if we would make a speech or sing a song, but instead we offered some little Australia badges as a gift.

Our adventures really began on a day trip out of Guilin where we headed for the small minority village town of Ping'an, set high amongst the Longji Terraces also known as the Dragon Backbone Rice Terraces. We were able to explore lives of people in a minority village. Their unusual daily life; a mix of the traditional hard labor in the rice fields set around the tourist trade. A really amazing place, and despite the tour buses it still gives an insight into the traditional lives of these people, which has been taken away in many other touristy minority villages in China. The women characterised by their bright hand made coloured clothing and long long hair which they wrap around their heads. They are said to have the longest hair in the world, and they only cut it at one month old, and again when they are married.

In Ping'an I bought maybe my most cherished possession. I had really wanted a bightly coloured pink minority jacket that the women wear, but the market stalls wanted way too much for them and despite my hard bartering they would not budge. A couple of working local women overheard my bartering, and tried to sell me a jacket they had with them, but it was red and i really wanted pink. They even asked if i was staying in Pang'an overnight and said they could make one for me! Unfortuantely i wasn't, but later they found me again, and showed me a jacket that was pink and in good condition for a second hand item that had appearred to come straight off the back of one of the women. We negotiated and finally i had an authentic worn minority jacket for less than AUD$10, but yet a priceless find for me.

After exploring the village for a while, taking countless photos and buying numerous hand made items, mum and I tried the local specialty food of chicken and rice cooked in bamboo which was absolutely delicious. Then we headed back to the bus and back to Guilin. Our day high up in the rice terraces was over, but will be remembered as one of the best places I visited during my travels in China.

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