Rice, rice and more rice

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The Longji Terraces

I've probably little to say about this place. There was nothing there but walking and lots of rice. We got off our transport around 2 in the afternooning to be confronted with a lot of baskets being waved in our faces before we even got off the bus. The local people were determined to make a bob or two by caryying our bags up to the guest house no matter how many times we said no. One man must have asked each of us ten times to take our bags! I was left with a deep urge to really elbow them when they kept crashing into my shoulder. I settled for lightly elbowing the bag out of the way.

Once we started walking we quickly left the basket people behind but it wasn't long before we were all half wishing they were there to take our bags. What we had been told would be a fifteen minute trek turned into an hour one in the blistering heat going steeply up hill most of the way. I don't remember much of the scenery, just the rocks I was putting my feet on.

We were either revived when we got to the Guest House or had a touch of sun stroke because we agreed to another walk that night to two scenic spots for pictures. It wasn't much cooler when we set off but the views down the steep terraces were incredible, there were rows and rows of rice cut a couple of metres into the hill side as far as the eye could see.

During the night it rained, and there was a fantastic thunderstorm which I was awake for the whole of. The rain didn't stop much before the time we got up at 6.30 am the next morning. Thanks to this we were presented with the option of walking over four steep slippery hills which would be dangerous or taking the bus. Guess which one I did?

Well I -almost- took the sensible option of the bus but when I found out that three people from the group still intended to walk it, I wasn't going to be left out. The first hill was treacherous going, we slipped and slided our way up and down, watching where we put our feet on the narrow walking ledges. I didn't fall, miracle. After that though, the rain hadn't fallen in the next hills and we were able to look up around us and take an interest in the tales the guide had to tell us. One of my favourite bits was when he brought us to a halt by a pile of twigs with a milk cartoon on it, some old flowers and money poking out. He presented us with lucky twigs and explained this was where we were to make an offering to the grandfathers of the earth, the sky and the path makers (the path had been carved over 1000 years ago!).

We were pleased with ourselves when we reached where we would be staying for the next night. It had taken us just under five hours and the bus people only beat us by 40 mins. I hope that says something about our fitness and not the bus service. That night we got a free cultral display from the local village. We all got to try our hand at bamboo dancing which I loved. It's like fast paced skipping except with poles rather than ropes.

And that concludes the China leg of the trip. Next post I will be in Hong Kong

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Photos

At first Glance
The path did look easy

How we wished we were staying down there
We'd been walking for the fabled fifteen minutes and our lodging wasn't in sight

Evening, first time for a proper look!
We had already climbed so high

Love the Shape of ths One
Views you can expect from the very top

Puffed at the very top
I spend the next couple of days looking much like this

I'm Energised and ready!
A good night's sleep and I was ready for anything

The Daring Group
These resting points didn't come often enough

Gravestone
We saw many of these on the way, people were brought back to be buried in their old homes even if they lived in the city. Their feet point towards the path.

Insect
It was the size of a small frog

The Offering Pile
You can't remove the money in it or you receive bad luck

Civilisation!
I was hungry when we got there

Comments

[The Doctor]

All that walking would have killed me.