Little Mountain Town

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August 25, 2007 - August 26, 2007

We were ready and waiting for our bus to Longsheng at 7:20 am and luckily we were there on time (Michelle is a very punctual person, Andy and I are not) as the bus only stopped for a minute. We spent about 30 minutes stopping at various places around town to pick up more passengers. We pulled off to the side of the road and the bus driver mumbled something in Chinese and then got off the bus. I looked at Andy and Michelle with a puzzled face and everyone immediately jumped up and bee lined it for the door. I was polite and let people get off in front of me. Little did I know, we were switching buses. By the time the three of us made it to the new bus, all of the seats had been taken accept the four at the back of the bus. Good-bye nice window seat…hello back of the bus nausea. Well, the ride didn’t end up being bad at all. I talked to a nice girl from Shanghai named Lon. She was on vacation with her brother Young. The three hour bus ride flew by and we were in Longsheng before I knew it. After waiting around for a tourist trap “dance” performance that I didn’t want to spend the money to do, we were off on the bus again for a quick ride to Ping An, the little town where we would be staying.
The views in Ping An were amazing. Hundreds and hundreds of rice terraces sprawling for miles across the mountain faces. The little town is built on the slope and all of the little wooden structures are connected by small stone pathways. These pathways extend for miles as they connect each little town to the next. We went off on a hike to the peak to try and get an even better view. Unfortunately, there were many tourists jabbering away and I secretly wanted them to leave. We had plans to stay the night, so after awhile most of the tourists had to get back on their buses and head back home. Once they split, Ping An turned into a quiet little mountain town with waves of rice plants growing as far as you can see. My descriptions don’t really do them justice. Check out the pictures. I had mentioned to Andy and Michelle that I wanted to take a lounge chair into the rice field and soak up the view. On our hike the following day I found a nice large rock in the middle of the rice terrace and decided it would do. Check out the picture with my shoes!

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Comments

[Jess]

Honestly- this is just cruel. I would give a very important organ to be you guys. And I don't mean a spleen or colon. Jealousy does not even describe! Glad you are having the time of your life.

[Betsy]

Hey Derr
Dude, Derr, you look so hot in this picture on top. You just look realy happy. I am glad you are having such a good time.