Lost in Longshen

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Heavy rains made the bus ride to Longshen a bit harrowing as we had to traverse a 50 km dirt road that runs along the river that leads to Longshen. With cliffs on the right and a step 200 meter drop to the river on the left, there was not much room for error on the bus driver's part. Mudslides, ralling rocks and deteriorating road conditions put his skills to the test. A few times the driver and his side kick had to get out and move fallen rocks/boulders from our path. And, as the photo below shows, one small 40 yard stretch of road is so tricky that we had to get out of the bus and walk across and then hope the bus made it.

Happy to arrive at Longshen alive, we braved the rain and hiked up and down the many vertical rice patties. The site of the rippled mountains created by the small but plentiful rice patties is bewildering. I climbed the hills speachless and I took in the wonderous sites. The amount of time to create, maintain and harvest these patties is inconceivable. I just took deep breathes and enjoyed the landscape which is a work of art.

Anne stopped to rearrange her backpack and we lost her on the hike. When Jane and I backtracked to find Anne, we lost our guide and ended up tagging along with three Chinese girls and their guide. Strangely enough, we somehow ended up meeting up with our group in the maze of paths and did not have to spend the night in the hills.

Soggy and tired, we head back to Guilin for the night.

Tomorrow I have a 22 hour train ride to Kunming ahead of me.

L-

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Photos

getting to Longshen is a trick
Here we get off the bus so it can TRY and make it past the falling road. If it does, we continue. Notice the bottom left of the photo is the driver's buddy helping him navigate the crossing.

After the hike to lunch
Upon arrival, we have to hike 40 minutes all up hill to lunch. I take a breather and pose with a local.

Rice fields in the mountain
The rice fields are carved into the mountains creating a ripple effect

getting out of Longshen is no easier
heavy rainfall all day made falling rocks the norm and we continually stopped so people could get out amd move the rocks from the road.