The Rice Terraces
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2011
1
9
22
Trip End
Nov 07, 2011
Ping'an, Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu, China
Sunday, September 25, 2011
The 3 hours journey from Yangshuo was definitely worthwhile as the scenery here is again incredible. Photos do not do it justice, like a lot of things we have seen so far. Each season the rice terraces are a different colour, as we are heading into autumn the terraces are currently in the process of turning yellow. We spent the day walking, to get the best views of the terraces. Walking around Ping'an is tiring as the paths are uneven and there are thousands of steps with it being so high up. We also looked around the village which has lots of small shops selling unique hand-made gifts. There are no vehicles and it was interesting to see local ways of living, they use small horses to carry items such as drinks into the village. It is fascinating to see the local houses, some of which don't look as if they would survive any bad weather! They seem to be very self-sufficient, growing their own foods and like in the Yangshuo countryside, there are animals roaming around which are used in different ways by the locals. We tried the local food of 'Bamboo Rice', which is what it says, rice cooked and served in bamboo.
It has been a great experience to see some of China's countryside. It is amazing to see such different ways of life to those in cities. Tonight we are heading to Hangzhou, a 12 hour train ride in which we have hard seats as there were no beds available.
