Longjie Rice Terraces

Our summer holiday in China began in Guangzhou.  You can read about this chronological order by starting at this link.

After leaving the Guilin area our destination was up in the mountains and the village of Pingan Zhuang. This was to be our base for two nights and a day's trekking through the Longjie Rice Terraces. To get to the village, up a rather steep hill several hundred metres above the end of the road, one walks. Fortunately there are plenty of local porters to carry your luggage up for a modest fee.

Pingan Zhuang village

Pingan Zhuang

Heavy transport

The village is built on the side of a rather steep hill. The road ends several hundred metres (lower down in altitude) below the village. All supplies are carried in baskets on the ends of bamboo poles or by pack horse. All building supplies are carried or packed in.

Local women supplement their incomes acting as porters for the tourist trade and supplies for the restaurants, hotels etc.

Your luggage is carefully stowed on or in (depending on size) baskets which are held on the backs of the porters by ropes around their heads. We willingly gave them a few extra RMBs to have our cases carried direct to our rooms. It is a steep 30 minute trek up to the village. People can even go up by sedan chair.

Next day we had a 6 hour trek through the rice terraces, home to the Yao People.

The Longjie rice terraces

Good advice

One of the Zhongliu (Middle six) villages.

Another of the villages, only able to be reached on foot.

Along the way we met up with a group of Yao women or rather they lay in wait for another group of tourists. The Yao women do not cut their hair and roll it up as seen below. For a small fee they let their hair down!

Their baskets form another part of their "business" containing lots of hand made goods which one bargains for. After parting with a few RMBs and showning them the photos we took we carried on our way. The women waiting for another group to arrive and go through same proceedure, letting their hair down again!

Another of the Zhongliu villages

After six hours we arrived at Dazhai where our driver was waiting to take us back to the end of the road and the climb back up to Pinyan Zhuang. This time our leg and calf muscles were screaming at us and protesting at yet more torture!

One of the local dishes is a rice cooked in bamboo.

Our last stop in Guilin on the way to the airport to fly to Xi'an was the panda reserve.

The Giant Panda Ailuropoda melanoleuca

 The panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca, literally . "black and white cat-foot"), also known as the giant panda to distinguish it from the unrelated red panda. we were lucky when we arrived as it was just before lunchtime and the keepers came out to entice the bears inside for feeding. Apparently when they go into their concrete cage (yuk) the stay there for quite sometime.

I detest seeing animals in such enclosures but to see pandas in China, you have no alternative but to see them in such reserves, where they are obviously well cared for though.

The red panda looks rather vicious.

The red panda (Ailurus fulgens, or shining-cat), is a small arboreal mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China and related to raccoons, skunks and weasels. They are in no way related to the giant panda.

Next stop was Xi'an and the Terracotta Army.

Guilin

After a week in Hong Kong, Guilin is two hours by plane away and is in the middle of some of China's best karst and river scenery. The nearby Longji Rice Terraces are spectauclar and worth a visit as well. We spent 4 nights in this area before flying on to Xi'an and the Terracotta Army.

After night in a hotel in Guilin, we checked out and were on our way for a trip on the Li River through the magnificent karsts. A pity the sky was blown out by pollaze (pollution, haze) and as a result the photos were not up to my standard but there is nothing you can do about that!

One of many locals selling to the tourist boats on the river.

Setting off downstream on the Li River



Li River

Spectacular limestone country

Lunch being prepared on a boat we passed.

Recent rockfall

Leaving the river, after lunch on the boat,  we headed for an early check-in at our hotel, The Moondance near Yang Shuo. To get there we crossed a causeway which was dry, but later in the day there was water flowing over it. There is a small hydro-electric scheme nearby.

The causeway to the Moondance

After checking in at the hotel is was time to take to some bikes for a liesurely cycle through the surrounding countryside.

The river near the hotel.

Rice paddies

After dinner back at the hotel we set off to Yang Shuo for an hour or so on the river to see how the locals go fishing. Each fisherman has around 6 comorants which are tied onto a pole at the start. The birds also have a tie around their neck. Ths is to allow them to feed on small fish but prevents them from swallowing larger ones.

Fishing comorant

Once the birds surface after chasing fish the small rope on their leg is hooked and the bird unceremoniously hauled aboard and made to cough up the catch. We didn't see too many large fish caught that night though.

The cormorant fisherman

The cormorant fisherman

After the comorant fishing trip we then went to the light show on the Li River - Impression Sanjie Liu, created by the Chinese movie director Zhang Yimou (producer of the opening ceremony, 2008 Beijing Olympics). This was an absolutely stunning show, one of the highlights of China. No photos here of the show - I respect the no photos request.

Next day saw another busy one which started off with some bamboo rafting on the  Yulong River.

Bamboo rafting

Bamboo boatman

There are hundreds of bamboo rafts on the river here. This has resulted in a large number of locals finding jobs to supplement their income from their gardens and rice paddies. We certainly didn't mind contributing to the local economy.

Our boatman

Familiar faces enjoying the river

River lift

The lift here was followed by being literally tipped over the edge with the raft burying its front in the water before bouyancy took over, much to the relief of the passengers!

From the river our next stop was the village of Daxu. This is an old village on the Li River and used to be an important port before roads arrived in this area. Sadly the river traffic is now restricted to tourism in other parts as it ( the river) appears to have silted up here

Daxu in the middle of the day, siesta time?

Daxu

One thing I like about Daxu is the fact that the old part of town has not had much done to it terms of development and it is still as it was a long time ago. Restoration has been ongoing to keep things in their original state. There are lots of areas which are crumbling too.

Daxu

Artist Li Zhao at work

The artist above had some excellent monochrome paintings for sale. We commisioned him to paint one that was on his business card whilst we explored the rest of the town. He was pleased with making sales to other members of our small tour party too.

Inspirational card



Tricycles like this one are very common all around China.
The loads on some of them have to be seen to be believed!

A common means of transport in rural China.

After in Guilin we headed off for a 2 hour trip into the mountains and a trek up the hill to Pinyan Zhuang village and the Longjie Rice Terraces.

Guangzhou

Summer 2012 began in Guangzhou for us after a flight down from Nanjing. We knew very little about the place except that it had a colonial past and was previously known as Canton. Guangzhou is also next door to Hong Kong where meet up with the rest of the family for a month's holiday which saw us back in China at Guilin. (Guilin will be the subject of my last blog for Summer 2012, the other parts have already been uploaded.)

 


Back street near the hotel we stayed at.




Plant market

One of the main attractions to visit in Guangzhou is the Lotus Pagoda. This was a little difficult to find but helpful locals were able to point us the right direction after we showed them photos in the DK guide.



Lotus Pagoda



At the Lotus Pagoda




Colourful characters

Lotus Pagoda temples



Budda inside the temple



Incense burner

The temple of Chen Jia Ci is easily reached by metro at the station with the same name as the temple.

Chen Jia Ci





Details of the roof features at Chen Jia Ci





Statues inside the temple grounds

We were to find a number of bronze statues around Guangzhou. Similar types of bronze works can often be found in different parts of China too. They provide popular places for photos; patience is needed to get these people-free.





Banana vendors





Life like characters

The buildings inside Chen Jia Ci contained a number of rooms that were used to display different Chinese arts and crafts like calligraphy and paper cutting. The above room was set out to show what a room in a typical domestic house from the 19th Century would have looked like.

Relief of a traditional opera on the facade of Chen Jia Ci

Not far from our hotel was Shamian Island. This was the colonial quarter going back to the 19th Centrury and played an important role as a safe haven during the Opium wars.





Many of the original French style biuldings still remain
on Shamian island along Shamian Da Jie





The violinist





The Pearl River

Macau lies on one side of the Pearl River delta and  Hong Kong the other.





19th century guns leased to the French and British
after the Second Opium war (1856-60)

From Gaungzhou it was a short non-stop train ride to Kowloon. Border facilities at Guangzhou East station and Kowloon station made for an easy crossing avoiding airports and all the assocated security nowadays.

Our adventures in Hong Kong were posted earlier.