7th August 2009
GUILIN: DAY TRIP TO LICKETYSHEN/ DRAGONS BACKBONE
Today we went on a trip to the ‘Dragons backbone’. These are rice terraces built in to the high ridges of the Rongshui River Valley which surrounds the township of Longsheng. We headed southwest on our tour which is a steep range of 3,280ft. On the hilltops are villages populated by Yao people, a minority group still dependant on hunting rather than farming.
We got to Longsheng by bus, on another Chinese speaking tour, sold to us by our hotel reception. We were told to be ready for 8.30am and at 8.20am the guide came banging on our door, ranting at us in Chinese. She legged it out on to the street, where we tried to keep up with her, darting moving cars and busses until we finally got to our tour bus. Alive.
On the bus, the guide wore a Madonna-esque microphone-headpiece. I had to ask her to turn the volume down because she was so loud and shrill I feared permanent deafness or maybe a life in jail for her murder.
Being sold stuff we don’t need on the walk up to the top. You can see the rice terraces in the background:
At Longsheng, we trekked up steep little pathways that had been dug in to the hills and through villages built in to the mountains. It is possible to stay up the mountains in small hotels and there were porters carrying huge amounts of luggage on their bags for the guests.
We followed our Chinese guide, getting barged out of the way by all the Chinese tourists on the little steps. The weather was misty which was not the best for viewing scenery, but the site was still interesting to see. I imagine the rainy season would be the best time to go for more dramatic pictures. Or maybe rice harvesting season, so you can see all the farmers in action.
For lunch we were shepherded in to a little restaurant up the top of the hills, specialising in food cooked in the hollow bark of bamboo.
It looked really interesting and many contained things like mouse or frog “sourced locally”… but we gave them a miss and stuck to boring rice (safer on a day trip, as a long coach rice with a dodgy belly is not fun!). I’m sure we will regret not having the bamboo though.
After walking up and admiring the view, I decided to get a traditional palanquin back down the mountain. I was carried by 2 men, like an empress. It started to rain heavily on our descent, so the men ran off and left me under some sheltered eaves. They returned with some plastic sheeting which they covered the entire panaquin with, but continued to get soaked themselves. I paid them double because I felt so bad and they were extremely grateful.
On the way back, we stopped at Longji Yao Village to watch the ‘Long Hair Show’, put on by the Yao women. After the trip we headed out in to Guilin, we searched for a place to eat but they all looked terrible, serving up BBQ intestines, frog and the like… so we ended up in KFC. Which is shameful, but it tasted amazing!
danilovescats - travels 