Ping’an village and Longsheng rice terraces

We left Yangshuo for the Longsheng area, and stayed in a Zhuang village called Ping’an. This place is famous for the Dragon’s Backbone rice terraces.

It was here that we came to the conclusion that as long as Ivonne (our tour guide) is with us, she should order all of our meals for us. We tried ordering a few on our own in Yangshuo, and they were unimpressive. But I’d say every meal we ate with Ivonne was excellent.

The Pingán village is tucked away in the mountains. It’s a 20-minute walk uphill from the parking lot to the hotel. Bobby was going to pay someone to carry his luggage, but it turned out to be some old lady who was going to carry that heavy bag! So Bobby wound up carrying the bag himself. Good old Bobby.

Rice terraces carved into the hills. We saw lots of rice terraces. We took many, many pictures of rice terraces. It really is neat how they use every inch of land that they can cultivate. Apparently, the best time to come here is in July, when it’s the planting season, and there is water in the terraces.

We hiked from Pingán village (which was totally touristy) to a nearby real village. It was so peaceful, so picturesque. What an amazing place to live, up in the mountains. We encountered a Yao woman. Yao women cut their hair once in their life, when they are 18 and ready for marriage. They wear three bunches of hair: one is their current hair, one is the hair they cut when they were 18, and one is made up of the hair that falls out with each day’s combing.

We walked around Ping’an at night. The village is built on a hill, so it’s really steep. It’s kindof like an Ewok village, in that you start walking down one path, and you realize you are one level below where you intended to be. Maybe more like an Escher painting. Hmm, this pic here doesn’t really capture that.

The next morning, we got up for the sunrise once again. My group members are such troopers! Thanks go to them and Ivonne for getting up, which they probably wouldn’t have bothered to do if I hadn’t insisted upon it.

More informations of Ping’an village and Longsheng rice terraces…