Day two at the Longji rice terraces

20.11.2014 - 20.11.2014 18 °C

Our second day at Longji we woke up early to take on a 4 hour hike to the JinKeng rice terraces. After light breakfast at the hostel, we took a look at our not so detailed map and headed out. We had to climb back up to the Nine Dragons and Five Tigers view point to get to the hiking trail, but the views were so amazing we really didn’t mind. While climbing, we saw some more village dogs exploring the terraces, and one decided to be our guide up the hiking trail. Whenever we were taking too long to catch up or stopping for some oranges, he would run back to investigate what was taking us so long.

After about an hour of hiking uphill we came across a sign assuring that our little tour guide “Buddy” was leading us in the right direction. We passed a cemetery shortly after with large brightly colored flower wreaths lying atop large stone tombstones. Buddy decided to go jump around some tall grass, chasing birds and what not. We stayed along the path occasionally passing some local farmers who use the paths to get to one field to the other. After about 10 minutes of walking we could hear Buddy barking, looking for us. We kept going hoping he would catch up but he never did.

Following the narrow winding path, we made it to a clearing where a local woman lured us up a hill for a good view by her pig barn. She was member of the Yao cultural group, where the women are known for having very long hair. She wanted us to pay for her to let hair down so we could take a photo. We declined and quickly kept walking.

The closer we got to the Village DaZhai, the more pushy hawkers we would come across. Many signs to the terraces seemed to be missing and locals were of little help except trying to get us to eat at their restaurants. Fed up, and hungry we turned around and stated making our way back to Ping’an. The menu we checked had been all in Chinese, little help when Sarah needed vegetarian food.
As we were leaving, we got another tag along dog, “Buddy 2”. We were quite creative when it came to naming rice terrace dogs. The way back was quite a bit easier as it was mostly downhill, letting us enjoy the scenery. Buddy 2 followed us all the way back to Ping’An, quite a feat, considering it took the better part of 2 hours to hike.

It seemed every time we tried to make our way back to our hostel we would get lost in the village’s complicated streets. Once we finally found our way we ran into a fellow Canadian who was also getting lost in the complex village. We pointed him in the direction of the hostel and would have a early supper with him. He was from B.C. and skipping a Canadian winter for ninth straight year. He was also eager to tell us, and all the other hostel patrons about his blog.