BREATHTAKING VIEWS OVER THE GUANXI RICE FIELDS
LONGSI RICE FIELDS
We organised a few trips from Guilin, the hub in the area, first backtracking a bit to the North, to the Longsi rice fields before making our way further South to Xinping. Instead of the public transport option which involves two bus changes, we decided to go with a direct bus that the accommodations around the rice fields organise for their guests as a pick-up service from Guilin. With this bus it’s a 3.5-hour drive to Dazhai, which is a village at the foot of the mountain that has one of the most beautiful rice terrace systems in the area.
As the rain was pouring for a few days before the trip, our bus driver had to get over a few unexpected obstacles on the way: first there was a landslide on the road, a good portion of a rock fell down straight in front of us (literally, as the tourist bus that was ahead of us by 100 meters could still pass). We counted our remaining biscuits and water to check if we will make it till someone cleans up the road and we get to the rice fields, but to our surprise, with some local creativity, after removing a few bigger rocks drivers simply drove through the pile of rocks to continue their way, so we didn’t lose more than 10 minutes! Later we had to wait another 30 minutes in a queue due to two buses that collided further up on the road, probably due to the incredible speed that bus drivers drive with in the mountains, seemingly without considering that someone might come from the opposite direction too. As soon as we made a plan with other foreigners to exchange buses and passengers who got stuck on the opposite side (an idea we were very proud of!), the situation got resolved by pushing away the buses from the road so that the traffic could restart. Much quicker resolution to what we’re used to in other countries!
From Dazhai we had to trek up to the mountain village of Tiantou where we stayed in a hostel with stunning views over the rice fields. The first day we were treated by cloudy and a bit rainy views of the hills around (which is also quite special so we didn’t mind), but the day after we could see the view in beautiful sunshine too.
Views from Tiantou village
We had a great couple of days here hiking among the rice fields from Tiantou to Ping’an, the village with the other most beautiful view, and some other peaks around our village overlooking tiny neighbour villages, workers on the fields and the magnificent rice terraces themselves.
We had some adventures finding the trekking paths among the rice fields as a proper map doesn’t exist of the area, so hostels try to produce guides with photos of the main steps on the way. The villages are developing so fast that new houses are constantly under construction, therefore the view is ever changing and the photo-guidebook becomes outdated within a few months. When at some instances we got a bit lost on the way and tried to get help from locals, we were surprised that the local ladies refused to give us directions unless we had lunch at their restaurant! It made us feel slightly better that they weren’t discriminating against us foreigners, they behaved the same way with Chinese tourists, who told us that it’s quite a common phenomenon. As we weren’t hungry, instead of choosing the lunch option we made bonds on the way with Chinese and foreigner hikers to try and find the way together.
Views in Ping'an and along the hike
Locals in the area are minorities who still follow a traditional way of life, their main activities are agriculture and handicrafts. They still wear their traditional clothes too, which look slightly different in each village. We had a relaxing time here, meeting interesting international people from around the world and admiring the landscape.
