Sunday 25th

A final look at the view from our hotel before being collected at 09:00.

 We found a rather fancy new hotel behind ours which we were told the rich Chinese use. 

And we can believe it.

A Rolls Royce, 2 BMWs and a Maserati.

Set off for the 4-hour drive to Longji to see the rice terraces.  Drama after about 45 minutes when the car started to fill up with smoke.  Luckily we were close to a service station so the driver stopped to inspect.

 The service station toilet was a trough with constantly flowing water.

Turns out there was a problem with the rear, back disc brakes - David pointed out that that was where I was sitting.  Driver decided he needed to go to a garage so we returned to Guilin.

While waiting we went to a nearby shopping mall.  There was an extremely large supermarket.

 

And a shop where the owner wanted to take a picture with me holding one of her carrier bags.

Car all fixed we set off again and eventually arrives at the entrance to a national park where Longji is situated.

It gets LOTS of tourists - there must have been about 40 large coaches.

Today the rain really caught up with us and it started bucketing down.  I didn't bring my hiking boots so David bought me these fetching galoshes for £2.50.

Dropped our bags in the hotel room and stopped for some lunch (excellent) before setting off to climb the first viewing point then across to the second point.

A remarkably beautiful place.  Pictures below with the rice planted just 2 weeks ago.  Evidently Jackie Chan came here in winter to shoot some scenes for his last movie.  They didn't realise the paddy fields aren't full of water in winter so they paid the farmers to fill them all.

The best time (in terms of yield) to harvest the rice is the first week of October.  This is when the fields are at their most beautiful golden yellow but coincides with the Chinese national holiday.  So the government pays the farmers to delay the harvest so the tourists can see the fields at their best.

These wooden rails are in fact concrete.

You see a many local minority women who have very long hair.  Hair is considered a vital part of a women's life and it is only cut twice during their lifetimes.  Once at birth and again when they are eighteen.  They tie the two cut off pieces into their hair and tie it all up in a bun.

This sounds all very nice but every single one of them offers to show you if you pay.  We paid 20 Yuan for these two.  There was a lot of bartering between them and our guide. And there is something a bit unseemly about grown women unravelling their hair like this.

Back at the hotel and completely soaked.  The rooms are very small but we have a corner room with great views.

At dinner that evening made a new friend.