Oh My God, You Guys!!

Longji Rice Terraces. 3 little words that equal so much amazingingness!!

We had our hostel book us a bus there. Wednesday, we woke up and walked to the long distance bus station. I had planned the whole trip so I kinda figured our bus wouldn't be that big. Yup, it sat 14 people and we were SQUISHED onto it. All three of us sat in the backseat.

Jacon (in front) me, and Chris. Our first picture documenting our trip as a team!!

There was no AC so we had the windows open. As we got closer to the mountains, the air got cooler. The seats were uncomfortable  and the ride was 2 hours long. At exactly 2 hours, we entered Longsheng, which is where the terraces are located. From there, we climbed twisted mountain roads up to the clouds. Our driver, whom we named Carl aka Crazy Carl, would speed around those corners and whip everywhere, blasting his horn and going into the other lane all willy nilly. There are no driving rules in China (I'm sure there are but it doesn't seem like it). We were all laughing and giggling and hanging on for dear life.

When we finally reached Pingan, the village we were staying, we had to walk up into the rice field. I booked the hotel and we found out other people in our bus were staying there as well. So we got to walk up into Pingan and wander to try and find our hotel. All that's there is stairs. Stairs of uneven length and height. I can't even imagine the locals going up and down daily. They must have legs of steel.

Up we go. Jacob and Chris are ahead

The view as we checked into our hotel.

Li Qing hotel, where we stayed.

After finding out hotel, which was quite hard, we went to go eat lunch.

Jacob drinking rice wine, made locally. It is SO good. It is my new favorite drink.

Local specialty. Bamboo rice. Basically, it's rice and vege shoved into bamboo and burned. 

Here they are cooking it

After lunch, it was time. Time to get up into those rice terraces for the glorious views! Be prepared to be stunned.

Going up. Pingan is in the background.

Oh YAH!!!!

Pingan in the distance

Why, yes, I REALLY did go here!

The gang at the top

Chris, contemplating life. Or.... just sitting like a native.....

We stopped for a rest. Beer for the boys. Many of the locals still live up in the terraces. Here was one of their kitchens.

First passion fruit. Soo good. I could eat them every day!

We walked along the ridge of the terraces to the other side.

Group again. Pingag is now below us.

This is what Chinese women wear to hike in. I'm not even kidding. Short skirt and high heels.

Craziness!!!

Locals in traditional dress

If you were REALLY lazy, you could pay the locals to CARRY you to the top....

Nothing says a hike like a short dress and heels. I watched them both bit it after this picture. :)

Sun setting as we ate dinner

It was one of the most amazing days. At night, it was so incredibly dark. There weren't that many stars,but the darkness was everywhere. There were no streetlights so nothing was open.  Strange enough, people had flashlights and were making their way up and down the stairs.

It was not a quiet night. The walls were paper thin. Screaming, hooting, and hollering was happening all night. The Chinese family next to us woke up at 5am to scream at each other. Ugh.

When we woke up, it was foggy. The terraces and surrounding mountains were covered in fog. It was so pretty. We packed up and wandered around more before we found our bus.

Making rice wine. Right next door were the pig pens.

Stairs. Too many stairs. This is what we climbed up and down.

Wandering into the rice to take a picture. We saw so many Chinese get their pictures in there that we had to spoof them!

Here is where I almost tumbled into the terrace. I was walking on a thin path with the rice and water around me.

Mocking all the Chinese. They did this in all their pictures. 

Chris, deep in thought about his Longji book

Hey you!, Yes You, Chinese people! Read the sign!!!

Here's a big one! We felt sorry for these poor guys. The dude in the middle went up and down as they walked up the steps. 

Squatty potty. No flush so you get a scoop of water and wash it all down. Ahh, rual areas.

On our way back to Guilin, guess who our driver was? Yup, good ole Crazy Carl! Carl was still crazy and a little more so this time. The holiday was in full swing and we got backed up in traffic. It took us an hour to get down to the entrance.  Carl was beeping and trying to swerve around cars the whole time. Oh Carl.

When we finally got into Guilin, Carl turned into Aggressive Andy. There was traffic, TONS of traffic and he was moving in and out. It was quite amazing we all came back in one piece.

After saying good bye to Andy/Carl, we walked back to our hostel. We had pizza (fresh from the hostel's pizza oven). Meh, Asian can't do Western food. Jacob and Chris tried at every place we went to. And they wonder why they got sick. It never tastes right. Pizza-they just don't put enough (or any) sauce on. I try to stick with the local food and I usually fare well.

Guilin is famous for 3 things: osthamthus wine, chili garlic sauce, and spicy tofu. I tried all of them. Osmanthus is a flower (Hangzhou has them too) and it makes a sweet wine. I bought a few to bring home with me over Christmas break. Spicy tofu is my new favorite food and chili garlic sauce has been my go-to condiment since I got here. They are all pretty great.

After we had our pizza, it was time for the kissing fish massage. Basically, you pay to have fish eat the dead skin off our your feet. It's very popular in Guilin. It tickled so much. There was a lot of giggling.

My feet felt fishy but smooth. After that, we went to get a REAL foot massage. It was so nice after our days of hiking. Chris and I got a foot massage while Jacob opted for a full body. We were all pleased, though I do feel the foot massage in Hangzhou is better.

Take a nap it feel so nice

I could get used to this...

the foot stuff turned into like jello. It was weird.....

Jacob and Chris enjoyed photo bombing. In this one, they did one girl and tons of other girls appeared out of nowhere to jump in. Chinese people have no qualms about asking foreigners for pictures. I was accosted quite a few times. 

From here, we went back to our hostel and slept. Chris didn't feel good our last day (It was the PIZZA, I tell you!!)) so Jacob and I walked around more. Around 3, we went to the airport and at 8 (our flight got delayed. Thank you China), we were on our way home. One nice thing about Chinese carriers, all of them give you a meal. It doesn't matter what time you are flying. They give you foo. USA could take a page from their book.

All in all, it was a great trip. I had so much fun. When people come to visit me in China, the Longji Rice terraces will be on their itinerary!!