Rice terraces in Longsheng
Aleksey Aleksandrovich aka bravebeaver writes: “My wife Alina really wanted to see real rice terraces during this trip, so I will let her personally share our impressions.”
PS Spelling and punctuation of the author
(Total 36 photos)
Source: Journal/bravebeaver
1. Longshen - our next stop, is famous for some of the most beautiful rice terraces in the world. They are inferior, perhaps, only to the terraces in Yunnan, but they did not suit us for several reasons. Firstly, by May in Yunnan, located much to the south of Guangxi, the rice has already risen completely (the best time to visit these terraces is February), which means that the effect of “glass fields” is lost, because of which everyone goes to admire the terraces. Secondly, Yunnan, due to its considerable remoteness, flatly refused to fit into the route. Thirdly, if we did go to Yunnan, our route would be completely different, since we would have rushed through Yunnan and Sichuan instead of Zhangjiajie and Guilin. Lesha, as a person much more sensible and practical than me, threw away Yunnan with a firm hand, which my hand did not raise. In return, I received a promise to visit them on my next visit to China. Well, I did not lose out with Longshen either.
2. When guidebooks talk about Longshen as a place where people come to admire the terraces, they mean three relatively different places: Longshen itself and two nearby villages - Pinyang and Dazhai. The villages are located a few kilometers from each other, while Longshen is about 1-1.5 hours away from them. All the reports recommended going to Dajay, as the terraces were supposedly more beautiful there, but it was said to be less accessible. In Longshen, experts generally did not recommend staying, since it is the least interesting of the entire Dragon Ridge complex. In terms of accessibility, Dazhai is nothing like that, it is less accessible for exactly an extra 20 minutes by bus. The main thing is not to mix up the buses and take the one that goes to Pignan. But if you stock up on a hieroglyph, I think there will be no problems. In addition, there are many foreigners there, so there is someone to ask.
3. As for the choice in terms of the beauty of the terraces, then we could only rely on the opinion of those who had been there. So the choice fell on Dajay.
4. One important point that I did not find anywhere in the preparation is the time of sowing rice, when the fields become “glass”. For Longsheng, this is April-May. Before this, the fields are bare, after - the rice sprouts, the fields are beautiful, but the effect is not at all the same. So over the course of the trip, we guessed.
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7. But we still had to get to the Dragon's Backbone.
From Zhangjiajie, we had three options for moving:
8. Arriving in Sanjiang, we left the platform, where we saw one small cafe, with the owners of which we agreed on dinner and overnight for a moderate fee. Of course, this is not five stars, but still better than sitting on the platform at night, and an adventure to the same.
In the morning, around 8, for an additional, quite reasonable fee, the hosts took us to the bus station, from where we went to Longshen, and from there to Dazhai. About half way from Longshen to Dazhai, the bus stops, the conductor enters and sells tickets to the park.
At 12 we were already in Dazhai. The bus stop is crowded with hoteliers. In any case, I advise you to use their services. You can rent a hotel there for a very reasonable price. Just try to choose a hotel at the top, where the cable car leads, because the rest of the view points are not so interesting at all, but are located below. Next to the cable car, the view is the best, the same one that is depicted on all avenues. There are two or three hotels near the cable car station. We lived in what is above all. Very nice place, very nice hostess, who cooks well. If you plan to stay in Dazhay overnight, then it is from this point that it is easiest to get to the observation deck at dawn, when the photos are best.
There are two ways to get upstairs: by cable car or on foot with the owner of the hotel, if you agree with him downstairs. When we arrived, the cable car for some reason stood. We thought that it did not work, and set off on foot. A young charming girl, the daughter of the owner of our hotel, undertook to lead us, saying that the way upstairs would take 15 minutes. Apparently, measuring distance in minutes is a national feature of the Chinese. Therefore, I advise you to immediately clarify what type of transport we are talking about. In this case, most likely, it was about the aircraft. The road took an hour. The good thing is that we were warned in advance not to take bags on wheels and went with backpacks. But Hao, who traveled with a small suitcase on wheels, got it hard. We warned him, but he did not listen, as in the case of leather boots and white socks. The fact is that the path consists entirely of steps, and therefore the owners of the bags are doomed to experience hellish torments, climbing up and putting such a bag on their backs. We walked a little ahead, while Hao and the girl walked a little behind. Behind us, we heard oohs and aahs of Hao, cursing fate and at the same time us, who dragged him into such a wilderness.
When we were about two-thirds of the way, the cable car started working. We somehow got to the hotel and finally ate. I must say that they cook really tasty there, even coffee, although cheap and tasteless, was found. Menu in English. I especially recommend fried green peppers with spices - you will lick your fingers!
We had to wait another 20 minutes for the room, and after checking in, I immediately fell asleep. I did not want to go to any terraces. Hao followed my example, and Lesha went to the top of the hill to take pictures. A whole crowd of photographers with expensive equipment had already gathered there, who were giggling into their sleeves, looking at such a limer. In general, Longshen is really an oasis for those who are fond of photography, ordinary tourists almost never go there.
9. In the evening, for the first time, we allowed ourselves alcohol during the whole trip. Although to call it alcohol, even the language somehow does not turn. This is a berry, very light rice wine that tastes like a cross between juice and champagne. We tried several varieties, but I liked the one made from Chinese strawberries the most. In taste, it really resembles strawberries, but in appearance it doesn’t look a bit like it: round, pimply and with a bone inside. They sell it for a penny all over China. In general, I highly recommend both the berry and the wine.
10. Having slept off, at 5 in the morning we were already at the post, that is, on the terraces on the top of the hill. The beauty was simply indescribable. Dawn, the sky clear and a slight haze over the village below. Having played enough, we went for a walk along the terraces themselves to other viewing platforms. Of course, by yourself. Hao, of course, refused to go with us.
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23. We quite pleasantly walked along the terraces, examined other sites (and once again made sure that the hotel did not fail), but at the end we got lost. The fact is that we really wanted to see the surrounding villages, because from the reports we knew how picturesque they were. In addition, in these villages there is one peculiarity - there are women who have a habit of wearing VERY long hair.
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29. We reached one such village in about three hours. A road left from it, which, as we believed, should soon lead us to the cable car station below our hotel. But this is where we missed the mark. The road was mountainous and winding up the slopes of the hills. And instead of 1.5 km as we thought, we had to walk 7. The heat was incredible. On the terraces, where there was water everywhere, it was almost not felt, but on the hot asphalt, where there was absolutely no shade, walking along such a road was not only difficult, but also dangerous. In the middle of the way, from the terrible heat, my head began to spin, and Lesha did not feel much better either. As a result, we reached the police post, 1.5 kilometers before the cable car, where they asked us to take a passing car back to our village. We went upstairs on the cable car, not daring to walk upstairs in such heat. Having taken things and Hao, we went down again to the bus station. We had to get today to the last point of our journey - in Yangshuo.
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