Dragonback Rice Terrasses and the Middle of Nowhere

Sunday morning, the Impeccably Dressed Indian and I aborted our plans to go up north of Yangshuo due to torrential rains. It was a brilliant decision and we spent the day sleeping in, eating pizzas, and lounging about. Some would say it was a wasted day, but we thoroughly enjoyed the down-time.

Yesterday, we left for Ping'an, which is 4 hours north of Yangshuo, in a lush, mountaineous range. Ping'an is a sleepy minority village whose star attractions are the rice terrasses around it. Over the past 700 years, the minorities have managed to carve out tiers of rice terrasses that cling to the sides of the hills and reach the top of each of the surrounding mountains. The visual effect is stunning, especially after hiking to the top of one of these peaks. From there, you look down upon waves upon waves of bright green, flooded rice paddies, which gracefully make their way down to the valley in a series of curved steps.

We were somewhat lucky with the weather, as we were given a three hour respite from the rains. During this time, we managed to hike out to the two major viewpoints and enjoy the views. Halfway there, we were drenched by a 20 minute deluge, but it let up enough for us to get back down to the village in time.

This morning, the Impeccably Dressed Indian left for HK and I kept going north. I am now in the Middle of Nowhere (a village called Chengyang). Here, there are a few guesthouses, one covered rain-bridge, a huddle of huts, beautiful scenery, and very few tourists. Getting here was a nightmare since the rains had washed out the roads and caused numerous landslides. So, the going was very slow and was held up at times when we had to wait for bulldozers to clear the way for us. On top of that, the bus was full of young, whiney french backpackers who complained the whole way up. The girls did find me very handsome, though (I didn't let on that I spoke french, so I had fun eavesdropping on their conversations.) It didn't rain on the way up here, but it started to pour as soon as I got out of the bus.