Rice Terraces, Tian Tan Village

Trip Start Sep 12, 2008
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8
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Trip End Oct 03, 2008


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Where I stayed
Jin Kang guesthouse
(Guilin hotels)

Flag of China  , Guangxi Zhuang,
Sunday, September 21, 2008

After leaving Xi'an, we caught a plane to Guilin.  But this was not our final destination. We still had a ways to go.  We drove through the mountains then had a 45 minute hike uphill to near the tops of the mountains to see the rice terraces and the Yao people, one of the minority groups of China.  They are the group that have the women grow their hair very long, and never cut it.  The women were also our porters to bring up our luggage in their baskets on their backs. They are extremely strong!!

We watched one woman put up her hair.  IT was so long it nearly touched the ground.  It is basically a pony tail at the top front of her head then wraps all the hair around itself on her scalp a bit like a turban.  She then lifts the whole thing to tuck the ends under.  They are less used to western tourists right now. However, they have already gotten wise to the fact they are unike and want to charge for photos Yao woman carying basket
Yao woman carying basket
 .  Paying for a photo is against Euen's philosophy as it encourages laziness and lack of self sufficiency and is not considered responsible tourism.

The Yao people build very large houses, and while they live with all generations in the houses, they are still very large compared to what I am used to seeing people living in in China.  They are made only of wood, and tiles for the roof. But they are built without nails.  Oh and knob and tube wiring, Julie and Mark!  OH and the plumbing!  well it goes into the sink, but there is no drain piping, it just runs out ofhte bootom of hte sink, onto the floor and into the floor drain.  How about that!!

Oh and while we were walking around the area (everything is up or down stone steps, there is almost no flat land!)  I was stopped a couple of times by the people.  They found my skin very different, whiter and with freckles, I guess.  I don't speak mandarin, let alone Yao, so I didn't really know, except for the gestures.  One thought I had very big calves as she proceeded to bend down, and grab my calf!  They really appreciate strong calves as they are constantly walking up and down. 

Anyways, it was beautiful area.Very peaceful. The rice is a bit more adevanced, so it was closer to being ripe, which means we had some nice golden colour and could see the terraces even better.
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Comments

coates
coates on Sep 23, 2008 at 01:13AM

WE are Back
Just got back from the Gaspe and looked at your Blogs. Looking forward to the rest of your pictures.
You seem to be enjoying yourself and hope the rest of the trip goes as well as the current section seems to have gone.
Take care of youself,
Mom & Dad

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