Totally Tubular Terraces
Trip Start
Oct 24, 2005
1
78
150
Trip End
Ongoing
Yuanyang,
China
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Dragon's Back
. In town, we quickly found a room in the government hotel, wandered the market in search of food, didn't find any, but happened upon a good little restaurant where we ate for only 14Y ($1.75). After lunch, we headed up into the hills on a long walk.
Yuanyang is home to a wide variety of minority groups, the largest of which is the Hani (which are apparently the same group as the Akha in Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar). Because of all the minority groups in the area, the town is fun to wander about and take in all the bright colors worn by the different groups, as well as all the interesting wares they bring to market. The Hani have lived in Yuanyang for a very long time - long enough to perfectly mold the most gorgeous hillside farming terraces I've ever seen (and supposedly some of the loveliest in the world). The terraces were the reason for our visit to this neck of the woods. We'd seen some photographs of them and had been wowed enough by their beauty to go well out of our way for this specific purpose. This time of year is particularly good for visiting, as the terraces are all full of water, which makes them even more stunning - especially at sunrise and sunset, one of which we hoped to catch. Our guidebook had warned that if it was cloudy, the terraces would be invisible
Dragon's Back - Konrad
. I was a bit worried about this, as the overcast weather seemed to have followed us all the way from Zhongdian. However, the afternoon of our arrival in Yuanyang, the sun poked its head out periodically, so we prayed it was a sign of better weather to come. The terraces are not in the town itself; one must travel a number of kilometers to find them, and they go on forever and ever, so there are numerous places to visit in the area. On our first afternoon in Yuanyang, we walked up into the hills, passing through small villages, watching as men and women worked together to construct new buildings, running away from frisky canines, and keeping our eyes peeled for the legendary terraces. After about half an hour, we caught our first glimpse of them and were quick to snap some pictures. As we continued up the road, the terraces got more extensive and more impressive. Interested in photographing them at sunset, but not wanting to be stuck in the country after dark without any lights, we retreated to the town.
As we ambled about that evening, looking for a place to grab some grub, we walked into a very popular restaurant. So popular that there weren't any empty tables. We turned to leave and heard a voice calling to us (in English!) to join her table. And so we met Candice, a recent grad who hails from the Boston area and is currently living in Beijing, studying Mandarin and starting an internship shortly. Candice was, like many others in China at this time, on a vacation, and had come to Yuanyang for the same reason we had. She had the advantage of speaking Mandarin, and was thus able to get much more information from the locals. It proved to be a very good thing we ran into her that evening, as we had expected to just take a bus out to the terraces around 7:00 in the morning (remember, the sun comes up very late around here) - she spoke to some people at the restaurant, and learned that this wouldn't be early enough
Dragon's Back Before Sunrise
. Fortunately, the place she was staying had already offered to drive her out to the terraces, so the three of us agreed to share the cost of the car and meet up at 6:00 the next morning. Before we went to bed, we checked the sky and were able to see the moon very easily, which meant clearer skies on the horizon - we hoped it would last through the morning. 5:30 AM. Now that's damn early. I can't say we're accustomed to being awake at such an hour, but we did it, and once we'd collected Candice and the driver, we were on the road. While traveling, it's very easy to lose track of dates and days. We'd done so (numerous times) and had forgotten that it was Sunday. As we arrived at the spot the driver claimed to be the place to watch the sunrise, we found ourselves in the company of at least fifty other early risers, keen to take advantage of the clearing sky (which had stayed relatively cloud-free). As it crept towards 7:45, the sky began to get lighter, and we were able to get a decent look at the terraces. Stunning. Amazing. Incredible. And, as the sun inched its way into the sky, the views just kept getting better. The light reflected off the water pooling in the hundreds and hundreds of terraces descending the mountainside and made for some breathtaking vistas. I will admit, it's a real rarity for me to see a sunrise these days. However, in my years on this planet, I've witnessed my fair share, and I'd have to say this was one of the (possibly the?) best I've ever had the fortune to enjoy
Dragon's Back Close Up
. Every minute, as the light changed just so slightly, we were treated to a different view. Fortunately, with a digital camera, one can take endless pictures, which I certainly endeavored to do (I think I took about 80 during sunrise alone - no fear, I've edited them, so you won't have to wade through that many!). We visited a few other spots around the area, but the sky had turned rather hazy, so, while the views were still quite impressive, we weren't able to properly Kodak the experience. We returned to Yuanyang around 11:00, packed up our belongings, and by noon, the driver was shuttling us down the hill, back to Nansha. From there we hopped on a bus to Gejiu, a short hour away. While our guidebook had nothing but glowing compliments for this city, it didn't look terribly appealing, and upon discussion with the attendants at the bus station, it didn't seem we could take any long-distance buses from there, so we hopped on another bus headed back in the direction of Jianshui. After another bus change, we rolled into Shiping around 5:00. We didn't know anything about the town, but were pleasantly surprised: it was really cute and looked, as Konrad put it, as if they had built the whole city from scratch. Alas, the only buses they had going in our direction left at 3:30 and 6:30 in the afternoon, so we decided to long-haul it south that same evening, rather than stay in the town for the night
Dragon's Back II
. We bought our tickets and roamed about town, searching for our first meal of the day. We finally found a place where they were happy to accommodate our veggie palates and gorged ourselves for a total of 21Y (about $2.60 for three people to eat). With the food taken care of, we made our way back to the bus station and to our waiting sleeper coach.
This was our first experience with sleeper buses in China. They are actually quite popular, but we'd tried to avoid them in favor of traveling on the train (several concerns: drivers, comfort, bathroom breaks, smoke, etc.). Here we didn't really have a choice, so we committed to the journey. We stowed our packs underneath (all of them now reek of wet dog, a smell we can't get rid of, no matter how much we wash them, use deodorizer, hang them in the sunshine, etc.) and walked onto the bus. The bus is slightly larger than your usual bus and sports "beds" (more like a chaise lounge) two high and three wide (so there were people crammed in the middle of the bus with no access to the windows). The conductor decided "foreigners like to stay together" and stuck the three of us in the very back, next to a man and his son. We cuddled up and settled in for the ride, scheduled to arrive in Jinghong at 4:00 in the morning.
