Rice terraces of Yuanyang China
Trip Start
Jan 11, 2009
1
39
53
Trip End
Apr 12, 2009
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Yuanyang, Yunnan,
China
Friday, March 6, 2009
We somehow managed to block the toilet in our hotel room, so we had to move rooms
1 - our dinner is cooking
. The hotel fact sheet had a list of items which guests had to pay for if broken or stolen. The toilet was one of them (500Y = 80USD). We were really dreading checking out of the hotel, since we were thinking that they'd stick us with the bill. Our second room had a broken light, electrical socket, and curtain. The next day they moved us into another room and this time the TV was broken. We thought they were using a unique form of room renovation that involved moving us around to all the rooms with broken items and then sticking us with the repair bill... alas we escaped unscathed and paid a normal hotel bill.Yuanyang is rice terrace heaven. We spoke to the hotel staff about a driver to one set of the terraces for sunset. The woman quoted us an outrageous price (150Y = 23 USD) for a 5KM ride, there and back for sunset. We finally got it down to 100Y; she asked for 50Y deposit and told us to pay 50Y to the driver. In the end, we realized we had been ripped off. She pocketed the 50Y and the driver got 50Y, for a really short ride. This same hotel staffer wanted us to pay 300Y for an all-day trip the following day, but we knew better than to trust her and did not agree.
We got into our three-wheeled vehicle and we were off to our first sunset overlooking rice terraces, just 5KM out of town
2 - three days of meals
. The road was horrendous and we went at a pace slightly faster than walking, but it was really fun to bounce around in the back of this strange vehicle (see video).The rice terraces are truly incredible. We were not disappointed. We were dropped off and the driver pointed upwards. We hiked up, along with some Chinese tourists, to a viewpoint. There were at least 50 photographers there, all with tripods and fancy camera's ready and waiting. We managed to find a spot where A2 could set up her tripod and not be in the way of anyone else. B2 had to squat the entire time under a rice terrace, in order to be out of view of the cameras behind him. We were settled in for the evenings' sunset show. And, what a show it was... The photos are a bit repetitive since we were in the same spot all evening, but you can get a sense of the changing light as the sun went down. The rice terraces are filled with water this time of year, so they reflect the sunset with spectacular glitz. Some of the terraces on this spot were filled with red duckweed, probably because they raise ducks here as well as rice. It was jaw-dropping gorgeous - we didn't want the sunset to end. We saw some kids running on the terraces, some farmers working and a lady who we called "the duck whacker". She used a long bamboo pole to lure the ducks home from the rice terraces. It was a sweet scene - the water lit up a cascading orange as it was swept by the setting sun.
There was only one other non-Chinese tourist up there and so we could not help but strike up a conversation. Josie was a French Canadian, traveling for a year on her own. She was fun to talk to and gave us quite a few tips of travel in China; we returned the favor with tips on Vietnam and Southeast Asia and gave her some books as well. She lost 20lbs during her one month of travel in China - so we have been warned! However, she did say the food was fine as soon as we got to the more touristy places in the Yunnan. So, we are very much looking forward to eating real food soon! So far China is really fun and fascinating.
