Rice, Rice, and More Rice......

Today was a tour day! Wanted to see the Lonji Rice Terraces, so booked a tour with the hostel. The tour I went on was a Chinese tour, so all the commentary was in Chinese and it was made up of all Chinese except for 3 lovely German ladies (Steffi, Annika, Lea). Went on this tour because it was almost half the price of the English tour and it actually gave us more time at the terraces. Didn't really care about the commentary on this one, just wanted to see the site. Was lucky enough to spend the day with the German Ladies, which made my day fantastic. The tour lasted 10 hours and was really worth it.

The rice terraces are a fantastically sculptured work of art in the hills of Lonji. I tried to get good pictures, but it really was impossible to get the definition needed. Not a professional photographer like Annika and it shows. We left on the tour bus around 8:00 and went about an hour and a half. We were soon to find out how popular this place is. There were tour buses everywhere. Stopped at the first spot to switch to a smaller bus and headed out for another 45 minute drive. The second stop was the entrance to where the terraces are. Steffi, Lea, and myself started walking up the hill through the terraces. Annika whom was still feeling the effects of a virus took a cable car to the top. Was a nice walk, but very hot and humid. Took us about an hour to reach the top, where we could get our best views. Again it was worth the hike and the sites from up top were spectacular. Spent the better part of 2 hours on top, with the odd rainstorm interrupting our day. We took the cable car down in order to get some better views. Another 2 1/2 hours later we were back in Guilin. Tour over as

well as the day. Very satisfying day. Wanted to see the locals harvesting the rice, but it was a couple of weeks from being ready for that. Has to be quite the job with all hands on deck come harvest time. No machines on these hill sides, just manual labour and a lot of sweat. One has to wonder how much rice they get here. The terraces are massive and the yield looked pretty good. With 2 billion people it better produce well. Now that they get rice and tourism off these terraces, it is a huge win for the area and the country! Decided to not have rice for dinner. Better to save it for the Chinese people who appreciate it the most! Off to Changsha tomorrow and a really fabulous park. Can't wait as the adventure continues!