Rice Terraces and Limestone Peaks

Guilin and Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces

We are now in Guanxi province in the South and have spent the last few days enjoying the gorgeous natural sights here. Two days ago we visited Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. They are high mountains about 2 hours away from the provincial capital, Guilin, that are covered in rice terraces. There are many paths through these mountains that connect the small villages where many minority Chinese groups reside. We stayed in the town Ping'an where the local women have very long hair that stretches to the floor. They tie it up using a combination of different wraps and buns that, from afar, look like a decorative hat. We spent our day there walking from Ping'an towards the next village, through the rice terraces, around lakes and over bridges. The sights were quite impressive and I am left feeling nothing but respect for the laborers who spent centuries constructing these terraces into the mountainside. Under one of the biggest bridges on our walk, we ran into a bunch of teenagers who were very friendly towards us. One guy proudly told us, "I am the Dong people" and invited us to a perfomance that evening in the village. The young girls were literally screaming "hello" to us at the top of their lungs and had black ash all over their faces. They were all smiling and laughing.
Yesterday, we spent 5 hours on three different buses to get to Yangshuo. It is very beautiful here and it is understandable why this is one of the biggest tourist spots in the south. The very small town, walkable in 5 minutes, runs by the Li River and is surrounded by breathtaking limestone peaks that jut out of the landscape. As it is low season, we are staying in a very nice Chinese business hotel for an affordable price.
The best part of Yangshuo is the surrounding area. Today, we rode our bikes 9 km to the Dragon Bridge, a 600 year old stone bridge over the Yulong River. As we were walking around the village, some woman approached us and asked, "Lunchie?" My first instinct was to say "no", as we had previously been continuously harassed to go for a bamboo boat ride and wanted to be left alone, but we were hungry and thought it was better than eating the unappetizing steamed corn offered by the vendors by the bridge. The woman led us down a few narrow alleys and through a straw storage room to a simple restaurant with a nice riverside view. We had an enjoyable lunch as we watched fisherman work in the river and heard the Chinese men on the bamboo rafts below us partake in a competitive card game. Trying to take a different path back, we rode through small rural villages on our way back to Yangshuo. Chickens and ducks crossed the path before us and little children poked their heads from their home to say "hello". Men and women carried bamboo satchels over their back filled with fruits and vegetables and bulls were led through the town by a rope strung through their nostrils. We were surrounded by rice farms and the amazing karst peaks in every direction. We were very lucky that today was such a gorgeous day as it has been raining for most of our time in China, making outdoor activities less desirable.
Tomorrow we are going for a 4-5 hour hike along a stretch of the Li River that is over a 1000 years old and supposed to be quite stunning. The following day, we will take an 8 hour train to Kunming in Yunnan province. We plan to spend a day or two there before heading to Dali Lijiang and Tiger Leaping Gorge.