Wèi shénme bù?: Post-Fúzhōu Fun Part 2: Up and Down the Dragon's Backbone

So as I mentioned last time, the second stop on my brief southern China tour was the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terrace in Lóngshèng, Guìlín - so named because the terraces resemble a dragon’s scales.

In a word, I’d describe this place as breathtaking. I had an amazing, very chilled out couple of days in the terraces and finally ticked off a China bucket list item of mine: seeing rice paddies. And to top it all off, the weather was superb!

My trip began at an early hour, and with a slight struggle to find a bus heading to the terraces, but eventually I was on my way! Like most things in China (but not train tickets during public holidays!), you don’t need to, and probably can’t, pre-book tickets to Lóngshèng via bus. I just turned up at Guìlín train station and waited for someone offering my desired location to approach me – and they do frequently as tourists all stick out like sore thumbs! But it’s plenty easy to do, wasn’t too long a wait and was pretty cheap (20 yuan if I remember correctly). Anyway, a few hours later we arrived at the base of the terraces. One thing to note here: because the majority of places to stay for the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces are small villages within the terraces themselves, you need to purchase a ticket before getting to your accommodation; I was a bit nervous about this as I didn’t want to arrive only to be turned away again, but the bus I was in took us directly to the ticket booth, then onto the terraces so there was no problem whatsoever – and if anyone out there is thinking of going, I’m sure any bus you hop on will do the same!

Moving on! I was staying in one of the villages called Dàzhài which was a fair way into the terraces. Now I’d read in my Lonely Planet guidebook (still fantastic and never failed me!) that local women would offer to carry visitors’ luggage up to their accommodation for a reasonable fee, and considering the heat and distance I took one such woman up on her offer. My rucksack is deceptively heavy though, and I’m not sure if this is why, but for one reason or another my bag changed hands not once, but twice in the 40 minute walk – with each woman carrying the bag being younger than the last. I felt pretty guilty by the time we reached my hostel let me tell ya! But that soon disappeared and I was able to take everything in; I’d treated myself to a double-bed room which was awesome and the view I had made it all the more worth it.

My time in the terraces was mainly spent relaxing with fantastic views and daily hiking to get to the recommended viewpoints. There are, I think, three viewpoints close to Dàzhài village but I have only a vague idea of which ones I actually saw – I say close, the shortest walk one-way was about 30 minutes. I began with the number one scenic spot: Music from Paradise; and the view from up there was absolutely phenomenal. All the photos I took of it just do not do it justice, not at all. I can’t even describe it, so take a gander at the pics below! Then from here – after sitting a spell to contemplate life and the like – I visited scenic spot number three, Thousand Layers to Heaven, and another one closer to Ping’an village called Seven Stars Accompany the Moon. Each in their own right awe-inspiring, but I have to admit, after seeing the number one scenic spot, they just didn’t compare! So if you’re staying in/near Dàzhài I would recommend saving Music from Paradise until last.

Anyway, that’s about all I have to say really! Photos in this case will be a lot better at communicating what the Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces were really like. I’ve already decided I definitely want to go back one day, with lighter luggage and more time I’d love to see even more of the terraces.