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. 

Shots of Dazhai village

Some of the local wares

View from my window - BEAUTIFUL!

My hero

General terrace shots

More pics!

One of the few of me, en route to Music from Paradise

View from Music from Paradise
Beautiful, but DOESN'T DO IT JUSTICE DAMN IT

Poor fellow - I did wonder how they transported bigger
things up to the terraces as cars just would not do

More terrace pictures

And last one, of Dazhai just as I was leaving

Next stop: Yángshuò!

xoxo

Post-Fúzhōu Fun Part 1: Visitin' The Land Down South

Hello strangers!

Firstly, fans, before anything else, I want to apologise (again) about the gap between posts. I’ve now been back in jolly old England for 2 and a half weeks and have quite happily spent that time eating, reading, seeing old pals and sitting in my pyjamas watching the crappy TV I’ve sorely missed. But I owe it to all you avid readers out there to tell you all about the 2 months I was travelling for before finally arriving home. So this is the first of I don’t know how many posts about my solo, then group travels: where I went, what I did and any general ranting. Here goes nothing!

                                       _________________________________________

Well, it finally happened - and despite a typhoon trying to (literally) rain on my parade – I LEFT FÚZHŌU!!!! And Belief! YES YES YES!

The first stop on my whistle-stop tour of southern China was Chángshā to rendezvous with a couple of travelling friends. It began with a hard sleeper train of 18 hours (this is where the typhoon came in – threatening to cancel all the trains if it got bad enough – but like the last one Fúzhōu faced, it amounted to only a minor storm, so ain’t nothin’ but a thang!) And the train itself wasn’t as bad as the length makes it sound! And then after no trouble whatsoever (strange considering my usual travel luck), I found the hostel. To be honest, I don’t think there is a huge amount to do in Chángshā, but we weren’t too bothered. We had a spot of bother trying to get train tickets (of which I purchased a hard seat ticket for the first time – I’ll cover this awful journey later) so that didn’t leave an awful lot of time so we just went out! Maybe not too touristy, but we did find a great bar street with negotiations for prices of drinks left, right and centre. We settled on a bar (can’t remember the name) with the deal of 8 beers for 100 yuan and free access to the karaoke system – which went down a treat let me tell ya. I’ll not soon forget hearing some fantastic renditions of Westlife.

Short but sweet, the next day we bid each other farewell and I had to catch my hard seat 10 hour train to Guìlín. Cost effective, but Christ on a cracker it was an experience I won’t ever be repeating if I can help it. Firstly, the train itself was delayed by an hour, which is never welcome news. Secondly, the standing tickets they sell here (how anyone can do over an hour journey standing is beyond me) also figure in the seated cabins so there are people constantly clogging up the aisles. That and stealing any seats they can get their hands on – though to be fair to them, when someone with a ticket appears (like I did) the person in your seat will move without a fuss. Thirdly, the noise isn’t great for an overnight journey, but luckily my train only arrived at 12am so wasn’t too big a deal. It was quite nice being in with the people though – but at the same time, NEVER AGAIN.

So after arriving, tired, hungry and unwell, I made my way to my hostel and was out like a light! I didn’t do an awful lot in Guìlín – which is a shame, as I’m sure a fitter, more determined person could have made the most of the city! In the end, I visited Folded Brocade Hill which had some fantastic views. Bit of a hard trek up but definitely worth the time. Other than this, I only really wandered around the area near my hostel (Backstreet Youth Hostel – definitely recommend with friendly, helpful staff and comfortable dorms!) – I ended up at Shan Lake and saw the Sun and Moon Twin Pagodas which were very pretty, during both the day and night! I also visited a very touristy area with a heck of a lot of shops and picked up a few bargains at the market. Lovely city, but my main cause for excitement was my trip to the nearby Dragon’s Backbone Rice Terraces – for next time!

Here are a few pics! Just a general point, I have THOUSANDS of photos of my time travelling and it was very difficult to whittle it down to what you’ll see here, but I hope they do it justice!

Cave entrance on Folded Brocade Hill

Sculpture within the cave - from the rock

More sculpture - personal fave

Trellis decorated with paper wishes

View from the top of the hill

More of the city

And again

Sun and Moon Twin Pagodas - by day and by night

Until next post – I’ll try and keep on top of things so should be one a week from now on! (Not like I have much else to do!)

xoxo

Climb Every Mountainnnnnn

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post! I could say I’ve been a busy little bee, but that would be a lie.

Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Or 新年快乐  (xīn nián kuài lè) as the Chinese say!

My first post of the year is about a massive hardship I’ve recently voluntarily put myself through: climbing Gŭ Shān (Drum Mountain). Though not mentioned on here, I have actually conquered this hike before – though barely living to tell the tale. About 2 weeks after arriving in China, as a ‘bonding’ exercise my colleagues and I had to climb it. ABSOLUTE TORTURE IT WAS! I am by no means a sporty/energetic person, and being around 20 degrees in temperature really didn’t help the situation at all! BUT, I survived and the view from the top and the feeling of accomplishment once I got there was definitely worth it!

So anyway, at the beginning of the week – quite randomly – I decided to try again! Luckily, Fuzhou has recently seen a wave of nice sunny weather, so the day was beautiful and full of promise! Now by mountain climbing, I mean steps. A hell of a lot of them. 2000 to be exact. The sad thing is, this was only halfway up the whole mountain! One day I’ll attempt to tackle the whole trek. Probably. 

The hike took us just over 2 hours (up and down) and, like before, was pretty darn hard! Damn it, looks like the gym isn’t working! But once I reached the top, I was super happy I’d made the decision to go up. Nice to breathe some non-polluted air for a change!

One of the noteworthy things is how a Chinese girl ‘hikes’. So there we were: 2 sweaty foreigners in our (frankly) dirty gym gear breathing very, very heavily, trying to survive the experience, and all around us were Chinese girls holding tiny handbags and dressed in jeans, skirts, furry coats, and various kinds of inappropriate footwear. If the walk proves too strenuous for them, fear not, they always have the option of giving their bag or coat to their boyfriend to hold. Or in one case, a girl’s boyfriend was actually pushing her up the path. Interesting... Anyway, this totally inappropriate clothing choice goes for the gym as well – velour tracksuits, converse, and I once saw one woman wearing heels and one wearing a skirt. Laughable!

Photies from Gŭ Shān:

This horrid sight faced us
around every corner

Pretty lanterns - SO Chinese

More torturous steps

YESSS!!! YESSSSSSSSSS!!!

Fuzhou

V for Victory!

Xià cì jìan!

xoxo