We caught the coach from Guilin to Longsheng and after a couple of hours of windy roads we arrived at the bus station where we took the minibus to Jinkeng. Whilst the Dragon Backbone rice terraces are well known amongst tourists, the terraces and villages at Jinkeng are less developed and more picturesque with few foreign tourists making it that far. We stayed the night in a vegetarian guesthouse run by a family of Yao minority chinese where we enjoyed some lovely food and great views up the valley with terrace upon terrace of lush green rice plants as far as the eye can see.
Yesterday, we got up early and after a hearty breakfast, we shouldered our rucksacks and set off on a wonderful (although pretty exhausting) 5 hour trek through endless stretches of green rice terraces from Jinkeng to Pingan, a bigger, more touristy Yao village where we stayed the night last night.
The food here is great – with plenty of fresh vegetables and locally grown rice. We enjoyed a delicious meal of wild chicken steamed in a bamboo stem last night.
Whilst initially planning on moving on further north into Guizhou province today, we woke up this morning to torrential rain and decided that it wasn’t worth getting all of our luggage drenched with nowhere to dry it out for a few days.
Besides, we’re feeling tired and need to be back in Guilin on the 27th to catch our hard sleeper train to Kunming. So instead, we are going to stay in Pingan for another night as it is such a scenic place – then catch a bus back to Guilin tomorrow where we will stay for just one night.
The rain has now stopped – so I figure it is about time to head outside for a stroll and some lunch shortly. Hopefully get some more photos!
