Breathtaking... but Oh My It is Hot

The next morning was Guilin in its full force. Near our hotel, what seemed to be a quiet traffic intersection the night before was actually a riverfront and popular homebase for other tour groups. Our hotel doorfront was bustling with activity. I scarfed down my yummy western breakfast (e.g. coffee, eggs, bacon, toast, yogurt, etc.) and the group hopped into the van for the 2-hour ride to the Longji Rice Terraces.

The drive to the terraces were a sight for the senses. The area is dotted with vegetation-covered limestone mountains that seem to spontaneous jut from the ground to the heavens. Unlike most mountains, there's no gradual ascent. They're similar to mesas in a desert, except they're huge and plentiful in number. We pass by small towns as we traverse the countryside, and my eyes play witness to seeing rural China in action. Rice harvesting and Ox dot the farmland while the agriculture is occasionally interrupted by a small village with markets, fruit stands, noodle meetups, sun-bleached Coca-Cola shade umbrellas, and motorbike fix-up shops.

Mountains around Guilin.

Doug helps Carl and Tenille buy produce at a road fruit stand.

We arrive at the terraces, but private transportation can't enter past the foothills into the mountains. Operated by the native ethnic groups in the area, we join other tourists in a quick but steep ascent by bus up the mountain to a ethnic village which was our starting point. Today's activity was hiking through the terraces from one village to another over the course of 4-5 hours. The entire terrace region ranges from 1-3K over sea level in elevation so we'd do quite a bit of ascending and descending throughout the day. As we left the first village, we strolled through a market where the native ethnic groups sold food and souvenir wares.

Elder ethnic women provide porter services.

Ethnic men provide transportation in a rickshaw-like contraption.

Dried lizard from what I can tell. I did not try it.

The next five and a half hours was a good hearty hike. We snaked through the landscape and did thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of steps. It was almost unbearably hot during the first half making the reapplication of sun screen almost futile. What a workout! The views were spectacular as evidenced by my camera snapping away throughout. Sights included seeing farmers at their craft, villagers attending to the day's tasks, and other trekers also experiencing this jewel of nature. I should have taken a GPS watch with me to track our exact steps through the mountains.

Villages dot the mountainside.

Community in good game of cards.

Our guide thinking we suck at hiking.

Not obvious but I am sweaty all over.

One of many 'jumping' pics our group likes to do.

The terrace fields are marked by gravestones showing where many of these farmers spent their life's work.

Just hanging out. My 'hat' was made by our guide. It helped a little with the heat.

The small horse doesn't care that we're tourists.

A very long haul later and water bottles depleted, we arrived at our destination village to say goodbye to our guide (she grew up in these mountains and led us on the hike while wearing sandals and not breaking a sweat!). We hopped into a truck for the drive back to our waiting van and headed back to Guilin.

The evening ended with good food. I'm really liking Guilin. Life here moves in a slower pace. It's admittedly tourisy, but the river nearby and the abundance of shops and pedestrian friendly streets is great. On the way to dinner, I tried a local snack for the first time. It looks like a corn dog, but it's chicken inside a fried-chicken like batter. After ordering, they warm it up and brush on more spices (five spice maybe?). It's really good. Savory and crispy like some far far off cousin of the chicken tender. It's really popular as evidenced by the droves of buyers at the chicken stick stand. We end the day at a local restaurant.

Guilin chicken tender (At least my name for it).

Green scallion pie. Per Doug and Jason, this preparation was only okay.

Spicy beef dish. Not from the area, but still tasty.