Day two of my weekend trip to the Guangxi province found me
taking a full day trip to Longsheng to view the Longji (dragon spine, I think)
rice terraces. The area is populated by the Miao people; a very small
minority in China that is diminishing in numbers every year. The
traditional family of the Miao includes 4 to 6 children but this is not so
anymore. Thanks to the child policies of the Chinese government the Miao
are restricted to only 2 children per family. With more and more young
men leaving for the big cities every year, it is only a matter of time before
the Miao disappear. One interesting thing to note about the Miao people
is that they are the “longest-haired village in the world” as quoted by a sign
outside the village. It definitely adds a unique aspect to the village and to me it seemed like another one of those many odd, quirky, incredible things about China that makes it so great. You can get a sense of these people through language translation services, but you really need to spend time with them to get a true sense of their culture and customs.
The night before (Saturday night) and Sunday night I stayed
on the floor of a college student, Leo, in Guilin. I found Leo through an
amazing networking site called CouchSurfing.
I had never met Leo before but nevertheless he agreed to host me for two nights
in his dorm room. The CouchSurfing community is absolutely incredible;
the people I have interacted with through this site have all been very nice and
generous with their time, utilities, and accommodations. Some people may
be wary of agreeing to sleep in the apartment/house of a complete stranger and
that is completely understandable. However there are some precautions you
can take to ensure that you are staying with a legitimate CouchSurfer and not some
creep. Anyway, being that it was my first time CouchSurfing I did not
know what to expect but it turned out to be a great experience. From now
on I look forward to more CouchSurfing around the country and to hosting
CouchSurfers right here in Xi’an. I know it will lead to some great new
friends and some great experiences.
Like so many occasions during my time here in China, I had
no idea what to expect upon going to Longsheng. We were treated to a
performance by the Miao people which was a bit kitschy and touristy but it
ended up highly amusing at the end when they reenacted a marriage ceremony with
volunteers from the crowd. Not much to say about it, it was vaguely
interesting but not a mind blowing experience. One interesting thing is
that for some odd reason the Miao women show their love for you by pinching
your butt. The women formed a gauntlet leading out of the building so
that everyone (including yours truly) from the audience got a good tushy
squeeze. This is China, right?
From there we headed up the mountain and truly it was not
what I was expecting. There are literally rice terraces everywhere.
All up and down the surrounding mountains. I mean these guys are
industrious. A lot of the terraces went unused and some seemed nearly
inaccessible. Being an engineer I found myself questioning the point of
putting in all that hard work to create a terrace half-way up a mountain that
is probably never going to be used. Regardless, it definitely had a
breath-taking effect on me. Unfortunately pictures just don’t do the
landscape justice. I think it’s one of those things you really need to go
and see for yourself to truly appreciate the magnitude and beauty of the place.
But until you manage to make it there (and you definitely should) hopefully
these pictures will give you an idea of what it’s like.
After the previous day of biking and climbing my legs were
none too pleased with ascending another mountain (don’t worry, it got worse the
next day) but I forced myself to climb to the top alongside all the other
tourists. My body ached and protested and muttered some unprintables at
me. Completely ignoring it, I made it to the top and was paid off with
some great views of the surrounding area despite the overcast day.
