TV comes to Ping'an!
by Willettsworld
As I was walking back down to the bus from Ping'an, I crossed over one of the covered bridges over a stream and on it were a couple of guys taking up around a dozen TV's to the village on yoke's across their shoulders with a boxed up TV at either end. Now TV's are pretty heavy but can you imagine taking two at once all the way up a steep narrow path? I suppose they were for a hotel for tourists to watch TV but really Ping'an is a break away from the rigors of modern day life so the TV should be banned!
Map of Longi Terraced Rice Fields
by myspices
Too bad this map does not have many places translated in English. Roughly, you can see that there are 2 main areas where you can view the Longi Terraced Rice Fields :-
1) At Ping-An which is at the lower base
2) At Dazhai, Jingkeng which is upper north of Ping-An
Map also shows you the Er Long Qiao stop (between Huanglo Yao long hair village and Shuahekou). This is the stop where roads to Ping-An and Dazhai separate
Entrance Fee to Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces
by myspices
When you are onboard the bus at Longsheng to either PingAn or Dazhai, the bus will stop at a depot before the village of Jinzhu (Golden River). Here, the ticket officer of Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces (Longi Titian) will collect from all foreigners a fee of 50yuan for visiting the rice terraces. This office is set up by the Tourism board. Hey, even if you look Chinese or from different part of the provinces other than those of locals in PingAn or Dazhai - you will need to pay. The officers will know who's who ..... so there's no way you can escape this fee.
A ticket and a little brochure (sorry, write-up is in Chinese) will be given to you upon payment. When you enter either PingAn village or the Dazhai village, there's a gate entrance where you need to present your ticket for verification.
**Remember to bring along your ticket when you hike to/fro PingAn/Dazhai - ticket officer at each village booth will check ticket for re-entry.
There's a web stated in the ticket...www.gltour.com.cn - check it out...
Different Seasons, different Scenes
by myspices
The rice terraces look different during different seasons. When we were there, the rice grains were in the midst of turning to slight yellow...Come end October, they will all be in gold. What we can see now is mix of light green and yellow...The harvest month will have the whole terraces in shimmering gold...imagine, with the rays of the sun against it...how picturesque! We saw a picture at our lodge in Dazhai that shows the whole rice terraces covered with snow! Yes, snow does happen in upper parts of Dazhai! If you want to see that, go during Jan/Feb (ie during the Chinese New Year) - you will be freezing. You won't see snow in PingAn - it's a bit too low for snow to stay
Long hair
by Willettsworld
The Yao women are very famous for having incredibly long hair which can measure up to 2.1m in length. Reason for it to be so long is that they only have their hair cut twice throughout their lives - once when they turn 18 and once again when they get married which is when they finally reveal it to the public, which you'll get to see. You'll notice that the younger girls have their hair covered by a black hat.
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On a trail in Longsheng
Meeting on the trail
Sedan chairs
Gate where the bus drops you off
