Bridges and Paddies Galore

Hi everyone, we've got a few days for you to catch up on. We've been out in the stix for a while and so not been able to do it sooner, but it's not too long, so bear with us!

SATURDAY 12th May

Not a lot happened today. We popped out to grab some brunch- style food, as we had our first lay-in since the Intrepid Tour started! We wandered around the streets near to the hotel and when we got back we ate our food before starting the mammoth task of trying to get our washing back! Oh my gosh, we just kept going around in circles, as we paid for the washing, but then we couldn't get them to understand we needed it back right then, as we were meeting up with the rest of the group so that we could leave and go to Chengyang! We finally managed to understand one another and we got our washing back! We then piled into taxis to take us to the bus station, ready for another long afternoon of travelling. We were soon at Chengyang and being picked up by the hostel's minibus service and going to stay with the Wu family for a couple of days. We got our things into our rooms and then sat down to a terrific meal - Mrs. Wu was an amazing cook! Afterwards we sat around chatting together, as Chengyang is a small village and so there wasn't a lot else to do. Our hostel had a beautiful view of one of the most famous and most visited Wind-and-Rain bridges in the area. They're built as a social place for people to meet and trade, as well as offering protection from the wind and rain. They're also built entirely of wood and without a single nail!

SUNDAY 13th May

First thing in the morning Tim (one of the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Wu) took us for a countryside/village walk for about 4 hours. It was really interesting to get to watch people doing their daily things, for example working in the rice paddies, working in their shops, killing and plucking chickens etc. It was quite sad though, as we saw a group of people in their white mourning dress and so we knew somebody had died. It was soon time to head back to the hostel though for lunch. We had some free time afterwards and sat and chatted some more, or read books. Later on we went to the Village Cultural Show, we saw men and women of all ages performing traditional Dong songs and dances, we had rice wine and even had to join in with the dancing at the end! We were all pretty useless at it, but it was good fun too! After the show, some people decided to walk to the top of a nearby hill to take some photographs, while the rest of us went back to the hostel. It was another quite evening of sitting around and chatting after we'd had dinner.

MONDAY 14th May

We had another mammoth day of travelling today. We were up bright and early so that we could make our way to Longji. We had to catch 3 buses, not all of which seemed to be of the most sturdy construction and it also turned out to be the bumpiest bus ride in the world, as the road was under construction! Unfortunately I was desperate for the loo on one bus and the driver kindly pulled over so that I could jump out, I managed to hide myself from the view of the people on the bus by jumping down a verge, but I completely forgot that people coming the other way would be able to look down onto where I was! I also found out afterwards, that the 2 men sitting behind Steve and I on the bus were very interested in what I was doing! So 3 bus journeys and my highly embarrassing debacle later we were in Pingan (Longji)! We had to walk up a fairly steep hill for about 20/30 minutes to get to the hotel we were staying at. It was a really nice place and as soon as we arrived we had lunch, as we had to wait for the rooms to be made ready for us. We had a couple of hours free, and we ended up watching people from the viallge carry a very heavy electricity transformer up the steep hill, as there was a power cut - it was avid viewing and also really nice to see most of the village all going out to help. After this, we went for a short walk up to a viewing point on the hill to have a look at the view, unfortunately it was a bit hazy and so we couldn't see too far. After sitting for a while at the top we headed back down for dinner.

TUESDAY 15th May

We were up very early today so that we could do our 4 to 5 hours trek through the Longji Rice Terraces. We managed to set off by 07.00 so that we would miss the midday heat of the Sun. It was an amazing trek, it was hard work at times though (with six steep hills to climb up), but definitely worth the views! Construction was started on the terraces 700 years ago and they were only finished in the early 1900s. It's just amazing to think and see that people do climb the hills every day to get to the terraces and other villages. It's such hard work, as most of the terraces aren't large enough to get an ox in, so they have to be farmed by hand - back breaking working we can assure you! The views were just spectacular looking over the vast areas that have been cultivated and seeing the Sun reflecting off of the flooded paddies. We finally made it to Dazai around 12.00! We had a banquet lunch and then spent the afternoon and evening watching DVDs and playing cards! Some people, including Steve, were not being lazy bones and decided to go to a couple of the view points near to the hotel we stayed at and so went for another hour of trekking!

WEDNESDAY 16th May

We spent the morning and part of the early afternoon on buses again today and most of us slept the whole time, as we are all so exhausted! I know that I spent the majority of every bus ride asleep! We had a rather 'exciting' moment on our first journey, as we came across a rather large landslide which had completely covered the only road available in a heap of mud and rubble! We had to disembark the bus and scramble across the fresh landslide - one of the most unnerving things I've ever done, especially as there were 2 diggers on the top of the landslide at the time! We made it across in one piece and were able to hop on a bus which had to stop as it was coming up the road towards Dazai! So after another 3 bus journeys (with no stops for the road-side loos this time) we arrived in Yangshou and had a 10 minute walk to get to our hotel. We had a little bit of time to get freshened up before we went out for lunch together and we now have the whole afternoon and evening to please ourselves!

We think that's about all there is to update you on this time around. For once there's not too much for you to plough through! We're still having a great time on the tour, it's been so great seeing more rural China than we were able to see in Beijing and Xi'an. We only have another 4 days on the tour though, it will certainly be strange being on our own again after all this time! It will be odd having to sort out our own transport and accommodation again - but I'm sure we'll get there in the end!
Hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for all the comments, it's nice to know that you're enjoying the blog! Missing you all as usual, but not suffering from homesickness for once! Looking forward to your comments.