Dutch season in the land of the Zhuang

I woke early and left Guilin for my next destination by bus.  Two buses in fact.  I lucked out with the first one for Longshen, catching it a couple of minutes before it departed from Guilin station.  Less than two hours, I  changed at Longshen for a smaller bus to Ping An rice terraces.  It was quite painless actually as at Longshen station they have touts and spotters looking for arriving passengers who want to connect.

Disembarking I had to hike up a hill with my 9kg pack (with non-essentials left in Hong Kong).  I was led to a cheap homestay costing CNY20 per night but opted for a much nicer one at CNY70 with hot water.  The homestay is located in the 600 year old village made up of mostly wooden houses. There are plenty of bunches of corn hung up on walls to dry, and chilli on the ground to dry as well. Very picturesque.

Some concrete structures are coming up.  I suggest you visit before the place is full of them, all tiled-over the facades as that seems to be the norm in China.

Residents in the village are of the Zhuang minority tribe.  Minority tribes are not considered ethnic (Han) Chinese and have special privileges (like the Tibetans and Uighur Muslims?)  Eg. they are exempt from “One Child” policy.  The women keep their hair to ankle length and will reveal them for foreigners for a fee.

It is still warm in the sun and but frigid in the evenings.  I’m at about 900m above sea level … a bit higher than in Guilin itself.  The rice terraces are now brown and barren … due the dry autumn and post-harvest.  The trees are showing a hint of the autumn gold.

I went for an hour-plus walk amongst the rice terraces this afternoon after arrival, to a place called “Seven Stars Accompanying Moon”.  I hope to do a longer walk to the old villages of various minority tribes tomorrow.

I missed out on a local delicacy during lunch today.  I’ve forgotten the name but it is glutinous rice with corn and bacon fired in bamboo shell … it is the Malaysian lemang meets the Hong Kong yum char lo mai kai.

My little family-run hotel offers free internet to its customers 🙂   So here I am updating this blog because it is cold and there’s nothing else to do in the little village.  It is rather dark and I don’t want to go out instead I step into a hole or on some cow patty.

The Dutch couple I chatted to over my noodle soup dinner had to turn back because they couldn’t find their way back to their own hotel.  Earlier today they also couldn’t find the way to the next village which was clearly signposted.  I thought the Dutch were good navigators, getting themselves to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

Anyway, nearly anyone who is white that I’ve met today is Dutch.  It must be Dutch season.  Perhaps they’re escaping their winter.