Longsheng, China

The rice terraces of Longsheng are a surreal clump of mountains that look as though twenty-foot high giants decided to cut notches into the hills and create five foot high steps. They're basically the result of rice farmers with a lot of time, determination, and no flat land. March is not the best time to visit them since it was quite misty, but they were still spectacular. The guesthouse we stayed at in town was run by an English teacher who offered to call ahead to her daughter at the rice terraces who also had a hotel and who would meet us at the bus station. Happy to have those logistics taken care of, we agreed. She also asked offhandedly if we wanted to keep our bags at the hotel, but since the lobby looked a bit grimy we said we'd take them with us. Had we known more about the next hotel was we would have happily left them encased in a pile of dirt.

We were greeted at the bus station by a number of women from the Yao minority group who tried to sell us their handicrafts. The Yao gained notoriety after making it into the Guinness Book of World Records for having long hair. They only cut it once or twice in their lifetimes and their hair -- which they wear in a bun near their foreheads -- is between one to two meters long. After fending off their offers for 15 minutes our greeter arrived. She looked at our bags and asked if we wanted help since it was a forty minute (uphill) walk to the hotel. We agreed to hire one of the women (who was tiny) to carry my big backpack and we schlepped the remaining four bags up the mountain. Another Yao woman followed us for 10 minutes and repeatedly tried to carry our other bags, skeptical that we would be able to make it all the way ourselves. At one point we rested and the woman with my bag charged on ahead. Shamed, we finished the trek without further rest. I spent that time pondering why we hadn't yet eaten the crackers we'd bought in Malaysia or the snacks from Cambodia and whether Peter could have cut down on the number of long sleeved shirts he'd brought on the trip since his clothes require so much more material. (My conclusion: the crackers have the miraculous ability to not get stale and have bailed us out at various points when we haven't had food; the Cambodian snacks we should definitely have given away in Cambodia; and Peter's six long sleeved shirts could certainly have been whittled down to three.)

I'm actually in Guilin at present, headed to Yangshuo tomorrow, an hour or so south of here. Lots of fun snacking today: a bubbly drink with tapioca balls, a pumpkin tapioca coconut drink and some plain but delicious yogurt.

We're experiencing technical difficulties with the camera, so we've switched to the backup one and I hope to have pics soon.