We left most of our luggage at a bus station! We were a little concerned as there didn't seem to be any security though we didn't have to worry. We travelled further up the mountain by car and stopped. From here we needed to travel to our next destination by foot as there was no road access. Two small women in traditional dress took our overnight case and climbed the 1000 steps to Pin-an village. We travelled a little slower taking about an hour up the steps but the houses and stalls were so interesting along the way that we had to keep stopping.

We arrived at Ping-an at the Starwish Guesthouse. Our room in the wooden house overlooked the valley. Fairly basic but worth it for the scenery. Our meal in the evening was a speciality of the house. Rice was cooked inside a bamboo container. OK but nothing special. Our guide Lewis invited us to coffee later which made an interesting evening.

Longii "Dragons Backbone" is a region encompassing the five local Zhuang villages set amongst steep rice terraces. The terraced fields are built along the slope winding from the riverside up to the mountaintop, with the highest place of an elevation of 885m and the lowest 380m

Day 2

Our walk along the rice terraces and into the Zhuang ethnic minority villages. Ping-an has a couple of hundred villagers and is stacked up in layers up the hillside and in the twists of the mountains. Stone paths and and staircases twist in and out of the houses. The houses are basic and made of wood. However what we did notice was that they had huge tv's and the wifi was very fast! There were ducks and chickens wandering in and out of the houses.

We met a group of Yao women, hair is their most prized possession. Female members of this ancient tribe in Guanxii only ever cut their hair once, usually when16 yrs old before they search for a husband. Many of the women have hair over five feet long. To keep the hair in good condition they rinse it in fermented rice wine. The hair that has been cut is wrapped in with their own hair and covered with a red cloth. They showed us how they style their hair, as no doubt they do to all tourists who pass by!

The scenery was stunning with the reflections of the sky on the water of the empty terraces. Once the rice was harvested (which most of it had been ) they plant vegetables to use in the winter.

A memorable experience, not to be forgotten.

Day 3

We travelled back down the mountain, collected our suitcases and took a flight to Shanghai.