From Guilin we took a 2 hour bus ride to a village of the Zhuang minority community in Longsheng. This region is well known for its terraced rice field landscape. The village is nestled among the hills. We were surprised to see such large and beautiful houses, Tourism has certainly brought prosperity to this region. Of course, dad, who could not shake of his engineering mindset had to pose near some construction site!!
We were welcomed by the local women with songs and dances. "Oil Tea", a concoction of barley fried with onion and garlic, ginger and sprinkled with spring onions and other stuff was served as a welcoming drink, as well as rice wine (like tapai)
The women's singing were really loud and high pitched. They needed such strong voices in order to call their husbands back from the rice fields. During the planting season, one can hear the women's voices resonated among the hills. Well we were challenged to a singing match by the local women and some members of our group gamely took the challenge ( actually they were pushed up by the rest of us !!) The natives graciously let the visitors win the contest.
We had hotpot for lunch - it was surprisingly good. Most of the ingredients - vegetables, mushrooms, chicken ...... etc...... were homegrown. Very organic.
Longsheng in Chinese means "Dragon Spine". We climbed the hills to view the terraced landscape. We had a panoramic view of the hamlet. The houses looked so quaint, like from a movie set.
The terraced rice fields were suppose to resemble the spine of the dragon. In spring, then the rice fields were irrigated, the waters on the terraces, reflected the sun light were like the dragon's scales. Unfortunately we came a bit too early spring, before the planting season, so the view was not as breath-taking. So we consoled ourselves by buying some of the farmers' produce. Mushrooms, berries, dried hawthorne.
This is supposed to be the view - at the right timing. The best time to see the rice fields is in mid -spring (April) or in summer(July) when the rice plants turn green or in autumn (September to October) when the rice grains turn yellow and the hills will transform to golden hue. Anyway, I think this region is worth visiting.
2 comments:
The view of the terraced rice fields is breathtaking
Yes. The Chinese Govt had to subsidize the farmers in order to encourage them to keep this method of rice cultivation. Only the older generation still work in the fields. Many young people prefer to work in bigger cities
Post a Comment