After a horrible encounter with yesterday’s tour group, I kept my expectations low for this second tour. However, unlike the tour to Yangshuo, I had higher hopes for this since I know it is difficult to go to the terraces without a tour group especially to visit the minority people.

The tour guide arrived later this time around 8:30 am. This time, we weren’t the only foreigners on the tour so the tour guide had to speak English after speaking in Chinese to the other tourists. She had to pick up two other foreigners after picking us up but that took awhile since the two walked off without leaving any forms of way to contact them; luckily she found them. She informed us that there will be no shopping tours and that we will spend the whole day in Longji Rice Terrace. First, we will watch a show performed by the minority people before we begin hiking up for 20 minutes. Then, we will eat lunch and then finish hiking up and take photos.

​We can actually see the sun peaking out behind the clouds in the sky. The tour guide told us that we are lucky to see the sun especially during the rainy season.

First stop: Miao minority performance

​When we arrived at the village, we entered a building and sat at the top level. The Miao minority began performing several tribal dances and ended with a demonstration of how they take care of their long hair. It was very interesting to see how long and jet-black colored their hair were especially how they wrapped it around their heads. The performance was outstanding but I wished we could have a glimpse into their daily lives since I felt it was very commercialized to watch a performance put on by the people. However, I won’t complain much since I got to take photos with an old Miao grandma who had a head full of long, black hair and claimed to be 80-years old.

Next stop: Lunch halfway up

After the show, we made our way up to the rice terraces. We ate at a restaurant after walking for 20 minutes. We ordered the bamboo chicken and bamboo rice since they are local specialty dishes. I also ordered rice wine to try but it was a bad idea since my face began to glow bright red (thanks Asian glow) and it is obvious in some of the photos I took.

Next stop: Longji Rice Terrace

We started our hike again up to the rice terraces and once we reached the top, we basically bombarded our cameras with photos. The scenery was breathtaking, something I don’t think I can see anywhere else. I think I got too excited that I idiotically stepped into the terrace and, of course, it had to be the season to water the terrace.

So my entire right foot began sinking in before I struggled to pull it out. I limped away from the terrace and I sat down, attempting to clean off my mud-infested sneaker. Some of the passersby were very nice; one suggested me to ask for a brush from a nearby shop and the owner nicely handed me one. An old lady actually sat down with me and began cleaning my sneaker for me. She asked me how old I was and I told her I was 20. She told me she has a daughter who is a little older than me and has recently graduated. As she helped me, she reminded me of my mother; at that moment, I wanted to cry since it renewed my hope that there are still good people in this world, people who help others and ask for nothing in return.f

Miao minority photoshoot

Oye and I continued to make our way up and decided to stop for a Miao minority photo-shoot. We both dressed up in the Miao minority clothing and the owners took a few professional photos for us to purchase. It was almost time after we finished so we began making our way down to meet the tour group.

Last Stop: Guilin night market streets

Instead of heading back to the apartment, Maddie, Kritika, and I chose to stay in the city of Guilin to walk around. We walked to two-night market streets: Zhengyang Pedestrian Street and Xichenglu Pedestrian Street. The evening was alive with numerous performances and crowds of tourists scavenging the streets. We ate at a western-style café before taking a cycle rickshaw back to our apartment.