Guilin and Longsheng tour exploring rice fields in rural China
May 3rd, 2006
Guilin city tour visiting Reed Flute Cave, Elephant Trunk Hill and Fubo Hill. Full day tour to rice fields in Longsheng exploring Longji rice terraces, among the heart of rural China living on agricolture. This region in southern China is also known for hosting ethnic minorities, like the Zhuang minority.
Photos of the scenery over flooded rice fields, visibile while approaching Guilin airport.
The typical shape of the mountains around Guilin.
Pictures of Guilin seen from from my hotel room. Guilin is a very green city, with many small lakes and rivers.
The day tour in Guilin begins from Elephant Trunk Hill (picture on the right), so called because it looks like an elephant while drinking on the river. On the right picture, Fubo hill, a natural hole in a rock.
My Guilin city tour continues visiting Reed Flute Cave having many bizzarre-shaped formations inside. The colors aren't natural, but obtained by colored lamps.
Pictures of Reed Flute Cave in Gulin (China)
With a bus from Yangshuo, I take a full day tour to Longsheng, to see the Longji rice terraces and meet the Zhuang ethnic minority. In the pictures, the mountains around Longsheng.
Pictures of of Zhuang minority. Street vendors of Zhuang minority, before arriving Longsheng.
Pictures of Longji and Longsheng in the heart of rural China, where the economy is based mainly on rice and other products from agricolture.
Pictures of Longji in southern China showing the typical homes made entirely with wood.
Views on the hills all around Longji and Longsheng.
Pictures of the roofs.
Photo of Yao women. Usually they cut their hairs for the first time when they are 18 years old, then only a few times for the entire life. The older hair are kept and used to cover the head again.
I start to climb the mountain around Longsheng, to have a birdeye view on the rice terraces and the so called "dragon's backbone", an hill completely covered by terraces hosting rice fields.
Pictures of rice terraces in rural China around Longsheng. These huge hills are completely terraced.
Photos of terraced rice fields. It is very funny to search for particular shapes and lights, between the terraces.
Rice fields panorama.
Pictures of "dragon's backbone" and rice terraces, flooded and almost ready to start a cultivation cycle. Here the altitude is 1000 meters and the weather is cooler compared to Guilin or Yangshuo. For this reason, the rice can be grown only once per year.
More pictures of rice fields hosts inside terraces along the slopes of the mountains.
Other views on the rice terraces in southern China.