Guilin is most famous for it’s terraced rice fields. Since the type of mountains found in Guilin are quite steep, this is the only practical way for locals to grow rice. This adventure lasted all day and was my favorite memory from the whole trip!
We had an early start because it would take 2.5 hours to get to the Longji Rice Terraces outside of Guilin. My 3 classmates and I along with 2 French girls set off for the rice fields in DaZhai village.
The village itself was gorgeous. The local woman never cut their hair. It was neatly packed inside of their black scarves wrapped tightly around their heads. Every single local person said hello and it seemed expected that they wanted us to greet them back.
The driver took us through the village and set us on the correct path to get to the 3 main scenic spots. We were all told to be back in the parking lot by 4pm. Then the adventure began!
Since coming to China, I’ve found that I love to hike. The steep climb and amazing views are worth the sore legs.
We kept stopping around every curve because the scenery got more and more beautiful!
At this point in the hike, we had reached the first and second scenic point. After studying our map carefully, we could not figure out how to get to the third point. We walked along trails that died off or got very dangerous so we returned back to the main trail. After an hour of searching, we eventually saw a group of older Chinese people and asked their advice. They were heading in the same direction so we compared maps. Apparently, our map had a line that connected the second and third point but their map didn’t. At this point, we were all thoroughly confused and I started to worry because we had to get back to the parking lot at 4pm.
The Chinese group decided to hire a local women to take us to the third point since we couldn’t figure it out for ourselves. Remember, the dangerous path I mentioned early..yup, that was the “right” path. As we walked, the trail became more of a foot path which proceeded to become just a muddy, narrow mess. I glanced at my watch and realized we only had one hour to get back in time but the guide said it would take an hour and a half.
This is when our group felt a tad bit stressed and basically hiked at lightening speeds. The Chinese group with us was also in a rush so they kept yelling, “kuaiiiiiiiii diarrrrrrr” (which means a little faster). However, the trail was…well not a trail. We slipped under fallen trees and walked through water falls. At these points, the Chinese group yelled, “mannnnn diarrrrrr” (which means slow down).
We kept walking along the curves of the rice fields when we suddenly saw the 2 French girls. Their faces showed relief when they saw us. Apparently, they tried to follow the path on their own and got lost within the rice fields. If we hadn’t seen them, I don’t know what would have happened to them. Now, a large group of us was quickly walking along the rice fields following this local women. As we turned the last corner, we saw the third point and all started laughing and smiling.
We did the hour and a half trek in only an hour. It was intense but we took the cable car down and got to the parking lot at 4:06pm.
Looking back, I have no idea what we would have done if we didn’t have a guide. I’m sure the rice fields would have been awfully dark at night!