Longshen- A Village Stop on Our Journey |
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We spent the afternoon, night and morning in a small village called Dazhai at the famous rice terrace fields. If you have any view of china, these terrace fields should be it.
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Walking Back to Village after Hiking
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A very simple village, used to tourist groups coming in at staying in their guest lodges. You can hike to the neighboring village, have a bonfire party with the locals, buy their art and cloth products, and just enjoy the surronding beauty. Very quiet, very relaxing. We had a good time here, but grew bored quickly because we are all college students who get ansy in the middle of nowhere. But, we had a good time while we where there.
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You can see the village we hiked to.
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Definitely hike through the terrace fields. Its about a four hour hike to the neighboring village but its not really strenuous, just a long walk. Good weather then its no problem. We cut away from the group though and explored the terraces on our own. That was also fun. Its really the only thing to do in the village. Also, go to the local school. We sang and played with the children. The school is very poor though and only runs because local businesses and corporations in the bigger cities give them money. Our tour guide told us that the government had too many other things to worry about and bigger finanical problems so it fell upon businesses to support the schools. Thats a funny statement from a communist country... right?
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Beautiful, Beautiful China
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The terrace fields are absolutely incredible. You can spend all day walking through the villages, stopping in by the school, and hiking through the fields. Pigs, chickens, horses, and people are all moving and walking around you because they actually have things to do, unlike us who just walk around and take pictures. The people here work hard and are really buff from it. We saw these old women stacking and tieing up long beams of wood with bamboo. They were cut, muscular old women. It was fun to watch them work, but made us all feel like pansies.
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I absolutely love horses. These were some rugged little creatures.
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Old and young ladies rush to greet your bus and offer to take your luggage with them becaus eyou have to hike a ways to the lodges. And, to get to the guest houses you have to hike up steps that leave you breathless. We left our big luggage under the bus, made up a day pack with a change of clothes but some kids still had these people carry their stuff. It's cheap and it gives them some sort of income.
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The village has guest houses. A lodge for the boys and one for the girls. Or, at least thats how our group split up. Comfortable, fairly clean rooms but no heat so it gets really cold at night. But, the comforter is enough to keep you warm and make you never want to step out of its protective shell. We loved our beds actually, the next morning everyone slept in and debated ever getting out of bed.
That fresh wood smell and open air just consumes you in this village. It is the most relaxing, refreshing experience. Even just one night and you feel your worries slip away.
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Another View of the Fields
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Unfortunately, there is only one restaurant and a cook in each lodge to make breakfast. All the food was pretty bad actually. I mean, it just wasn't very good. They just cut up all the parts of the animal and threw them into dishes. Except for beef and potatoes, that one was good. I'm telling you, you can't go wrong with beef and potatoes.
We had frog. Well, I didn't touch it because it could see its little toes and its head and everything. But, our guides really enjoyed it.
The boys got to pick their own duck from a group of them and watched as they cooks slaughtered it then served it to them. I don't think it had an appetizing effect, watching the death of your meal. They said it wasn't very good and very much unlike the delicious, incredible Beijing Duck.
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This one is kind of short because there isn't a lot ot do except for hiking, relaxing, bonfires, eating bad food, and exploring.
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Published on Saturday November 5th, 2005 by vbx000
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