Longsheng

Throughout our travels we've seen some good driving, some bad driving and some damned awful driving. Our bus driver from this leg of the journey definitely fell into the last category, with all his honking, dodgy overtaking moves and general rubbish driving. But he did manage to top all that when we started on the steep section up to the rice terraces of Longsheng by getting the bus stuck on a particularly steep section and rolling backwards repeatedly towards a sheer drop. At this point virtually everyone on the bus was shouting to get off and all I could think of was the final scene of the Italian Job (the original, of course). Once the driver listened, everyone got off and he made it up that section easily.

Once at the top we were met by a larger group of so called porters who would carry our bags on the twenty minute uphill walk to our hotel. They were actually women about the size and age my granny. We were both horrified at thought of these women carrying our heavy backpacks, but we were told this is what they do to earn money and they would be highly offended if we didn't allow them to do so.

After dinner we were treated to a cultural show by the locals that consisted of singing and dancing before they plied us with rice wine (it wasn't that nice, very sweet and yeasty). People who were only sipping their wine were helped to drink quickly it by singing women.

After the wine it was time to play the local party type games, one which resembled blindman's buff and another was a kind of dancing thing, most bizarre.

The following morning we had an early start for our hike through the rice terraces. The scenery was simply breath-taking acentuated by the mist that kept rolling in and then clearing. Along the hike we saw some really cute puppies and lots locals with things to sell. We gave in to some of them and bought some postcards and a Chinese table set.

Further along the walk we were met by a group of local women, who for a small fee would let down their hair which was about 5-6 feet long.

Following the walk we had a rest and some dinner before the shame of have our bags carried back to the bus by the same little old ladies. Thankfully though a new bus with a new driver awaited us.

It was then onto our second overnight train of the trip to get to Wuchang on our way to Licheng and the Yangtze river boat cruise.