Yuanyang

It's a bit confusing, because Yuanyang isn't a place, it's a county, and it has two towns that are called Yuanyang. I decided to stay in Xinjie - which is Yuanyang old town - as apposed to the Yuanyang new town which is an hour away. No one speaks English here, and it seems that it's not on the tourist trail, although I have seen a few westerners bobbing about.

It's been a bit of a culture shock, particulalry as nothing is written down in Roman text, and I've been playing match the symbols trying to work out where I'm going. But the local people are incredibly friendly and very very helpful - so it's actually not been that much of a hassle - although I'm working hard on my Mandarin skills :-)

(On an amusing side note, I learned how to say thankyou using the phrasebook and kept saying it to people who all started laughing. Turns out I wasn't saying it anywhere near how it's pronounced. I am slightly worried in case I was telling people there mother looked like a water buffalo by accident :-)

The big draw here are the Yuanyang rice terraces, and they are definielty worth coming to see. The terraces have been worked here for over 1300 years ago, and today they still use traditional methods to work the land. It's an incredible example of peoples ingenuity and ability to master the tough environment. And the rice terraces add to the beatuy of the area.

I'm really lucky to be here now, because they are starting to flood the terraces for the new crop planting, and the water on the hill side really adds to the effect.

There's a place in town that can arrange a tour for 250 Yuan (about 25 pounds), but I ran into a french couple who told me you can do the trip yourself, using local transport for a lot less. They also told me there was a local market at one of the villages.

So I set my alarm for 5:00am, and ended up sleeping through it until past 8am. I'm still feeling really drained after the recent episode, so probably needed the rest. When I finally surfaced (after having enjpoyed the last Sapa choclate bread :<( I got outside to find it was raining and really misty.

Not to worry - as I did some Internet, and then got a taxi to one of the best view points. The taxi driver was really great, and stopped at all these great places to see the terraces. He was really upset at the weather and kept pointing at the sky and shacking his head. At one point he races off and comes back with a bottle of ice tea for me - what a top bloke...

But in the end, the weather didn't cause any problems as it made the terraces more atmospheric and I really enjoyed the trip out through the villages.

The taxi guy took me back into town and I had lunch: a weird pancake thingy made with what tasted like really bitter grass (of the lawn variety :-) and chips. Yes - chips. But with soy suuce, chili, and two types of paste of which I have no idea what they were. They were totally awesome. Total cost: 20 pence!

They have these three wheeler thingies here, and so I got one of these to take me to one of the other villages where they have more rice terraces, and again, really enjoyed the trip out.

So that's about it...Here's some pics:













Looking down from the top of a very big cliff:





And when the sun's shining:



Pimp my ride three wheeler:





People still work the land as they have for 1300 years - except for the wellington boots: