As a side note: I am very proud of how good I have gotten at traveling lightly. I used to bring gigantic suitcases just to stay in Clemson for a football weekend, but staying in hostels has helped me a lot - it's a lot easier to bring less when you know you'll be carrying it all on your back!! I brought just 2 pairs of pants and four shirts for the whole trip, and wore tennis shoes the whole time. I also wore no make-up, and didn't fix my hair the entire trip. It's the most low-maintenance I've been in my whole life! And I kind of like it!!
But anyway, back to our morning - we got a phone call at 7:30am, waking us up, saying that our guide was ready to pick us up, and we freaked out! We insisted that our guide was supposed to come at 8:30am, but the hostel worker said he was there now! We ran around and got ready in about 10 minutes. Then we ran to the lobby, where the hostel desk worker said our guide left to pick someone else up and would be back in a minute. So we sat around for awhile. Until someone else called. Then the desk worker told us, "You will not be leaving now. You will maybe be leaving later." Maia looked at the worker and said, "Maybe at 8:30am?" The hostel called the wrong room!!! So we had some extra time with nothing to do, and sat near the window watching the river until our guide came.
A lot of the people from our boat trip were on our trip to Longshen and the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, and it was really nice to see them again. I can honestly say that I have truly liked every foreigner I have met in China. They are all such cool interesting people. It takes a certain kind of person who is willing to travel to China, I think, and they are all people who I really enjoy spending time with. I know it sounds a little corny, but the fact that a group of random people from all over the world who somehow all end up in China together can get along shows that people really aren't that different, when it comes down to it. I think that in generally, people all over the world are good people, and have a lot of basic things in common. It's really just the world leaders who screw everything up, and make us fight over our differences.
But it was good to see all of our new friends again! We took a bus 2 hours up into the mountains, in a minority autonomous region near Longshen. One of China's ethnic minority groups, the Yao people, live in this area. We went to a show where they danced and sang, and learned a little about their culture. I got to get up and dance with them from one of their songs!
The Yao women cut their hair only once in their life - on their eighteenth birthday. Their hair is used to symbolize their status - a girl covers her hair until she is married, and each knot in her hair symbolizes one child. The minority people are exempt from China's one child policy, so they are able to have more than one child.
Then we traveled on toward one of the mountains to see the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. The terraces are stacked pieces of land built into the side of the mountain which hold the water as it goes down the mountain, so that the minority people can grow rice, even up at the top of mountains.
There are no roads which go up to the terraces, so we left the van and hiked up to a village called Ping'an, which was built into the side of the mountain. It was an adorable village - very peaceful, with no roads are cars. The only way to get around was to climb stone paths up and down the mountainside. (The people who live there are in VERY good shape!)
After we ate lunch in the village, we climbed the rest of the way up to the top of the mountain, to look down at the terraces. It was a hard climb, but definitely worth it. The view was amazing!!
Then we climbed back down the mountain, and did a little shopping in Ping'an. The minority people had their own hand-made crafts, and I bought a few beautiful skirts, a dress, and a bag.
Then we took a bus back to Guilin, and sadly said goodbye to our tour group.
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