October 16th : Rice Paddies of Longsheng

I wished we had sunny blue skies. We didn’t. It was torrential rain the whole drive up to the rice fields. On the bright side, the rice was supposed to have been harvested in the days leading up to us arriving but due to unseasonal rain, it had been postponed.  What might have been bare fields - with or without water, were still filled with rice as the local people waited for the drier days required for harvesting.

The rain stopped. The clouds came and went with every passing minute. At times, IMC conditions, at other times a wee opportunity to take selfies and capture the golden color of the paddies… rice dangling from long blades, droplets glistening. I never knew what rice looked like before it found its way into a bag at my local grocery store, I am ashamed to admit. It's quite beautiful in a "wild grass at the end of summer" kinda way.

A side note: Sometimes it appears the Chinese have no rules and sometimes it seems lots of rules. In the rice paddies, was this sign: 

And then, 2 seconds later, an older Chinese lady (tourist) trespassing on the rice. She deserved to have her picture taken and yes, she was less than impressed to see me doing it.

The rice paddies are amazing but what was more special today was the invitation from a local family to have lunch with them, in their home. We watched the bamboo rice being stuffed and barbequed on the porch and sat around on tiny chairs enjoying the view. The village was teeming with animals and life… and it was perfect. Everyone had a garden and all around us grew grape tomatoes, squash, eggplant, peppers, bananas and more. 

Tofu squeezers! The water drips right into the drainage system.

I love the Chinese names. Imaginative and connected with the world around.

A reminder of the "one child only" rule, stenciled in the village. Wow.

Opening the bamboo stuffed rice. 

It was then time to walk down from the hills and drive back to Guilin. So many things to see along the way though.

Smoked duck. Like... really smoked! While an old school way to preserve meat for the off-season, I wondered about how much meat is actually left. Our guide is very honest about all sorts of stuff (wait til you read about the pets vs dinner conversation) and he told us that yes, it has be be kinda rehydrated and admittedly there is not much value to it once this duck has been desiccated to this extent. He says the Chinese have "food" that is more to keep the mouth busy, than actually provide calories. Chicken feet is another example. 

Another way to get up to the rice paddies.

Another walk through town was on the books this evening. I needed to find proof for Jason that he was wrong. The spiders and scorpions on a skewer were not solely for tourists, but in fact Chinese people were the ones who ate them. 

(I watched a Chinese woman buy and eat the scorpions!)

We snacked on interesting crepes and squid on a stick, before hitting that amazing bakery one more time.  :-)