Day 24 - Exploring the terraces

Today we got up too late to do the day-long exploration we had planned, but instead took a leisurely walk to the nearby Old Zhuang village. While there we spent the next few hours exploring the backstreets of the village, watching the children play and many dogs roaming free - actually all the animals here roam free including hundreds of chickens and ducks, but they seem to know where their food comes from so they keep close. Up here in the mountains it is quiet and peaceful and the temperature is a very pleasant 23-24 degrees, so the wandering was not as draining as many of the walks in China have been so far - this allowed us to pay more attention to what is around us. We saw neon pink, bright red, and electric blue dragon flies, brown and green frogs jumping everywhere (as well as hundreds of tadpoles in the rice paddies), and lots of spiders (making each time we walk through spiderwebs on the journey a little more creepy!).

We found walking through the terraces so enjoyable we found a nice place to sit and just watch and take in our surroundings - not a car (or accompanying beeps) in sight or sound. During this time we started to notice more and more workers in the fields tending to the thousands of acres of rice-paddies, as well as greeting the many workers walking past with their heavy loads - the loads in baskets connected by a pole across the shoulders. We attempted lunch at a small shop, which was a failure - though the people we met while trying were absolutely worth the try. Home to Susan for lunch before heading out - we almost made it to 'viewpoint 1', but while sheltering from the rain we came across some local women from a nearby village who wanted to charge us for photos with their really long hair (they are in the Book of Guiness World Records!!). When the rain turned more persistent we decided to head home.

A night of rest tonight to prepare for our day of walking the terraces planned for tomorrow! Us casual adlibbers don't look forward to the days we break out the alarm clock, but we're sure it will be worth it!

Adlibing the nearby villages, and enjoying the quiet (no cars and the incessant honking)!