We arrived in Guilin airport midday and met up with our driver from Li-An Lodge for an overnite stay to take in the sights of the traditional rice farming community of Longji and the minority village - the Yaos, the Zhuangs & Miaos.
Li-An Lodge is uniquely situated atop the outcrop of a terrace field and is difficult to get to. As nite was falling upon our arrival, we decided to give the bamboo sedans a try as there are many local farmers that are eager to be hired to carry tourist or their luggages up the steep incline to the lodge. One way trip for two ppl amounted to 400 yuan after tipping or about $32 pp. It was well worth it ..especially the midway stop whilst we grabbed some freshly squeezed green colored sugar cane juice (only 3 yuan per cup).
The lodge was apparently built over 8 years by Keren Su, survivor of the cultural revolution, a world traveller & adventurer, inventor, self-taught painter and photographer whose photos have been featured in National Geography Magazine. Keren Su's esthetic & artistic appreciation of China is evident in the various artifacts and collections stewns all about the intimate & cozy lodge. The lodge itself was built in the old fashioned tongue & groove method ( as in Temple of Heaven) without any nails. Each guest room featured an unique theme to celebrate the Chinese culture. Ours was the Celadon room & was decorated with numerous period reproductions of the Celadon porcelain pieces (green multi-glazed ) originating in China during the Tang dynasty (9th century) and made its way to the west via the Silk Road around the 15th Century of the Ming Dynasty. It eventually became popular in France in the 17th Century due to the work of a romantic French writer.
Celadon Filigree Pot display in room
On the morning after our stay, we were unfortunately greeted with morning fog and misty rain. That however did not deter us from setting out to the rice terraces and meandering our way through the verdantly lush fern & bamboo lined, shale-capped pathways that interspersed the extensive terrace region. Although it was quite a shame the weather was not clear enough to do justice to the beauty & magnificence of the whole area, or to allow us to imagine the length of the dragon's spine, the misty day did give us a better sense in some way of what daily toil it must be for the rice farmers to habitually work the land no matter the weather.
Some ducklings greeting us on the terrace hike.
