longji, hongxi

set off at 7 for the longji terraced plantations. 11 of us in a jinbei minivan. the driver was a bit of a speedfreak, good thing he was limited by the van. this was pretty much the bunch of people who had booked their vacations through ctrip.com, including the guy who puked on the plane and the chinese guy with green eyes.
longji was a 2 hour hike which covered 2 viewing spots. the best time to visit is when the terraces are filled with water, which was of course, not at the present moment. reminded of the terraced plantations in ubud. though not sure if ubud could claim to being over 600 years old. and for those who preferred not to walk, palanquins(!) were an option.
lunch was very good: glutinous rice with nuts and mushrooms cooked slowly in bamboo tubes, steamed country chicken in a delicious broth, lup cheong with bamboo shoots and wild veggies. also tried the rice wine, which was more tart and alcoholic compared to the yunnan version.

there was too much time to kill before our flight at 8.45 pm. our driver enthusiastically recommended this rubber dinghy water adventure at 180 rmb a pop. coming right after lunch, no one was interested. the alternative of hongxi (red stream) was proposed instead. it was 45 rmb for the entrance fee and it turned out to be a pleasant and cooling walk alongside rapids with a magnificent waterfall to boot. it was all the more enjoyable for being totally unexpected and unplanned. it didn't seem to be a major stop for tourists in general so we had the place largely to ourselves.

despite the long-held aversion to travelling during the golden weeks, the trip was not as bad as i'd imagined in terms of crowds. tour groups were far more noticeable in guilin as they traipsed from one "must-see" to another but yangshuo was largely free of them. it seemed that guilin catered more to domestic tourists while yangshuo was geared towards the westerner backpacker crowd. sure xijie was crowded but it was also nice to have a bustling street to wander along with gelato stalls and cool dark cafes to pop into for a respite from the heat.
time to start thinking about the next trip.