We left the long house after saying goodbye to the families and left them moving bricks for the building of their new kitchens at the back of the wooden structure. The women were doing the labouring but still wore traditional clothes, but obviously their old ones! Three of the children came to see us off too.
As we drove along the valley there were lots of little wooden villages. It made us wonder how many more were tucked away in the mountains that have no road access, there must be hundreds of them. To visit them you would need a guide, your walking boots and a long visa.
Around every corner there is another picture that you want to stop to take, however we need to move on at a reasonable rate or we will never get to Malaysia. We followed the Xun river for a while.
Even here there are new bridges being built and new roads going in. It is hard to imagine what impact this will have on the way of life of the Miao and the other ethnic minority groups in China.
Further up the road people were picking rice. Others carrying it back for drying.
We continued on to the rice terraces of Longsheng (Ping’an). After a long and windy road we arrived at a carpark where you leave your car to walk into the village on the hill. No cars are allowed past here. Spring walked on up to the village to stay in a guest house and we slept in the camper looking out over the valley.
Temperatures are suddenly so much higher … no need for the second duvet … barely need one!
troopytracks 