The Dragons Spine

Well we did not see the fishing in the end as all reviews were of an overpriced tourist extravaganza involving just a few very scared birds, no wonder we gave it a miss. Instead we did a few jobs in town before spending the last beautiful evening cycling the small lanes winding their way between the fields and river while trying our best to avoid the little old ladies walking their water buffalo home, the geese being herded and workers busy harvesting their rice crop with impossibly heavy loads on carry poles over their shoulders.
An express bus to Guilin, a local bus to Longsheng and final minibus to Longshi (Dragons Spine) saw us deposited at the foot of a steep slope where a final 20 minute slog upwards brought us to Ping An. The village of wooden houses and narrow lanes is nestled in an area of rice terraces set on the slopes of the steep terrain all resulting in a very attractive view from our hotel balcony! Our one full day in the area and Amy was not up to much again so after we both walked to the 2 viewpoints for just above the village for sunrise, from which you can see why the area gained its nickname, she headed back for a rest and I set out among the hills aiming for the nearby settlement on Zong Lui and the 4 hour round trip described in our guidebook. Pretty early on I was ambushed by 3 local ladies who would not take no for an answer (must work on my forceful voice!) and on arriving their village I was taken to one of their homes and fed a huge spread of rice with 3 large bowls of different vegetable dishes followed by melon, the leftovers alone were enough to feed a family of 4! After this we set off to other viewpoints dotted around the area and it was not until 7 hours later that I stumbled wearily back into our room, much to Amy's relief. I was pretty cream crackered for although the scenery was stunning it was a long, steep and rough track to be doing in a pair of flip flops that cost me 16Y (1 pound 60 pence). The ladies were good fun though and kept me company as well as showing me routes I would never have taken myself so their initial persistence was also for my benefit.