Apr 29, Wednesday, Longji Rice Terraces, drive to Chengyang

No decent sunrise today as it was pretty cloudy/hazy in the morning but it did make for some nice moody pictures.  

And it rained the night before as well so the stairs were bound to be slippery.  

Unfortunately, what goes up must come down.  Since yesterday we had to walk across the tops of the hills to our hotel, today we had to walk allllllll the way down.  Might not have been quite so bad but the major hike the day before did in the legs and the rock stairs were rather wet and slippery, making for uncertain footing.  However, we made it after a two hour hike (Paul counted the rather uneven steps…there were around 2000).  And, since it was humid we got sweaty all over again.  What a way to start the day (but it was still beautiful.)

Then we took a 1 ½ hour drive... 

to Chengyang, a Dong minority village, to see the 300 year old Wind and Rain Bridge.  It was a covered bridge that was very pretty with many pagoda type towers.  Local villagers had set up little shops all along the inside of the bridge selling clothing and souvenirs.  

And there was a second, very picturesque bridge nearby.

There were also a number of large working waterwheels along the banks of the small river. 

After lunch we walked through the village.  

We ended up in a plaza were some of the local Dong villagers put on a 20 minute or so performance with dancing and music on local bamboo instruments.  

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Prior to the start of the show they walked around the audience with a tray (for donations) and a small drink for each.  They gave Mary a drink first (as in they held the cup and tipped it up).  It turned out to be some type of alcohol, likely a white rice wine.  Whatever - it was it was unexpected.  Paul declined. 

Then it was a long drive back to Sanjiang for the night.  It started pouring rain right after we got into the hotel lobby.  So no exploring; we had dinner in the hotel restaurant and then hung out in our room.  Our hotel was right on the river and had an interesting view of the buildings across the river, both old and new.