The trip from Lijiang to the southeast corner of Yunnan is not for those with motion sickness! Bus, bus, train, minibus, bus...after 23 hours travel, with some frightening cliff edge drop-offs and brutal bumpy roads we arrive in Xiejie, the old hilltop town of Yuanyang. Famous for 500 year old rice terraces carved by the hands of generations of Hani people. Every shape and size and pattern of terracing, just amazing!
This area is still secluded (actually protected by rotten roads!) from the tourism thickly spreading through China. The minority hill tribe women don their fascinating traditional dress every day...while they hammer rocks into gravel and carry massive loads of timber and assorted things. They seem to be the hard workers, as many of the men chat and smoke from their grandiose tobacco water pipes whiling away the hours. The area around here is real; it's raw village life, not prettied up for the tourists. Walking the rural roads and village pathways, we seem to startle some and are a curiousity to many. The tour groups whiz by in their minibuses from viewpoint to viewpoint but not us...no no...we decide to walk 13km up the road - we get a closer look at things, but our legs are toast!
