Haystacks, in large and small varieties, were another common sight in rural China.
Bamboo trees.
Cathy biking past rice terraces with Tang strapped to her bike.
Scenic rice plots.
We took a lot of photos of this stuff.
Cathy at a scenic overlook.
Our guide said, in all seriousness, "Cathy, I like your tattoo." Really it's chain grease from the bike.
Sometimes it seemed that all of rural China was on fire. Farmers burned brush to clear the soil for planting; everyone else burned garbage. The air was thick with smoke everywhere.
Us at the so-called "birthday cake" rice terrace at the top of the Dragon Terraces.
Etc.
One last rice terrace photo-- please?
A mule blocking one of the paths through a village we visited. Maybe there's another route we can take.
Let's say you get hungry and want to eat something from the mini snack bar in your Longsheng Hotel room. The iced tea will run you 5 yuan, and the noodles are 10.
Or, let's say you take a shine to the air conditioner. It'll set you back 2000 yuan to rip that bad boy off the wall and take it home with you. Or, maybe the bathroom sink strikes your fancy...
We just got married
Bonsai trees in the courtyard of the Longsheng Hotel
Cathy pauses on a footbridge that leads to a little rice farming village.
These pack mules really earned their supper: the buckets strapped to their backs were filled to the brim with gravel.
Here's us taking a breather under a very old gate leading to a footbridge that crosses a river.
Another bucolic, old-style Chinese village.