Stairway to (Rice) Heaven

Rice Terraces

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Dazhai. We weren't quite sure what was in store for us but we had high hopes. After a 2 hour bus ride (shared with live chickens) we arrived in Dazhai. Dazhai is a tiny minority village set in the middle of the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. We were greeted by Yao women in their traditional pink clothes and long hair piled on top of their heads. We waited an hour for the guesthouse manager to "pick us up".  We had it in our minds that a "pick up" would involve a car. Our pick up was more of an escorted hike. Good thing we had our 14kg packs on our back. The Yao women surrounded us and begged to carry our packs to our guesthouse for about $2. We were feeling particularly cheap (or dumb) that day so we decided to carry our own bags. Good thing our guesthouse was a 2 hour climb straight up! But it was worth it. When we arrived at our guesthouse we were rewarded with an amazing view of the rice terraces. Because the Yao people live in the mountains, there is no flat land for farming. Instead, they have carved tiny rice paddies into the mountain side. The mountains look like a giant staircase (or a dragon's backbone). For the next two days we relaxed and hiked around the mountains. On the way down the mountain we smartened up and hired two ninety pound ladies to carry our bags. Fool us once....