I fell asleep, but apparently the drive was really pretty.
I woke up for the ticket office, where I hopped out to buy a snack. I bought an apple and Bailey bought a banana. It was a funky looking local banana, and he let me try it and it was SO GOOD! I've never liked bananas before, but this kind was the perfect texture and tasted delicious. So I saved my apple and mom and I bought bananas of our own, and this double banana for Bailey.
Our first official spot was the "Long Hair Village" where our tour guide basically ditched us. We didn't really know what we were supposed to do there, so we wandered around a bit before going into the show he gave us tickets for.
It was a show about how the women in that town never cut their hair until the are 16/18, right before they get married. They keep the cut off ponytail though, as well as all of the hairs that fall out when they wash it and stuff. They coil their childhood ponytail up with their lost hair ponytail along with their normal hair for the rest of their lives, making these fancy hair dos. That are held together by only a comb!
After the show we went to a restaurant that our tour guide had pointed out earlier. We waited a while for our food (where was our expensive tour guide?! We do not know) but when it finally came, it was delicious. I really quite like traditional Chinese food these days! I especially enjoyed the rice cooked inside bamboo.
We wandered around for a little bit after that, and avoided all the ladies trying to sell us things.
Eventually Hill found us and took us up to the Longji Rice Terraces! He dropped us off at the top with instructions of where to go. He also told us that it was the rice planting festival today, so that's why there were so many people visiting, and why there were locals playing games in the Terraces! Before heading down, we took some time to look around the top. Some mom wanted my mom to pose with her son. He was wearing cool elephant sunglasses.
There were some cute old ladies who dressed us up in traditional clothes for pictures. How could we say no to that at the price of 10 kuai?! Bailey was our photographer and got lots of pictures of us. So did every passerby with their phone!
We then started on the dirt path that would take us around and through the Rice Terraces. It was nice to get away from the crowd and enjoy the peaceful Terraces! It was such a gorgeous sight!
We loved our hike! We spent lots of time taking pictures.
I LOVE bamboo forests. Bamboo is just so cool! Bailey helped me so I could touch the bamboo without falling off the edge.
Eventually we made it to Ping'an Village, where I have been before actually! It was fun to see the same restaurant that Kylee and I ate at 3 years ago! We bought some souvenirs and stopped for some noodles and dumplings before heading to the parking lot.
The first hour of driving was super awkward, as Hill was angry with us for "taking too long" (when he told us to take our time... Weird, right!? If you ever book a China Highlights tour in Guilin, request to NOT get Hill!) the drive improved as he stopped reprimanding us and started chewing his weird energy raisin thing. He offered one to Bailey and it was like he drank three cups of coffee that evening! We still don't know what that thing was. Another highlight was our first run in with a trench squatter at a rural gas station! At least it kind of had stalls!
Hill was kind enough to drop us off at a pedestrian street near our apartment. Instead of visiting the street, we decided to check out the Sun and Moon pagodas. They are so beautiful!! I love how they look, they're actually pretty unique, and I love how they are lit up at night.
Another stranger wanting a picture with my mom.
I thought they'd totally be closed, but we were actually able to go up both! We first climbed up the stairs of the Moon pagoda, and sat and enjoyed the view from the top. What a view! We were right in front of the Sun pagoda, which is set on the water. The reflections of the pagoda and all the city lights in the water were breathtaking. It was nice to just sit and admire the view for a minute!
We took the underwater passage to the Sun pagoda, which luckily had an elevator. There weren't actually places to sit and admire the view from the Sun pagoda, plus the Moon pagoda is a less spectacular sight (I prefer the yellow lights over the silver lights) so I think the Moon pagoda experience won!
On our way out we explored the grounds just a little bit. We didn't see very much, as it was pretty dark, but we did make some statue friends!
After the pagodas we did a little shopping on the pedestrian street. We also got some ice cream but somehow we accidentally ordered green tea and vanilla swirl. Green tea is so gross! I ended up buying some lemonade to make up for the grossness. We ended the night with a walk to our apartment!
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