Rice Terraces

From the moment we left our hostel door there were two Yao women 'guiding' us, without invitation and certainly no encouragement. Less than ten minutes down the track they were 'asking' if we'd like to eat lunch at their house in Zhongliu (the halfway point of our hike). We didn't give an answer, not wanting to commit ourselves. The women continued on ahead, stopping every now and again to make sure they hadn't 'lost' us. We noticed they were collecting wild vegetables and joked to each other that they were for our lunch!

Three hours later we arrived at their village, exhausted, and quite happy to simply follow the two women home! We were rewarded with a beautiful six-dish meal (including the wild vegetables) which was cooked on an open fire in front of us and a hearty rendition of local folk songs!