An old morning…

Yesterday morning we left the old town of Yuangyang to climb up to the ancient region of Yuangyang 1400 metres higher in the mountains. This is the area that the native people of the region, the Hani people have lived for centuries. The highlight of this area were the vast areas of rice terraces that are still in use after being built 1300 years ago. The rice terraces are still being worked in the old style using water buffalo for cultivation, and like all the rice we have seen in China it is hand harvested. The local Hani women are still wearing their national dresses everyday.

After looking around the area and all having a Cuppa tea beside our cars it was time to head back down the mountain and off to the Shilin Stone Forest.

Maurie’s and my departure was delayed for twenty mins to put a bolt in the starter motor. This is a common problem with CAV starters and was no real concern; just an inconvenience.

We stopped for lunch in Yuangyang at a street market for a buffet lunch..a hot one :-).

The rest of the day’s drive was a couple hundred of kilometres of mostly freeway driving. Freeways are not as nice as the country roads, but an essential part of Chinese driving if you want to get anywhere. As soon as you leave a freeway the average speed of travel drops down to about 30 or 40kph, so the days get very long as some of us have found.