We couldn’t decide whether it was worth returning to the Longji rice terraces as our previous experience wasn’t a great one. We arrived on a cold January day 8 years ago and the guesthouse we booked wasn’t where it said it would be on the map which meant we had to hike all the way up the terraces until we arrived at a rather abandoned looking hotel. Luckily we did find a chain-smoking man to check us in to a room that had no running water and absolutely no other guests. Because we were so far out the village we had no choice but to eat at our hotel where he cooked us an awful meal. We just didn’t get a good vibe from the place, it felt like a ghost town. We had some nice views as we were so high up but the terraces were brown and bleak. So, was it worth chancing another experience like that? Our hostel in Guilin said the terraces would be brown in March too but in the end we decided to go for it as we had two days of sunshine predicted so we hopped on a bus towards the mountains.

We’re a little older and wiser now and picked a hotel just a 700m walk from the bus stop, it wouldn’t offer the dreamy views of the terraces but we’ll be out hiking most of the time. It still felt very ghost-towny when we arrived, I guess it’s crazy here in the summer months because they were building an absurd amount of new hotels. But once again we arrived to an empty hotel with no one to check us in. The hotel looked very new but rather neglected and dusty, there was a big smear of blood on the wall and some chicken feathers in it so I assume they did some sort of sacrifice at some point. I wondered across the road where I saw the neighbour and asked her to call our host. Five minutes later a moped came up the road and a little Yao lady (an ethnic minority group that live in this area) jumped off and ran up the stairs to greet us. She was adorable, with typical long hair for this ethnic group, in fact I think the Yao ladies made it into the Guinness book of records for their hair length as it’s 1.5-2m long. They wrap it around their head and form a big bun on their forehead which is meticulously combed so no strands are loose. They all wear a black pleated skirt, a thick pink or red cardigan with colourful embroidery on it and a black bonnet that covers all their hair except the bun at the front. The room was lovely, one of our nicest so far. It was huge with two double beds so we had a whole bed each and a floor to ceiling window. It was clean and modern with a big bathroom and brand new fluffy towels. Not bad for £12.80 including breakfast.

Our host didn’t seem to understand anything we put in our translator app so we thought she must speak a local language and not mandarin. She did an eating impression so we were like yeah lunch sounds good so she grabbed a menu. We pointed to the picture with the writing for fried rice and she looked so confused and kept saying random words back to us. We tried our ‘point it book’ showing rice, egg and vegetables but still she looked baffled. Then she called a relative on FaceTime and was trying to show him the photo of the menu. We started to wonder if maybe she just had bad eyesight, hence her not even understanding a photo. We were all giggling and she had such a contagious laugh but we soon realised it was a lost cause and even if she understood us it could take ages for her to make the food and we were wasting precious sunshine so we had to do some charades to say we don’t want food, we’re going for a hike, and eventually we were off.

It was such a beautiful day so we set off to the ‘Phoenix looking back’ viewpoint. A cable car followed us the whole way up, playing music out the speakers and announcing safety warnings to the zero passengers it had riding it. It was hot work walking up all the steps through the bamboo forest, a lot warmer than we were expecting China to be at this time of year. Eventually we made it to the top where there was just a handful of people, it was delightfully quiet. The majority of the shops were closed but a few remained open so we were able to buy some bizarrely chewy lotus cakes and a coke as a make-shift lunch. The view was absolutely stunning and so much better than we expected. The terraces were green and lush so we actually timed it quite well, sure there are other times of the year when they look even better but compared to last time it was spectacular.

We wanted to continue hiking high up to the next main viewing area but the route didn’t seem to exist in real life so we had to go steeply down and back up again. We passed through a few villages along the way but sadly they’ve lost a lot of their charm. The rustic wooden houses are almost a thing of the past and most have now been knocked down to build new hotels. They are absolutely massive hotels though and some are so luxury with floor to ceiling windows so we could see fancy baths and even spiral staircases in some rooms. It’s a shame to see the old charm fading.

The final viewing area was a wooden structure built on about 7 levels so it was a multi-story platform. The top floor had a group of Yao ladies selling tacky trinkets. They were quite pushy but it was all with a smile and good spirits so I didn’t mind. One of them was manning a vintage stove with lots of little compartments. When we stared in curiosity she pulled a compartment open and inside were boiled (or baked in this situation) eggs and sweet potatoes. The ladies all had big silver earrings which were clearly quite heavy as they had stretched ear-lobes and at one point they noticed my earrings and got all excited about it, giggling and slapping my arm enthusiastically.

The view was really good from this spot but we were too late in the day as shadows were cast across the terraces so we decided to call it a day and walk back down to Dazhai which was near our guesthouse. We found a rustic house for dinner where chickens were running in and out. They served us one of the worst fried rice we’ve ever had and then a very old Yao lady came over and tried to talk to us. She unbuttoned her jacket and showed us her embroidered clothes underneath, then she pointed to my jumper and did an impression of throwing it on the floor because I should be wearing a fancy embroidered one like hers!

The high elevation meant it was cold overnight so I was very happy to have such a snuggly down duvet. We managed to meet a second worker at our hotel, we think it was the hosts daughter and she understood our translator so we were able to ask for breakfast to be served at 8am the next day. It was a delicious noodle soup with vegetables which set us up for another hike uphill. The lighting was perfect this morning and the terraces looked fabulous, dropping in green layers below us like an elaborate cake.

We were very happy we made the choice to come back to the area, not only were the views better but the accommodation was delightful and it even had running water, hooray. Two days hiking were enough for us so we headed to the bus stop to enquire about the 2pm but to Yangshuo. We didn’t know who to ask so popped into the cable car station where the staff member took us under her wing. She used her translator to explain that we would have to change buses in Guilin which we were a bit gutted about as it was supposed to be direct but not a lot we could do about that now. She asked if we’d reserved a ticket and then began calling some people, all in between serving guests at the cable car station.

She came back over to us and pointed to a man she’d called over, he was the bus driver and would take us to the bus now. She told us the price and said he will help us change buses. How sweet of her to help so much. The bus just had four people on it which was crazy and we made it to Guilin without any stops. The driver pulled into a random hotel carpark so we were very confused because it wasn’t a bus station but then he put us in a private car! One other passenger joined us and we didn’t have to pay anything extra, it was the same price as the bus, how bonkers. And the crazy thing is the whole journey took 2.5 hours whereas the journey from Guilin to Longji took 3.5 hours for less distance. We’re looking forward to spending the next week in this area surrounded by dramatic karst peaks.