Long Sheng

Although the trip to Long Sheng was only supposed to be a two-hour trip, it felt like much longer. I would say that it took us about two hours to get only to the base of the mountain and then the bus started to climb the windy roads. As the bus drove round and round the mountain, we listened to a playlist of Disney songs, including the Mulan soundtrack.

After driving a ways up the mountain, we needed to switch to a smaller bus that would be able to make it up the mountain on narrower roads with tighter turns. The bus was so much smaller that not all our luggage could fit underneath, so most of us were squished next to each on the bus with all of our bags in our laps.

After being on the small bus for what felt like an hour, but was probably only actually twenty minutes, we piled off the bus with all of our luggage and all of our snacks, as ready as we were ever going to be to hike up the mountain in the rain to our inn.

We started off on a muddy trail with little sense of direction and not even a clue as to where we were going or how long we would be hiking for, of course carrying all of our bags for a two week trip. Some of the locals were hiking with us and offered to carry our bags for a fee. Because I thought the inn was closer than it actually was, I thought I would be able to hike up the mountain with my duffle bag without a problem. However, I ended up straining my back less than halfway up the mountain and had one of the local women help me.

There is a very interesting ethnic minority that lives in Long Sheng. The women of this particular ethnic minority only cut their hair at major rites of passage in their lifetimes, such as marriage or child birth, and then weave the cut locks back into their hair and style them on top of their head. I was amazed how quickly these women flew up the mountain with our heavy bags, while we struggle just hiking uphill on the rocks in the rain.

Forty-five minutes later, we arrived at the village where we would be staying for the next few days, and by village I mean three wooden inns. The inn we were staying in greatly resembled a log cabin. There was a giant balcony out front, projecting right into the rice terraces and offering break-taking views. The first floor of the inn was completely intended for socializing, with large wooden windows opening to offer views of the rice paddies, with tables and chairs for eating and relaxing, a computer for surfing the web, and a projector and screen for movies and music.

The rooms where we were staying we located on the second and third floors of the inn. We were randomly assigned keys and brought our things upstairs. I was not expecting much, but I was surprised to find that the two sides of the hallways upstairs were vastly different, so much that we referred to Molly and Brittany’s side of the hallway as the first wall because of its picturesque windows, western toilet, and slow Internet connection, meanwhile, our side of the hallway, or the third world as we dubbed it, had no windows, no Internet, and most different of all, a squatty potty with a water pipe over it as a shower.

Because we were already wet, dirty, muddy, and covered in livestock poop and sweat from the hike up, we decided to do some more exploring and do some hiking. We hiked through the village and up further into the rice terraces. We got some great pictures, although we all looked pretty gross from our hike up the mountainside.

The coolest part of our hike was our interactions with the local rice paddy farmers. At one point, Brittany, Jay, and I climbed down into the terraces to talk to a farmer who was working there. We obviously spoke in Chinese and he seemed so excited to speak with us. He allowed us to take pictures and even traded his traditional Chinese farmer’s hat for Jay’s adventure hat in a photo op.

As the sun went down, we hiked back to our inn, which was one of the only places we found food on the mountain. We ordered dinner and then we all went upstairs to shower. Cara got in our shower first. She was in and out real quick, and didn’t have any problems with the squatty potty, so I felt pretty optimistic.

Armed with my travel size toiletries and my shower shoes, I headed into our third world shower. Once I got in, it wasn’t all that bad. While I was washing my hair the water pressure kept going in and out. At first I didn’t think anything of it until the end of my shower, as I was straddling the squatty potty washing my face and the water pressure went all the way out so that no water was coming through the pipe. I froze and waited a second for the water to come back on. When it did, it came out in full force, so hard in fact that the pressure caused the shower pipe to burst from the wall. At this point, I was so startled as I stood over the squatter, that I accidentally rubbed soap in my eye. In all the confusion in the midst of water spraying, and now plaster from the wall flying everywhere, I stepped in the squatty potty in an attempt to regain my footing and to shut the water off. Thank goodness I was wearing shower shoes! At last I managed to turn the shower off. I looked at myself in the mirror, only to find that I was covered in tiny flakes of white plaster. After trying to wash off in the sink, I went downstairs to report the incident in my bathroom. My friends laughed at me and continued to pick pieces of plaster off my arms and out of my hair. The inn owner was very apologetic and explained that my experience was a frequent one, as water pressure on the side of the mountain was often testy and unpredictable. I guess fortunately, the inn owners did not have the part to fix my shower, so I got to use Molly and Brittany’s first world shower for the rest of our stay in Long Sheng.

After the shower over the squatty potty that almost killed me, we ate dinner downstairs in the inn. Later that evening, the inn owners lit off fireworks for us in the rice paddies below and gave us three foot sparklers, similar to the ones we had on Chinese New Year, to play with. What else do you do to entertain yourself in the evening on the side of a mountain? That night when we went to bed, Cara and I were able to have pillow talk with Jon and Richie, who were living next door to us, because the walls were so paper thin.

We had the next day completely free after having a group breakfast at the inn. We decided to do some more hiking, but this time took off in a different direction. We didn’t get too far before it started to downpour. At that point though, it didn’t matter. We continued hiking and to be completely honest, the scenery was just as beautiful, if not more so, in the rain.

I was really proud of us. We ended up hiking for about four hours and we were completely dirty and soaked by the time we were through. On the hike back down, we stopped at a different inn for lunch. The food was delicious and so inexpensive. As a matter of fact, I thought it was better than the food at the inn where we were staying.

After lunch we all showered and changed right into our pajamas for the rest of the day. I spent some time reading upstairs and then brought my book downstairs and sat gazing out at the rice terraces while reading and sipping tea. It was quite possibly the most relaxed I have ever felt. Later, we had some intense card games before dinner.

After eating dinner at the inn, the inn owners became excited to learn that we had brought our Ipods with us up the mountain and put our music on the inn’s speakers. They cleared all of the tables from the first floor, gave us some Tsingtaos and a microphone, and let us have a party. It was really cool because we got some of the locals, along with their children to dance and sing with us. Even Joyce and Hong Li were a part of this crazy, mountainside, pajama party. I guess music and dance really is a great way to break cultural barriers.

The party went on through all hours of the morning. Even when I went upstairs to go to sleep, I could hear the music and laughing through the floor. I think it is so cool that we were able to have such a good time in such an isolated place. It just goes to show you that you don’t need much to make quality times with good friends.

The next morning, we woke up early, ate breakfast, and prepared for the hike back down the mountain. I was in a very strange mood. It was like preparing to leave the third world and paradise all at the same time.

It figures as soon as we stepped out on the balcony of the inn with all of our bags that it started to downpour, harder than it ever had rained during our stay on the mountain. Fortunately, the woman who had helped me carry my things up the mountain had come again to help me and gave me a poncho. Before our climb down, I bought some silver bracelets from my new friend. I love them and I can’t wait to wear them in America!

The hike down the mountain was just as bad as the hike up. It was raining so hard and the rocks were muddy and slippery. Rain and mud were running down my poncho and sweat was causing the plastic to stick to me. My jeans were soaked through to my skin and my sneakers were ready to kick it at the base of the mountain after just a few days of intense hiking. I was one of the first people down the mountain and so we had to wait for the whole group to get down safely. Despite the ponchos, we were all drenched, except for Joyce, whose umbrella seemed magical.

Two more winding bus rides later, we were at the base of the mountain and on our way back towards Guilin and on towards Yangshou!