Locations: Jinkeng, Guangxi, China( 25� 45' 30.6? N, 110� 7' 12.72? E)
Date: 12 April 2005; 7.15am
Camera: Canon 300D with kit lens
Rice terraces are common sights in many Asian countries. Whole mountainsides are frequently carved into tens and sometimes hundreds of terraces to grow Asia�s main staple, rice. Huge rice terraces can be found in many Asian countries including China (one of the most well-known and often photographed is that of Yuanyang in Yunnan) Vietnam (Sapa), Indonesia (Tegalallang in Bali) and the UNESCO Heritage Site of Ifugao Rice Terrace in Philippines (this is one I have not been and would like to visit sometime soon). Most of these rice terraces are tended by minority tribes who have spent centuries carving the terraces from the mountainside. One of the loveliest terraces I have been in my travels in Asia is the Jinkeng Rice Terraces in the Longsheng County which is about 100 km from Guilin. The terraces here are about 500 years old, with elevation varying between 350m to 900m, starting right from the riverside. One can trek up the mountainside to the top of the mountain for a fabulous panorama of the terraces. When I visited the place in 2005, it was still not very developed (i.e. not yet inundated by tourists) and I could walk in peace among the villages and stay at a guest house, right at the top of the mountain and enjoyed an incredible misty morning views over the terraces. I imagined this place to be very different now (as with any destinations �discovered� by local Chinese tourists).
