Nigel: We had read and seen pictures of Ping' An before we had arrived and we knew that it was going to be something spacial, but we weren't prepared for what we saw when we got there. Ping' Am is a remote village about 1000 feet above sea level, which is only accessible via one road. We arrived into the town of Longshen which is at the foot of the hill, only to be welcomed by one of the ladies which was taking tourists up to Ping' An. We were herded like cattle into this very small mini-bus which had a capacity of 20, but they managed to cram in 30. This did have a different dimension to the Chinese rule of not leaving until the bus is full. To add to the full capacity they were able to pick up a few more along the way. This was very interesting when they turned the air con off and said open the windows. We knew that the village was up in the mountains but were not prepared for the ascend up.

Sheer drops down the right side of the bus and other cars over taking on blind corners were just a couple of things we had to contend with. We did see that they had crash barriers installed along the road, well in some places anyway. As we weren't sure where we were going to stay the night we hadn't booked anything in advance, so we asked a couple of Germans if they where staying up there! They just looked at us as if we were crazy and said no as they thought there was no accommodation. It took about 20 minutes to get to the ticket gate, which after that there is no further road and you have to walk up a very steep footpath for another 10 minutes . One thing we had read in our guide book was that there are women from the village that would carry your bags up the hill to the village. When one of the ladies came over she must have been about 80 years old, crippled back from carrying bags through out the years and I thought no way could I get them to carry mine. Next thing I know I see Alison's bag passing me by and Alison skipping past. No seriously we both declined the offer and started walking ourself s. Luckily there was an abundance of accommodation and we managed to get a room for the night. What made it even greater about an hour later we seen the German couple were walking back down the hill to catch the bus, so they didn't see much of the place.

The village is able to be self sufficient through the rice fields they have created, which allows them to use for there own consumption and sell to the market. The fields have been created over many years and they have designed an irrigation system from the natural water off the mountains and bamboo canes, which allows the water to be distributed over a vast area. One thing we did notice and was a refreshing change to what we had experienced throughout China, was that they were use to tourists and they didn't stare at us and it was in fact us looking at them. You were allowed to wonder where ever you wanted within the village and on several occasions you weren't sure if you were entering someone's garden or not, but the relaxed style of the place no one ever cared. As well as there being many shops, restaurants and hotels there was a school for the children of Ping An. As it was there holidays when we were there it was closed, so we didn't see them in there.

Alison: Ping An was one of the most special places we saw in China. The views were so spectacular. We would often sit staring out across the rice fields and not believe we were there. I would jump out of bed in the morning to throw open the curtains and watch the sunrise...that kind of behaviour is just not normal for me! The village is spread across a steep hill so even strolling up to the local shop was a mission. There are many many steps to climb and we now have thighs of steel to show for it :-) On one of our days there, we decided to walk to the next village which was a not so swift 3 hours away up and down several mountains. On climbing the first mountain, I thought I was having a mirage but no, there really was a man with a freezer selling magnum ice creams. I have no idea where he had it plugged in or how he got the freezer up there! We passed beautiful waterfalls, lakes, corn fields, and chilli plants along the way and there were also many of the female villagers asking for money in exchange for a picture of them with there hair down. The people of Ping An are part of a minority group of people in China and they look quite different. They have a distinct way of dressing and most of the women have very long hair which they wear in a turban style. When it is let loose, it reaches down to their ankles. Their hair is really shiny looking too...just like the lady out of the Timotei advert! In the evening, we generally headed to one of the many small restaurants for food and beers. We tried the local speciality of sticky rice cooked and served in bamboo which was very tasty. The only downside to the village was that the spiders there were the biggest I have ever seen. Even Nigel said they were big. Luckily, I was never forced to see one in close proximity!