The morning after the big feast with Ellen our kind, helpful but a little too smothering couch surfer host, it time to pack our bags, put our knickers on and put our best foot forward... Next stop Yuanyang Rice Terraces!

The 6.5 hour bus journey east flew by. Our faces constantly glued to the window staring out to the rolling green moutains outside. My camera went on overdrive as we reached an altitude of around 2300m when the clouds were swirling between the moutains, engulfing the deep valleys in the foreground of an impressively blue sky. Our bus chose to take the old road which meant slower and bumpier but more scenic route. We drove through little shanti towns clinging to the edge of mountains which reminded me of the mountain towns of cinque terre on the coast of Italy - STUNNING!

After 2 bus changeovers we arrived in Xinjie (our bus destination). Xinjie is the hub of the rice terraces where all of the buses from other towns come to to visit the terraces. It's a small town with an endearing charm. Becks And I were pretty stoked that we bartered a mini van driver down from 100 yuan to 30 yuan to take us to our hostel!! Just as we began to worry why we went going anywhere for over 20 minutes we realized we must have paid the local price because our driver was waiting for Other locals to fill the rest of the van!!! - GO US!

The lonely planet (LP) recommends one hostel - sunny guesthouse. So to get our bearings we show the minivan driver the Chinese symbols and off we go. Sunny guesthouse is situated in Duoyishu's Pugaolao village roughly 25km from Xinjie. The drive there was a little manic and bumpy but the views are pretty sweet. The whole area is surrounded by rice paddies. The old cobbled road edges the high mountains and connects towns like a dot to dot. Soon we were dropped on the side of the road and greeted by a shy elderly man from sunny guesthouse - really cute man. We followed him down the path and meandered through local villages. At the same time a funeral was taking place and the eery sound of bagpipes (or something similar) trailed us, beautiful dressed Hani women (local tribe) in their handmade dress mourned under umbrellas as gentle rain trickled between their clog like shoes. After a few minutes walk and a squeal from every farm animal you can imagine we were at sunny guesthouse. A small, filthy, drab guesthouse sitting high upon the edge of the rice terraces. The rooms were unsleepable except 1 which was out of our budget. Immaculate, clean, crisp white sheets with panoramic views hmmmm 180yuan ; $30aud... Bit pricey for our by budget. We tried visiting a neighboring guesthouse called Jackie's which turned out to be spotless, friendly and had just as exquisite views as sunny guesthouse... The price was only mildly cheaper - 150yuan ; $25aud. No decision should be made on an empty stomach so we asked jackie to whip us up some eggs and bread (always a winner with us two) and made the decision to stay at jackie's. This hostel Is a family hostel and I would recommend it to everyone. Huge bathrooms, boiling hot water, soft beds and a family atmosphere.

After settling in to our new room we set out back up to the road with beanies, scalfs and all our other warm accessories in toe to enjoy a walk along the cobbled roads to take in the shear impressiveness of the rice terraces! The sun doesn't set here in summer till after 8pm so we were shocked when we looked at the time and realised it was 7:50pm meaning we had been walking for hours.

Tip of the day: walk up any steps you find - old, decrepit or new... And you should find yourself standing on an abandoned cement roof alone, gazing over unobstructed views of the stunning rice terraces.... Oh and it's free of charge :)

At 5am the next morning the alarm rang. Sitting up and gazing out our huge windows, the sun had not yet risen. The dim glow of the moon shone enough light over the landscape to make out the dramatic mountain scape at our doorstep. It was time to wake up and go for a walk.

The way LP recommends tourists to experience the rice terraces is to spend copious amounts of money and hire a mini van to pick you up before sunrise and take you to a tourist view point where you pay more money to enter and then fingers crossed the clouds will be in the perfect allignment to view the rolling fog and see an artists palette of colours as described by them and then repeat it all again for sunset.

Well that wasn't what we did. We blew out our budget a little on accommodation so it was time to put our converse on and experience the 12,500 hectares (or at least some of it) by foot.

The day began with breaking out of our hostel (they had locked us accidentally), breaking in to a tourist view point (they were closed - what else were we supposed to do!) and broke back out when a busload of tourists turned up... It was pretty cloudy and the fog was very low but sunrise was still phenomenal! Walking along the deserted road, the mini vans hadn't started their day yet we were able to enjoy the silence and the sheer awe of the area. The Hani women in all their gorgeous dresses were lazily getting ready for the day, either strapping their kids to their back in the traditional manner, putting on their women basket backpacks for the long walk to the market, or gearing up for a hard days work in the fields.

We were walking in the direction of Xinjie.. At around 7:30am we arrived in a small town busy with market festivities. We heard 2 pigs BE slaughtered, saw tens of pigs slaughtered, 2 Caribou slaughtered and that was all before breakfast. The whole town was busy chopping off pigs kidneys and caribou livers, buying livestock and gathering vegetable.. This scene didn't startle our rumbling tummies so we approached a cute Hani women cooking tofu on a low to the ground BBQ. She invited us to join her and to her delight we picked up chopsticks and tucked in to the deliciousness. However it's traditionally eaten here with a sauce mix of chili, garlic, coriander, soya sauce and pepper (which tastes like a mix of bicarb and soap!)... And unfortunately the bicarb taste rules the lot!! However it was the experience of it all. Local villagers joined us and stared, marveling at our white faces, intrigued by our view of their 'poor mans' food.

Moving on we continue walking in the same direction taking pictures willy-nilly! Choosing to go off road wherever an small dirt path intrigued us, finding views without the tourist viewpoint price tag or fellow tourist. By 11pm (5.5hrs walking), we had walking over halfway to Xinjie... So whY the hell not go the whole 25km!

2pm arrived. It's now been 8.5hrs of walking... With My camera mysterious disappeared, sore shins, ankles, knees and hips we arrived hungry, tired but estatic in Xinjie!!! Whoop whoop! We found a cute little 'pointer shop' to eat and ordered our very first Chinese meal on our own!!!! A 'pointer shop' is a name Becks and I have given to a resturaunt with a glass cabnet full of fresh vegetables and assortments of meats and meat parts! Cheers to our couch surfer host Ellen for teaching us the ways of the 'pointer shop'. You simply point to a vegetable and they will cook that vegetable in a way they choose. Point to another and that will be another dish! This time we pointed at tofu and cabbage (point at both and bring fingers together to indicate cooked together), and egg and tomato (together) oh and meefan (rice)! How well we did! The food was delicious and our tummies very much appreciated the Sustenance of it all!

With an icecream in hand we hailed a minivan to take us back to jackie's guesthouse.. Lactic acid had already set in... So a warm cup of tea, hazelnuts and apples from the mumma of the guesthouse and a hot shower it was bed time... What a fantastic day. Really.. It's days like today when I say "I love my life!"

The following morning we awoke later enjoying the views and comfy bed.. Packed our bags and enjoyed for the last time fried eggs and bread and good coffee, we sat over looking the rice terraces writing our blogs and breathing in the cool, crisp air!

Back to Xinjie we go, ate a late lunch at the same 'pointer place' we ate the day before, then boarded a 1st class sleeper bus bound for Kunming. Another 12 hour trip.

Yuanyang is a must see. Even if the rice terraces are not full of water (a photographers dream).. It's still stunning! We have put it on the list to come back to... It's that good!

Xxxx