Da Zhai to Pignan trek amidst the rice terraces

TREK DA ZHAI TO PIGNAN - 5 HRS

11-22-2010

I've been gifted a sunny day. Without much ado, I chose to spend it on a famed trek from Da Zhai to Pignan - the ultimate up-and-close encounter with the rice terraces - from above, below and between....

The road was remarkably well-marked for the first half, which did not prevent me from getting lost a few times and asking lots and lots of Yao people in my broken Chinglish-Hand-ese for the directions. I think, some signposts got twisted on their axis a bit. All the more fun ;O) I did not realize just how much knee-crushing up-and-down the trek included. From the sky-high vistas to the valleys and back up. Absolutely stunning all the way, though. 

Occasionally, I was passed by the graceful long-haired Yao with a load of firewood branches or basket rucksacks [a basket with 2 velvety straps attached]. Sometimes, horses with household load would pass by led by a villager with a sun-dried face and eyes radiating kindness and humility. I walked through the awe-inspiring vistas that lay over the golden sea of the rice terrace waves undulating below, sprinkled with nested village roofs...some terraces filled with water, surrounding the rice stubble with the sky. An occasional Chinese tourist would pass by, for very few non-locals brave this no-nonsense road, it seems, in comparison with the intense flood of the main 3 villages in the Longji Terrace area. 

Unforgettable as all this is, there was a moment that has touched me unexpectedly like no other. I came through a little forest to come out amidst 3 hills rising from a flooded rice terrace....And all of a sudden I noticed a couple stone plates rising up from the ground as though they were doors leading to something - connected to the hill somehow. I saw these plates here and there along the way - they were ornately insribed in calligraphy. At first I thought they were some sort of altars, and I kept dropping coins in the little bows some had next to them. And then it hit me - these were graves/crypts [maybe?]. And here I was - surrounded by 3 hills of ancient graves in the middle of a rice patty and cricket-resonating silence. There was something utterly timeless about that moment. I felt somehow connected to this land and the people who once wore bodies behind those ancient stones. It was a little eerie too. I stood there awhile being with mortality. There was peace there.....

I walked on. There came a call from behind as a feisty long-haired Yao woman with kind eyes and in traditional Yao garb [of fuschia and black embroidery] caught up with me. She asked if I needed a guide, because the road to Pignan could be confusing. I gently declined. She walked with me anyway. Eventually, she surprised me with an invitation to her home for some lunch. She lived in the village between Da Zhai and Pignan. We went down to her home by the creek, and her 17 year-old daughter joined us on the way. Together, they whipped together a delicious meal from the garden-harvested veggies and eggs from their chickens in 20 minutes flat! I sat by the cozy earth pit in fascination at their coordinated movements. We ate together with laughs. It was the simplest and tastiest meal I'v had in China. 

My Yao friend then asked if I wanted her to guide me to Pignan. I declined and walked on. "Well, at least, you need to take this," - she said, handing me a wooden staff. Indeed, for the ups and downs of this road, that would be handy, as any mountaineer would affirm. So, like a true vagabond, I went on with my bag and staff in hand. As I came up to a fork in the road that was not marked at all, I heard my friend's voice, to my surprise! She followed me after all. She walked with me for the next hour until we came to a tree with a clean log leaning against it. She said she'd now take her leave, as she needed to take this one back to the village. That's the Yao hospitality for you. She could do this at any time, but chose to do it now to make sure I didn't get lost, and left me to my path only when the path was completely clear. 

I made it to the touristy Pignan by the sunset. The feel of that village is not nearly the same as the cozy Da Zhai, although it shares the foggy-mountain-dreamy allure. Since Pignan boasts a few creature comforts for the tourists, I took advantage of it and gave grace to my feet with a nice foot massage! Can you believe it, a mountain village would have an exceptional foot massage service?! 

The piece that surprises me about these lovely villages is that there are no heaters in the room! The villages are at the cloud level. It gets COLD at night. Most of the guesthouses have rooms that are one wooden board apart from the outside [with a few cracks].....so it's COLD in the rooms. Perchance, it is because it is relatively warm during the peak tourist season? I'm sleeping with a sweater and 2 blankets. 

Tomorrow - on to Guilin, then Dali via Kunming. Yunnan province, here I come!

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