Don't worry or go to the bathhouse! China-2017. Part 16. Dragon lace.
Surely you read "Alice Through the Looking Glass" as a child and your imagination drew fantastic pictures. Land of dreams and dreams. How did you see her? I'm such a dragon scale)
The more you look at these pictures, the more dizzy. Such lace draws your consciousness into its convolutions, like an optical illusion.
I'm sorry people don't fly.
Or that the terraces of the Dragon Ridge in Dazhai did not come up with the idea of raising balloons. You could even go crazy with happiness. Although, maybe that's why they don't launch balls here. The Ministry of Health of China banned)
Sometimes, looking closely at the patterns, you ask yourself the question - how does the water not pour out in this position?
Yes, yes! ) These laces are filled with water. And it's just rice fields, not a dizzy ride. Rice is grown here.
There are not so many rice terraces in the world: Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan. Literally several places boast breathtaking views and all of them are very popular with tourists. After all, this is a magnificent sight - to watch how rice grows on slopes indented with steps. I have already seen terraces. Once upon a time, in Bali, in the incredible heat, we stopped by to admire the terraces of Tegallalang. It's beautiful and the palm trees around create their charm. But this! It takes you captive like a kaleidoscope. The pictures are similar, but the pattern lays down in different ways and it is impossible to tear yourself away. Probably, this is one of the types of trance - stuck in the patterns of rice terraces.
And I didn't want to go anywhere! Or rather, at first I wanted to, but on the one hundred and thirty-eighth step I realized that today promises to be difficult and it is better to wait it out in a hotel.
- Nadia, go by yourself, I won't be able to master these climbs.
Yeah. It wasn't there)
- You flew here thousands of kilometers, you traveled half a kilometer on buses, you climbed one hundred and thirty-eight steps, you spent a lot of money to get here, and you want to sit in your room instead of admiring the terraces ? Tanya, slowly, with stops, crawling, but we will get where we were going!
In general, Nadia is now a Chinese hero three times, because she not only dragged me to the Great Wall of China on herself, but also drove me to the terraces almost by force so that I would still I was able to see this splendor.
To be honest, this day was not hard, but fucking hard. Extremely, super incredibly heavy!
Imagine 8 hours on the orbit track, distracted from it only by the toilet) This is how my body felt like. He sat down to rest on every hundredth step. He lay down to die under every tenth bush.
- I can't do it anymore, - I said, - leave me, Nadya, go yourself.
And, of course, I got up again and went up again.
Probably, it was my personal exam of overcoming the physical “I can’t”, but I really was very worried about my detrained, too pampered, not quite healthy body. We had to survive with him! )
Sometimes, when the road led down, he and I forgot about the exorbitant load and merrily rolled down the mountain. But then the ascents began again and again: "Nadya, leave me here! "
If we started our journey from this region, I would still be sitting on the next step and splashing my face with thermal water. And so, in the first 10 days in China, I overcame a great many different steps and thanks to this I reached the hotel alive somehow I was ready for the loads.
Nadia never left me, although I think she wanted to hit me, if not for my snail's step, then for sure for verbal accompaniment.
I am telling this in order to encourage everyone who is going to go to this area, to go to the gym right now and start walking on the orbit track, so that later they will not die on millions of Chinese steps, among the magnificent lace of rice terraces.
There are three main viewing platforms in Dazhai, which offer the most beautiful views. We immediately went to the second, it was the closest, judging by the map, but for me it was an iron argument. When the steps that took us up to the main road ended, we met a girl from our hotel, who told us firmly that we didn’t need a second platform, but we needed the Music of Paradise platform, it’s not far to go to it, for three days through the forest , two days in the field, and the views there are truly heavenly and we will not regret it.
It must be so, I said to myself and we went to the very top of the mountain. On the way there are several observation platforms marked with covered pavilions where you can sit, relax, hide from the rain or even lie down if you are very tired. By that time, I had a second wind, so they didn’t linger too much.
The views around do not need comments, there is a new picture behind every turn.
Was it worth climbing so high? Yes! It was worth it. The higher, the steeper the views. Believe me, I choose a photo for the report with tears in my eyes. It is impossible to choose a reasonable amount, I want to flood all one and a half giga of rice terraces at once, but this will already be terrorism)
Although, no matter how much I saw pictures on the Internet, they did not prevent me from getting great pleasure looking at all this with my own eyes. It's like in the ocean, or in the desert. Space, element, grandeur! Powerful energy!
Here we have fulfilled our old dream - to just sit and just watch. We settled right on the terraces and sat for a long time, contemplating and dissolving. Great feeling!
Having rested, we went to look for the second site, but we never found it, and there was no one to ask. You will say how it was possible not to find the point marked on Mepsmi? I don’t know at all) It didn’t lead us to this point) We wandered a little, it became hot, and the Golden Buddha was still waiting for us, that is, the third, most beautiful observation deck, where the cable car leads from the bus station.
The road led right through our hotel, so we went home, took a shower, and then the sun suddenly became so hot that I started to smoke.
It's quite a long walk to the lower station of the cable car, but it's fun. Mostly down)
The road leads to the village, where the houses are stuck to the slopes and to each other, here you need to overcome a million steps. Going down is not easy, but people with suitcases go up! Don't skimp on the porters, they've been training for a long time and you'll curse everything until you reach your hotel with your luggage.
Nadia hesitates a little whether she should take the cable car, or whether it is better to walk, or better to go home. I try to hand her my phone with mepsmi, because this program did not start on her phone. Nadia is afraid to leave me without a map, although I know for sure that I can find the bus station without any prompts. In the end, we decide that we will go to the cable car together.
It's time to ask why it was necessary to go down to the very bottom in order to then rise to the very top? Why was it impossible to go to the Buddha right away? But because the Buddha is on another mountain) Such a bad luck) They didn’t come up with a cable car from mountain to mountain. Dazhai village is located between these two mountains. Therefore, we go down to the village, cross another bridge and the road leads us straight to the bus station.
This is where the cable car is located.
And I still couldn’t understand why tourists with suitcases stomp on foot for an hour uphill, and don’t go by cable car, because it should be easier. But they don't, it turns out, for two reasons.
The first reason: Where the cable car leads, there is no housing. This is a detached high mountain with an observation deck.
The second reason: Even if there was housing, it would still not work to jump into a booth with things. The cabins do not slow down at all, passengers are lined up at designated positions and literally thrown into the cabin one by one.
Moreover, they don’t put two people in, they need two more to fill. We are waiting for partners, finally, one girl agrees to go with us. All the way she sat in a corner, closing her eyes. In my opinion, she was afraid of us. We drive for a long time, the cabins barely move. And this is good. I fidget, lean out the window, take pictures of beauties, eat a banana. . . I feel like a Chinese)
At the top, incredible beauty.
Here we spend a lot of time, we don't wear our legs anymore, enjoy the views, relax, eat bananas.
I really like indoor lookouts. The benches beckon to lie down on them)
We decide to walk downstairs. A walk among the terraces and small waterfalls seemed to be pleasant and not tiring.
But it’s not far to go, the steps are quite steep at times, the sun is hot in an adult way. At some forks it is not at all obvious where to go. Several Chinese tourists are coming with us, we all look at our phones and follow each other. Finally, we taxi to the river, cross it and find ourselves in the village.
We sit in the gazebo, rest, confer on how to get home further. I and the map say that you need to go to the right, and Nadia says that to the left. Consensus is not reached and Nadia leaves to read the signs, since all the inscriptions are duplicated in English. I would also go, but just the legs do not obey. In general, Nadia has an antenna built in, which, without any map, indicates her exact direction, and even if the map shows a different path, in such cases I follow Nadia. But this time, when I no longer have the strength to walk, and both paths lead sharply upwards, I understand that the familiar road is always shorter. Not enough to get lost in the mountains at night looking.
But Nadia manages to persuade me) She is so convincing that I agree to go to the sign and read for myself that the road that goes to the left will definitely lead us to our hotel.
On the way, not to lose time I catch a few locals, show them the address and the name of the hotel, they all point to the right in unison.
- Nadia, we are in China, in the mountains, the evening is coming. If we go where the pointer points, we will definitely reach the hotel, since it is written. But when? I no longer have the strength to roam the mountains. Let's split into two mini-groups and go in different directions. Who will run home faster.
Nadia is against any separation in unfamiliar territory and agrees to go the old way.
And then you already know everything. I lay down to die under every tenth bush... I sat down to rest on every hundredth step... Then I guessed to take off my rubber shoe covers, I had to do this a long time ago. It immediately became easier to breathe.
The clay on the terraces is red, it stains the shoes of tourists, it is probably difficult to wash off, so we used Tianmenshan shoe covers for protection. But the rubber steams, my legs are like in a sauna, maybe that’s why I didn’t have the strength to walk. I almost got burned)
Slowly, with halts, crawlingwe get to the hotel. On the way, in the bridge area, I wash my hands, feet, face in a mini waterfall. The water is cold! You immediately get in good shape) Water flows from everywhere on the terraces, it makes me very happy and makes Nadya laugh.
-Waterfall! - I exclaim and run to photograph another stream)
There is still enough time to go to the second observation deck, but only if we were taken there)
We spent the rest of the day in a cafe with delicious fried potatoes and cold cucumbers)
I apologize for the fact that I exaggerated some photos so brutally, but believe me, it’s almost impossible to keep within the bounds of decency, looking at these laces) I would like to convey to you the unreality of this place, this Looking Glass, this incredible optical illusion. Dragonspine Lace)
Spin me, spin me! )
