Toil

toil

verb

1. work extremely hard or incessantly "we toiled away"
synonyms: work hard, labor, exert oneself, slave (away), grind away, strive, work one's fingers to the bone, put one's nose to the grindstone

noun

1. exhausting physical labor "a life of toil"
synonyms: hard work, labor, exertion, slaving, drudgery, effort, industry, 'blood, sweat and tears'

Walking through the rice paddy fields in central Bali close to Ubud you can witness the simple, rural way of life with the local people living directly from the land. Their daily life consists of incredible physical hard work and toil in the fields, tending their rice paddies, clearing the drainage ditches as well as looking after their livestock. In the heat of the intense tropical sun and wading through deep muddy pools of water and drainage ditches this is back breaking work and is certainly no easy idyllic tropical island life that we all imagine on an island such as Bali.

However what is clearly apparent is how well these local people look. They may be old, perhaps in their sixties or seventies or even older (it's sometimes hard to judge) but they are physically fit, slim and able bodied. In contrast our puny, overweight city-style bodies struggle in this climate and would not last long in these conditions.

Perhaps it is they who have it right and our modern society with all its apparent modernisation and technology have it all wrong. One thing is for sure; if there was a calamitous world event that would wipe out our existing technology and infrastructure then it would be folks like these that would be the survivors.

Longji Rice Terraces at Longsheng

The Longsheng Rice Terraces (simplified Chinese: 龙胜梯田; traditional Chinese: 龍勝梯田; pinyin: Lóngshèng Tītián) are located in Longsheng County, about 100 km (2 hours drive) from Guilin, Guangxi, China. The most popular are Ping An Rice Terrace and Jinkeng Rice Terrace.

The terraced fields are built along the slope winding from the riverside up to the mountain top, the highest part being 880 m in elevation while the lowest part is 380 m. The coiling line that starts from the mountain foot up to the mountain top divides the mountain into layers of water glittering in the sun in spring, layers of green rice shoots in summer, layers of golden rice in fall, and layers of silvery frost in winter. The terraced fields were mostly built during the Ming Dynasty, about 500 years ago.

Longji (Dragon's Backbone) Terraced Rice Fields received their name because the rice terraces resemble a dragon's scales, while the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of the dragon. Visitors standing on the top of the mountain can see the dragon's backbone twisting off into the distance. In an early morning, when the weather is fine, the sunrise on the summit of Longji Rice Terraces is magnificent.

They are often considered most beautiful in early June. At this time, water is pumped over the rice paddies and young plants are transferred to the main terraces.

Longsheng is home to four minority nationalities: Miao, Yao, Dong and Zhuang. The Yao and Zhuang nationalities live in Longji. The Yao have distinctive clothing and hair styles which set them apart from other ethnic groups. Yao women are famous for having the longest hair in the world. They never cut their hair. Instead they wrap the hair in a bun on top of their head in a style resembling an Indian turban. Free to look, ¥10 for a photo.

Yima - Rural Village

Just outside Yangshuo, China is a small village called Yima which sits in a rural area surrounded by beautiful karst hills, paddy fields and a river which is a tributary of the main Li River. Rice, vegetables and many fruits are grown in the rich soil close to the river. The river provides good transportation and you can see many bamboo boats moving up and down the river.

In this small village of Yima is a wonderful Qing Dynasty house, known as the Pan House as the household here are the descendants of General Pan, a great hero of the Qing Dynasty.

Here you can view what life was like many years ago, water being pulled from a hand pump in the yard, a grinding millstone and a simple log-fired kitchen.

The main room of the house with wonderful old carvings and Chinese pictures decorating the bare stone walls.