Perhaps my favorite place during my trip to Guangxi was the Longji Rice Terraces in Longsheng. I’ve seen rice terraces elsewhere in Asia, but nothing compared with the beauty of the Longji Rice Terraces. To go to Guangxi and skip (略过) these rice terraces would be a loss.

These over 600-year-old terraces are still very much in use and feed the local Yao and Zhuang communities. You can find many guesthouses throughout the various rice terraces, and while accommodations (住宿) are very basic, I would strongly suggest spending a night in the peaceful terraces, surrounded by nothing but rice.

My friends and I had arrived in Guangxi on harvest (收获) day and we were told by our local guide it was too late to see Longji in its autumnal beauty. But we were super lucky because the 2017 harvest had been delayed (推迟), and when we arrived in Longsheng a couple of days later, it was the last day before the harvest began. It’s quite risky to time your visit this way, but it is amazing to see the Longji Rice Terraces both before harvest and after, when it takes on a completely new character.

The two main terraced areas are the Ping’an Terraced Fields and the Jinkeng Terraced Fields. The former is home to the local Zhuang people and has more visitors as it’s easier to reach. Jinkeng, on the other hand, is less visited. The Red Yao people live here, and should you need a hand with your suitcase, their women are happy to help you. We chose Jinkeng because it’s home to the highest point of the Longji Rice Terraces. The viewpoint (视角) is nearly 4, 000 feet high. We had to go up there as our hotel was up there, but you should anyway as it’s the most wonderful viewpoint.

The Longji Rice Terraces are supposed to be beautiful in the spring and summer as well, though I much prefer its autumnal beauty. Winter, I’d skip, as it was already cold enough at night in October, but I’d return and visit again in the spring or summer.

A few weeks ago I paid a visit to the UK. The moment I reached Heathrow airport, I was attracted by all the language differences between American and British English. Instead of reading “exit”, the signs read “way out”. The announcer said “alight” instead of “get off” the plane.

My first stop in the UK was the British museum and I was particularly interested in Room 41. In that room, I saw the oldest sentence ever found written in Old English. Archeologists (考古学家) believe it is from between 450 and 480 AD.

The next stop was Westminster Abbey. At the Poets’ Corner I saw graves of famous writers, such as Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Samuel Johnson. The list can go on and on. Another thing on the Abbey grounds that you should not miss is a colorful glass window in St. Margaret’s Church, as you walk up to the Abbey. The window, about halfway up the left side of the church, honors William Caxton. He was the first person to bring the printing press to England and set up his printing business near the Abbey, probably because he was likely to get work from the government offices in the area. Caxton may not be as well-known as the writers in Poets’ Corner, but he played a very important part in standardizing English.

My final stop was the Tower of London, which was the symbol of power of the people who changed English. This castle was built by William the Conqueror after he defeated King Harold II in the Battle of Hastings during the Norman Invasion in 1066. After the Normans took over England, the official language became French for hundreds of years, and this was the time when many French words entered the English language especially words related to upper-class life such as words about government and cooking.

So that was my trip.