Portrait of an LBX

A young farmer carries a load of rice stalks from a paddy where they are planted en masse to the family's paddies elsewhere, where he will transplant them individually by hand.

A view of the Tiger Mouth (老虎嘴) valley from above.

During my two rides through Yuanyang I have only been fortunate enough to see the areas directly adjacent to the S214 provincial road. There are many other beautiful vistas, but I think Tiger Mouth (老虎嘴) is certainly one of the most impressive! So impressive, in fact, that I had to make an extra-large version of this HDR shot of the valley to show all the detail! Click the photo to see it. The white dots are the tiny huts in which the farmers live during the planting and harvest seasons.

Once we left Guangxi and the misty/drizzly weather we had been experiencing for over a week, we immediately found ourselves in the midst of a severe drought in the mountains of Yunnan where it has not rained for six months. We met a local farmer on the road, who has little to do because he can't plant his fields. Judging by his friendliness, love of hand-holding and the alcohol on his breath, however, I'd say he's found a tolerable pastime until the rains come.

So apparently there's a lot of rice planting going on right now.

Farmers in Guangxi province transplant rice plants from the little greenhouses where they begin growing to the wet paddies where they will eventually be harvested.

It's rice planting season in a big way in Guangxi province. The farmers first grow the rice plants densely packed under plastic coverings, then transplant them into the paddy by tossing them down into rows, after which they go through and press the roots into the mud.