Saturday, April 20, 2013

Yellow Canola Fields of Luoping

By Jonny Blair


Luoping is a fantastic off the beaten track place to witness natural yellow Canola Fields in an unknown village called Jin Ji Cun. This part of China is remote and inspiring.

Luoping in its splendid disconnected world, "isn't even in the Lonely Planet" and that's what made me more eager to check out this place. There are yellow canola fields everywhere, the plant is grown in the remote countryside near Luoping, mainly next to a village called Jin Ji Cun (but in other parts too). Basically to see the yellow fields in Luoping (as they are often referred to) head to the village of Jin Ji Cun.

What are the Yellow Fields at Jin Ji Cun?

A fantastic series of yellow fields! They are yellow because the flower for harvesting rapeseed is coloured bright yellow. Rapeseed oil is made from them, also known as Canola.

When to visit the Yellow Fields?

Please make sure you go there only in Spring. This is when the yellow fields are visible. The rest of the year they are not! A little bit of research pays off here - it's advisable to head sometime between February and April.

How to get to the Canola Fields at Jin Ji Cun?

OK, as with all travel in China, this is NOT EASY unless you speak the language or are with a local guide. You might want to print off some photos of the fields of flowers for showing people at the bus station when you arrive so that they can direct you to the correct mini bus. It also is an idea to write down the Chinese characters for Jin Ji Cun, the village. Google all this stuff, then copy and paste onto a simple A4 page and you'll be fine.

From Luoping bus station, ask how to get to Jin Ji Cun, Yellow Canola Fields. You will get a green minibus from the main road, which costs just 5RMB each. It's a very local bus and a local experience. If you are foreign like me (a travelling Northern Irishman) you will really stand out from the crowd. There were NO other foreigners anywhere in sight in this part of the Yunnan Province.

You should arrive at the Yellow Canola Fields within 20 - 25 minutes. They will be instantly noticeable on your right hand side.

What price is it to visit the Yellow Fields?

There is no entry fee! The yellow canola fields are natural and completely free to visit, the beauty of the travelling lifestyle.

What is there to do at the Yellow Fields near Luoping?

They are yellow canola fields. You look at them and you admire them and you take some photos. Yes that's it. On the way there you walk down a path through a market where there are lots of local food stalls - things like potato, chicken and honey are all sold here. The path is less than 500 metres long and that's the only commercial thing here! There is no ticket booth and certainly no widespread advertising. This is as natural and uncommercial as a top tourist attraction can get.

To get a good view, simply climb up some of the small hills, there are lots - you will see other tourists on top of them, follow the paths up to the top. We climbed up two of them, but there are lots. Take your quirky photos - jumping up, walking through the fields, standing on rocks staring down etc.

After seeing the yellow fields head to the village across the road. It's called Jin Ji Cun and you can stay there for the night. You can watch the fields at sunrise and sunset to get really different views of the canola fields.

Are these yellow canola fields at Jin Ji Cun special?

No - these yellow canola fields can be seen in lots of places including Australia, USA, Canada etc. But this is a really good off the beaten track location to see them, and it's extremely pretty, so I'd recommend it.

What else can you do near the Jin Ji Cun canola fields?

In terms of other things to do, trying the local food, visiting the 9 Dragons Waterfalls, checking out awesome views of the countryside and riding on a cart escorted by a yak are a few tips! There's also a hillside temple in the village of Jin Ji Cun and the local beer Lan Cang River met my expectations!




About the Author:



No comments: