Drop your bag in your room, slip on sturdy shoes with good traction, and get on your way to hike to the two lookout points north of the lodge, which on a clear day afford magnificent vistas over the green terraced fields. Depending on the season, you might catch farmers harvesting sweet potatoes, fresh ginger, or red chile peppers on the terraces below. At the second, you'll also likely run into a gaggle of fuschia-clad Yao women with Rapunzel-length hair, which they usually wear tied up in black scarfs but will happily let down and show you to the tune of about 20 yuan. They'll do a bit of a hard sell, but the three dollars they're asking is a worthwhile price for the chance to interact with the friendly, laughing women. A light spa-style dinner is served at 5:30 at the Li-An Lodge, and the day's walking and stair-climbing will make you welcome an early bedtime.

The next morning, meet your guide at nine o'clock to hike through the terraces to Longji Village, a traditional Zhuang village of wooden houses, where you might see a resident washing laundry in the stream or making tofu or rice wine. The Zhuang people are traditionally an animist culture, with a strong history of art and music. Today, agriculture is the main industry. As the largest ethnic-minority group in the country, the Zhuang are generally thought to be well-assimilated into modern culture, but Longji displays their traditional way of life. The easy hike is about three hours round-trip, so you'll be back in time to check out of the lodge and then have lunch at the Ping An Guesthouse. You have to be back at the Guilin airport by six o'clock for your evening flight back to Shanghai, but in the meantime, you have the entire afternoon to explore the region. One of my favorite stops, a 20-minute drive from the hotel, was to a traditional Yao village, to sample "oily tea" in one of the villager's homes. The tea, more of a soup and admittedly an acquired taste, is made by first stir-frying rice in oil, then adding tea leaves, ginger, garlic, and finally boiling water. But even more fascinating than the drink itself was the chance to spend a half-hour watching an authentic minority household in action as it bridged the divide between traditional and modern; while the women of the house wore authentic local dress and prepared my tea in a wok over an open fire in the middle of the room, their young sons and brothers played video games in the corner. Best yet was the women's genuine hospitality, which made me feel like an honored guest. Another must-do stop, nearly two hours down the road from Ping An, is at the Liu San Jie tea plantation (86-773-542-2222). Of the four tea ceremonies I experienced in China, this was the most enjoyable and the least touristy-feeling. Even if you aren't a tea aficionado, the hostess's heartfelt enthusiasm in sharing her knowledge is contagious. After touring the grounds to see the planted tea bushes, you'll sit down with the hostess for a tea-appreciation lesson, during which she'll demonstrate the correct way to steep and serve several kinds of tea, her graceful, choreographed movements turning the rites into a sort of dance. You'll be able to sample the teas, which could include ginseng oolong, litchi black tea, or green tea with rosebuds. A tin of wonderfully sweet and fragrant osamanthus tea-a local specialty-costs only $14 and is the perfect souvenir of this area-after all, the English translation of "Guilin" is "osamanthus forest." From here, the airport is only a half-hour drive away. You'll be in Shanghai by late evening.

Total cost of trip, with this segment replacing that in Yunnan Province: $4,910 per person, including land and regional airfare.