Below is the information forwarded to me recently. It’s about a very beautiful place in China. It’s called Lexiaguo. Does Lexiaguo exist? The pictures look stunning. Since I used to travel to China a lot and have never heard of this place, I did some research myself. Original text from the forwarded email:
Lexiaguo – southwest of Kunming in Yunnan, China
It is located in the south-western part of Kunming , 2600 ft. above sea level, a remote area. Because of its lack of infrastructure and inadequate transportation and lodging, most travel agencies would not think of going there. But for those who have seen the pictures of the Red land, no one can resist being attracted to its beautiful scenery. This extra-ordinary reddish brown soil is a result of oxidized iron (and various other oxidized metallic minerals). In these mountains and hills every inch of land is cultivated to the maximum causing unwanted damage to the place through erosion that’s why returning to forestry is being advocated. Because each family owns different sizes and shapes of land and each plant its own preference of crops, this beautiful tableau is produced. During harvest time, the soil is turned over and exposes this unusually red color. In September, white-coloured oil flowers are in bloom on the whole mountain. It is a pity they cover up the beautiful red color. The best time for sightseeing tour is middle of November. Different seasons, different time, different sunlight produce different colors.
I later found out that the wider known name of this place is called Dongchuan Red Land (东川红土地) in Kunming, Yunnan. Lexiaguo mentioned in the forwarded email is a small village in the Dongchuan Red Land and the correct pinyin spelling should be Luo Xia Gou or La Xia Gou (落霞沟), literally means a ditch of fallen red colours since it’s situated between two mountains on both sides. Luoxiagou is more widely used. If you type La or Luo on the keyboard with Chinese language setting, you get the option of the same Chinese character. Try typing in Dongchuan Red Land in Google images, you will see many more breath-taking photos. I also found a map with the name of the small villages around that area. I have tried to collage different maps from Google to give everyone an idea of Kunming of Yunnan in relation to Dongchuan and Xintianxiang, where the Dongchuan Red Land fields are located. The map on the left shows location of different villages. You can click to enlarge.
All the images on the forwarded email are scenes from different villages in the Dongchuan Red Land area in Kunming. Below are a few images from
Luoxiagou (Lexiaguo).
Dongchuan Red Land images. Enjoy the stunning scenery.
