* Arrived in Shaxi, a town about halfway between Dali and Lijiang
* Spent a full day hiking in the Shibao Mountain, which contains many Taoist
and Buddhist temples the Bai people still use today, including the impressive
Bao Xiang Temple
* Stayed at the Laomadian Inn, a really cute place right on the courtyard with
great rooms – highly recommend!
The Good
* Shaxi is just a beautiful town, set in a valley of the surrounding mountains, every inch of which is used by the villagers to farm various crops, including corn, tobacco, and rice
* The courtyard in the village where we stayed was really charming, almost a European feel to it
* The food at Laomadian Inn was outstanding, most notably a marinated pork chop
dish which was one of the most delicious things we ate the entire trip
* Shaxi is just a beautiful town, set in a valley of the surrounding mountains, every inch of which is used by the villagers to farm various crops, including corn, tobacco, and rice
* The courtyard in the village where we stayed was really charming, almost a European feel to it
* The food at Laomadian Inn was outstanding, most notably a marinated pork chop
dish which was one of the most delicious things we ate the entire trip
The Bad:
* I got peed on by a monkey (not a typo)
* I got peed on by a monkey (not a typo)
After making our way from Dali to Shaxi, we arrived at our hotel which is set in a wonderful courtyard that has been restored to its former glory and lined with various cafes and restaurants
Our hotel was equally lovingly restored, here are some pictures of our room. As I mentioned up top, the food was also really awesome!
The courtyard contains a stag that is used from time to time for various performances, mostly by local traditional music groups. We also got to go inside into a museum which offers some great views of the surrounding area.
After touring the stage and the temple across the street, we headed out for a day of hiking in the Shibao Mountain. We started off with a ~300 meter ascent to a temple being used by the Bai minority group. They practice a mix of Buddhism and traditional animist beliefs, and we were able to witness a ceremony of devotion to their god of compassion. We didn’t take any pictures of that out of respect, but here are a few good ones of our hike up there:
After we made our way to the Bao Xiang Temple, although we traversed ourselves across the mountain to the back entrance of the temple (Frank knows all of the shortcuts). Along the way we found two more altars to various Gods, the second one being the God of water.
As mentioned, we eventually got to the back entrance of the Bao Xiang temple, where we were greeted by a couple of monkeys. One of these monkeys eventually peed on me while I sat down.
He appeared to know what we was doing and had no remorse. Carrie and Frank enjoyed this incident a little too much for my liking.
He appeared to know what we was doing and had no remorse. Carrie and Frank enjoyed this incident a little too much for my liking.
Moving on, the temple is set into the mountain and dominated by these huge statues of Buddha and a woman.
On our way out of the temple, we saw a man restoring another section. Notice the cigarette in his mouth -- this is something we saw a lot but didn't take too many pictures because, believe it or not, we try to be respectful. However, nothing seems to happen in this country without a cigarette hanging out of someone's mouth. Hopefully, over time, this will change.
Once we got down to the bottom, we encountered the *rest* of the monkeys, which unfortunately have gotten quite used to the tourists feeding them…which is usually junk food like soda and
chips. We even saw one monkey steal an entire bag of food from one tourist and run away with it. Frank didn’t feed them, but did keep them occupied with some skillful juggling.
chips. We even saw one monkey steal an entire bag of food from one tourist and run away with it. Frank didn’t feed them, but did keep them occupied with some skillful juggling.
After stopping for lunch, we continued our hike in another part of the Shibao Mountain to visit some more temples, take in some vistas of the gorgeous farmland below, and walk back into
the town of Shaxi.
the town of Shaxi.
On our walk back into town, we encountered a family of goats, including these two baby goats. Frank couldn’t resist, showing off his softer side. Even Carrie got into the action!
We ended the day being treated to a musical performance of traditional Bai music by a group of Bai men all in their 70s. Their instruments were all unique and it was a fun introduction to the local music.
Follow me on Twitter at @adonaldson1214
No comments:
Post a Comment