Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Day - Chengdu to Guiyang

Lack of Internet and a busy schedule kept us from logging in the past 2 days. 

On 9/13, we take a bus ride to Qing Cheng Shan, (Daoist Temple) up high north of Chengdu.  We drive for about 2 hours and then hike up steep mountain paths to a lake, board a boat across the lake then walk some more to catch a chair-lift to the peak of the mountain.  There are no foreigners here.  Once off the lift, we see that there is more climbing to be done, but first, we must stop for some tea and a tea show that is unique to Sichuan.  They serve tea with a copper teapot with a straight spout about 1 meter long with a stream of hot water flying maybe 2 to 3 feet perfectly into a cup without a drop anywhere else.  We are given an opportunity to try our hand at it.  Of course we wet everything in sight and seem to provide good entertainment for the local people here in the teahouse.  Now we're ready to climb the last leg of the journey.  This time there are men with bamboo poles tied together like a chair to carry people up the hill.  We turn down the offer and walk up on our own.  Half way up, at a rest stop, we are treated to a tai chi performance by a Daoist monk (with swords). I got videos of that.  Onward again, we reach the temple that we will be a guest at for the evening.  We arrive just a little late to meet with the monk that was going to show us how the famous Qing Cheng Dao Cha or simply Dao cha is made.  So we arrange to see him in the morning.  This gives us time to tour around the temple and climb up to the top of the 5 story temple.  From there, you could see the entire Sichuan Province.  It is surrounded by high jagged mountain peaks, many with snow caps.  We think they may have been along the border of Tibet.  We have dinner consisting of all natural vegetables from the mountain, prepared by the monks who live here.  We go to sleep in the guest house,  similar to what the monks sleep in. Simple but clean, two beds and a dresser with a bath that is only a shower in which you heat the water before you take a FAST shower one tank at a time and a squattie pottie, VERY BASIC! 

09/14/07 We have a wake up call (a gonging of the bells) at 5:00 am get ourselves ready and wait for the sunrise. At 7:00A.M., we walk to the platform to meet the monk.  His name is Xiao Dao Shi thats his Daoist name. His born name is Huai Zhen Zi.  He came to the temple when he was 17 yrs old and has been here for 17 years.  We observe him doing his daily Tai Chi practice .  He brought tea along for us to have as we talked.  He talked to us about Daoism, the history of the temple and the mountain, Tai Chi, TCM, and of course tea and how it is used in daily life here, It was fascinating!  He showed us wild tea plants, and pointed to the tea gardens which are now protected by the government and no one other than the farmers and monks are allowed.  We enjoyed the Tribute Tea which can not be found outside this region.  Luckily we were able to pack away a couple of kilos before we left the temple!

Sadly saying goodbyes to this beautiful and peaceful place we begin our long walk out of the mountain. About 1/2 way down the 1600 meter high mountain top we again come to our chair lift. Today as we ride down we see many monks passing in the other direction on the way up for daily study and practices. The flora and fauna is fabulous and the sounds of birds that we have never before heard take our breath away. There are very few people visiting here who are not Chinese and so many of the monks are eager to say "HELLO" and flash a shy smile. Back in our little boat for a trip across the lake and then the final walk to our mini-van. As we walk we talk about how wonderful it would be to spend perhaps a month or so just in this most auspicious place.

Back on the highway we are heading to the Chengdu Tea Company in search of new teas from this area. We enjoy several and purchase two, a wild harvested Zhu Ye Qing and a Ku Gan Lu. Wanting a few kilos of each our host offer to package them up and bring to our hotel later tonight. We are grateful for the offer allowing us time for a fast dinner before we head off to the outdoor teahouse for the Opera! AHHHHHHH tea, a nice breeze, a foot and leg massage while we watch the "mask changing show". It was colorful, fast moving and pretty amazing. The entire experience was one of those you wish you could do on a regular basis. I wonder if they could build such a place in the states?

09/14/07 Another travel day starting with a flight delay due to fog. We finally reach Guiyang the Capital of Guizhou. We are met by our local guide and drive into town. A "small" town by China standards, only 4 million people! With mountains in every direction, and little industry other than tea it is easy to see right away why so many wonderful teas come from this area. Lunch at a traditional restaurant with, yes HOT and SPICY food that is really very delicious. Next we quickly check into a brand new hotel called the Nationality Hotel, honestly one of the nicest we have ever stayed in. There are parks in the area with a huge statue of Mao and people walking along the river way, very quite for  4 million population! Now we are off to an ancient Confucius temple that has a cultural art center and of course a huge tea garden/tasting room. We enjoy the art done by some of the Miao people and then spend a few hours tasting tea and learning much about the area and tea from the Chairman and President of the Guiyang Tea Association. There is a lot to say about these however tomorrow we will visit the actual gardens and so I think we will wait on the details of these wonderful teas until we can actually see the gardens and fill in some of the gaps and simply say, we ENJOYED them VERY MUCH and the entire experience!   

Comments

[Gerry and Jim Johnson]

So glad you are inland as typhoon is causing major troubles on the east coast. Sounds as if you are having a real adventure. gerry