It was cold this morning and it had rained last night, so conditions didn’t conspire to get me up and going first thing. I never need an excuse to lie in.
Oats, fruit and Nescafe was on my menu this morning. Muesli is too hard to find here and I expect the same when I get to the Stans.
I said goodbye to the lovely people running the hotel and freewheeled down the hill in search of something better than Nescafe. Shaxi is a touristy town so coffee is fairly plentiful. Unfortunately in China, coffee shops open late – after 9 or 10am, which is well after my need for caffeine has passed.
I was in luck though. A place specialising in classic Italian coffees was open and they served what I wanted. While there, I spoke to an American lady who is resident in China for part of every year and solo travelling around the area.
When I headed off, it was still cold and gloomy and I felt a bit tentative for some reason.
First job was to get up a long hill, then turn off onto a steep road that would take me to Shibaosan temple complex which is built into the side of steep cliffs.
The hill was fine but the road I turned onto … Oh boy. I only had 600 metres to traverse but it was between 20 and 35% the whole way. That’s definitely not rideable and barely pushable for this guy.
Once at the top, I went to the ticket office thinking I may have had a few hundred metres to ride. It turned out to be a few kms of up and down, but gee it was worth it.
I parked the bike near the food sellers near the start of the walk to the temples. They were already trying to get me to commit to eat their food when I came down from the temples. I didn’t take much convincing (I was already hungry) but they were still skeptical.
There were stairs that lead all the way up, along with many signs saying not to feed the monkeys. Of course people were feeding the monkeys. They were good though, and didn’t hassle anybody that I saw. Nor did the monkeys.
There are temples, statues (one of Confucius), small bridges, a Buddha, a pond, and sheer cliffs. This was really impressive and well worth the extra effort to get here.
It made me think though. I’ve been to Meteora in Greece, seen temples in cliffs in Turkey, and now Shibaosan. What is it that monks have with difficult building sites ? Nice views, impressive cliffs but construction would have been a nightmare. And living there ? It’s a remote valley. I’d image it would have been just what they wanted – simple, austere, no distractions, almost uncomfortable.
I went back down the stairs and had a great fried rice. The vendor was relieved, almost surprised that I was true to my word. It was cold too. All of the food vendors had wood fires going to keep them warm. I needed it and I was so happy they had fires.
After that, I went back to the main entrance. There is more to see in this area but it deserves a day and there wasn’t any accommodation around. I descended to the main road north, this time on a far more gently sloping road than the goat track I used to get there.
The rest of the ride wasn’t particularly eventful. There were some industrial areas and villages but they weren’t particularly inviting. I began to wonder how large the village I was staying in was.
It turned out to be pretty small with one hotel and I was the only guest. Everyone was sitting in one room eating and smoking, and there was a noisy mahjong game going on. Someone fetched the lady owner and I checked in. She came back in 10 minutes and said, the mahjong game is too noisy, I’ll move you to a room upstairs.
The upstairs room had some mountain views but the highlight was the chookpen. The room took a bit of working out too. It was cold and after a while I sorted out the heater which slowly warmed the room. It wasn’t easy with Chinese characters on the buttons which were almost inaccessible.
The bathroom was interesting. Without an engineering degree, I struggled to work the taps and the water was either scalding or freezing. The fun bit was the automatic toilet, which once turned on continually opened the lid of its own accord. It had a proximity sensor and was right beside the shower, so every time I moved in the shower, the lid would pop up. It was a comedy show so I turned it off.
I asked the owner about dinner options and she said she’d cook dinner for me. It was a feast. I could only eat about a third of it and at the end, she asked why I didn’t like a particular dish. She was a little insulted. The fact is, the rest was fantastic and I simply couldn’t eat any more.
During and after dinner, I had to pose for photos so they can promote this newish hotel. I rhought should have charged a modelling fee but after seeing the photos, I realised that wasn’t an option.
While I was eating, an old guy came in and set up a karaoke machine and started singing along, then the husband started. He could really sing but after a few songs, they packed up and left.
I slept well. I still have this cold but I’m looking forward to a couple of days off in Lijiang which is a little over 50kms away over yet another big hill.
