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Two-day trip to Shaxi: Ancient Tea-Horse Town, Buddhist Grottoes in the Valley, Rural Life

Two-day trip to Shaxi: Ancient Tea-Horse Town, Buddhist Grottoes in the Valley, Rural Life

Experience in trip content: Local cuisine and Millennium ancient village

Duration and time of day: 2 days

Age suggestion: Age 4+

Destination distance to Dali: 120km

Meeting point: 朴石烘焙

Guide with dog: The guide has no dog

You need to bring: Personal overnight items

Fee includes: Transportation, accommodation, meals during the trip, travel insurance (no other expenses are required)

Not included:

Wizard foreign language: Speak a little English

WeChat: Gunyhh

Whatsapp: +8613636360694

Facebook Messenger Consultation Group

Regular price ¥1,198.00
Regular price Sale price ¥1,198.00
Sale Not in Season

WeChat users please use the mini program to make reservations: 沙溪两天的旅行

Due to payment barriers for foreign travelers, please "Book Your Time" for free and pay 2 days before the event:

Pick-up assistance

For customers with language barriers, we are happy to arrange a taxi to pick you up from your hotel to the meeting point. You pay the actual fee.

One person makes a trip

For most experiences, once booked and confirmed, the trip will go ahead even if there is only one guest, except for some experiences (such as long-haul tours) where a minimum number of guests is specified.

Refund Policy

Before the experience starts:

  • Within 12 hours: 30% refund
  • 12 to 24 hours: 50% refund
  • 24 to 48 hours: 70% refund
  • More than 48 hours: 100% refund
  • After the event starts: No refunds
  • If cancelled due to weather conditions: Full refund

This activity is for 2 or more people

If you just visit Shaxi Ancient Town, it is very simple and you will get some good results. We started this tour because we like Shaxi and go there once or twice every year. Our own Shaxi trip is in-depth and special, with ancient towns, religion, hiking and grottoes, and the lives of local friends:

We went to Shaxi from our favorite mountain road, entered Shaxi from our favorite place, went to the thousand-year-old Buddhist cave deep in the valley in the afternoon, bought vegetables at the local vegetable market in the evening, visited friends who lived in a traditional rural courtyard on the hillside, cooked in the kitchen in the courtyard, stayed overnight, chatted by the fire. The next day, we took a walk in the forest by the lake in the mountains and sat in a friend's cafe.

Go to Shaxi: Beautiful mountain road

We set out for Shaxi after lunch, often taking the mountain road over Huacong Mountain instead of the usual highway. Taking this road, winding up the mountain, you can overlook the entire Eryuan Valley, a blue and beautiful alpine lake on the other side, and pass through large apple orchards along the way - someone is growing all kinds of new fruits in the deep mountains. After passing the mountain area, approaching a pass in Shaxi, you can see the entire Shaxi and the valley: terraces, crops, villages and the sky. It feels like crossing the mountain and arriving in another time. I think the way to reach a place and the first sight of Shaxi are very important.

Entering Shaxi: The Local Way

Walking along the Heihui River beside the fields, you can see an ancient bridge that you can walk on. We often walk there and watch the ducks looking for food and playing in the water, and the cattle and sheep by the river. Cross the Yujin Ancient Stone Bridge, pass through the Dongzhai Gate, and go to the temple on Sifang Street in the ancient town. This is an important place for the local Azha Li Tantric Buddhism, with three religions and historical murals. Sifang Street is in Yunnan, and is the center of ancient towns like Shaxi. As an important town on the Tea Horse Road in history, the Sifang Street here is open, simple and has a sense of history.

Go to the Grottoes in the Mountains: History, Religion and Nature

In the afternoon, we drove to a valley not far from Shaxi. Although the nearby forests are dotted with thousand-year-old cave statues, they are like a forgotten world and few people come here. Compared with the scenic spots around Shizhong Temple, because it is in the mountains, quiet and deserted, it has a more authentic historical atmosphere. We went to the forest to look for Buddhist caves from different eras, and we could see the shadow of Nanzhao and Dali as a Buddhist-dominated country. Going up along the valley road, on the turtle back stone, we can see the vast Shaxi Valley from afar, with a wide view.

This place is a bit like the abandoned theme park in "Spirited Away". The traces are still there, the stories are still there, but because it is deserted, you will have a real sense of walking into a distant and profound history.

 

Visit our friends at Shaxi Country Life

In the evening, we went to the local vegetable market to buy some vegetables and went to the home of our friend Zidan in the village to cook. His home is a courtyard at the highest point in the village and is also a homestay. We stayed there at night. There is a kitchen in the open and quaint courtyard, and Zidan planted some vegetables in the courtyard. After dinner, if it is cold, we will light a bonfire in the courtyard and chat around it. Sometimes, we also need to go to the woods behind the house to collect firewood.

When I woke up early in the morning, I could see the whole valley where Shaxi Ancient Town is located from the rooftop on the second floor. The morning mist in the countryside filled the air, which was a wonderful and charming moment. It also reminded me of the time when a few people prepared breakfast in the kitchen in the morning and basked in the sun in the yard after eating. It was winter at that time, and the trees were full of red persimmons. People who got up early took a walk in the nearby hillsides and woods.

I chose to live here because I could experience daily rural life instead of the relatively identical inns in the ancient town.

Day 2 Afternoon: The Tranquility of the Lakeside Forest

After lunch, we headed to a lake in the forest. The lake was peaceful and beautiful, surrounded by dense forests and meadows. Not far from the lake was a cafe owned by our friends. We had a cup of coffee here, enjoyed a moment of tranquility, and then took a walk by the lake to feel the tranquility and beauty of nature.

Return: Dali

In the late afternoon, we returned to Dali from here. It would be a different trip to feel the tranquility and beauty of the countryside, and to establish some kind of connection and memory with the ancient town, nature, history and local people.

This activity is for 2 people

Time: 12:00-19:00 the next day

Only personal belongings are required for overnight stay

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