COLORS OF TRAVEL

Upon arrival at Xiamen airport, I took a private shared taxi arranged by the hostel in Taxia Village directly to Unesco World Cultural Heritage Site, Nanjing Tulou for a 3d2n trip. The journey took around 2 hours.

Tulou is a traditional communal earthen building of Hakka people dated back to 1000 years of history, whereby the extended family staying under 1 roof. The usual tulou consists of 3-5 storeys, the ground floor being a kitchen, 1st floor a living hall and 2nd floor is the bedroom as an example in a typical tulou in Taxia Village. It can either be a round or square shape.

The guesthouse I stayed was inside the tulou

View from the top

Around noon, I took the scenic bus in Nanjing Scenic area to the popular Tianluokeng Tulou cluster, Four Dishes and One Soup tulou. The name came from the design of the tulou whereby there is a cluster of 4 round tulou and 1 square tulou in the centre.

Four dishes and one soup

Round tulou

There is a well in each tulou

The entrance

Square tulou

A restaurant inside tulou

The next popular tulou nearby is Yuchang Building, the biggest tulou with 5 storeys.

A nearby village

Yuchang Building

A wooden stairs

Stalls for tourists

Then I walked on foot back to Taxia Village, dropping by in smaller unknown attractions along the way, including the less popular villages.

A typical local tulou not for tourists

Reflection

Quiet and peaceful

2 uncles chilling outside their homes

There is always an ancestral altar inside a tulou

Walking back to Taxia Village

The journey continued with exploration of Taxia Village in the evening.

The hens are sunbathing

Time to relax

Definitetly not a tourist tulou

A communal stairs

Reflection

Modern and traditional

A communal cooking area?

Still using wood fire

Back to my guesthouse

On 2nd day, I explored surrounding Taxia Village with 2 off beaten track of small hills. The 1st stop was the tourist site in Taxia Village called Deyuan Hall, an ancestral's hall. I walked up to a hidden hill behind Deyuan Hall where there was no one except a local couple who had a small farming house along the trail. As I went up n up, I felt a bit chilling passing by the bamboo forest as there was no one. Hence, I decided to turn back.

Stone flagpoles in front of Deyuan Hall to commemorate the achivements of past village heros

Deyuan Hall

Praying to ancestors

Firecrackers to celebrate Qingming

The hill behind Deyuan Hall with a farm house

Up and up

Bamboo forest

A senior couple collected fresh local bamboo to supply to restaurants

Mini tea plantation

Back to civilisation

Then I explored another hill on the opposite side to hike up a village above the hill. It was also an off beaten track as there was no one except some locals who were resting at the lower hill tending to farming. After about 1 hour hike, I reached the village, where few old folks were surprised to see a stranger hiking up. Luckily one grandmother showed me a short cut down back to Taxia Village where it was also a hidden trail.

A village above the hill in the distance

Passing through the village

A tulou up in the village

Locals tending farming

Bye bye Granny, who showed me a short cut route down the hill

Exploring the unknown trail downhill

Down and down

Upon reaching back the village, I met a 70+ granny who was strong to carry some woods down the hill. She invited me to her home cum hostel for guests. She even cooked a simple home cooked dinner with just a mininal fee. It was a great treasured moment to spend 2 hours with a granny chatting about her life. Indeed, it was a satisfying adventurous day though a bit scary as I went to non tourist off beaten track.