Scenic getaway for tired urban souls
(China Daily)
Updated: 2005-09-19 08:51

In the countryside neighbouring China's big cities, nongjiale has become a popular weekend escape for stressed out urban residents.

Literally translated as "farmhouse fun," the rural getaway is a heady mix of a relaxed atmosphere and home-cooked meals.

One of my best experiences of nongjiale came from my recent short stay at a Tibetan village hidden in the mountains of western Sichuan Province.

It was a long trip through the Ganzi Tibet Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan. After several hours on the road, I arrived at the town of Danba County on a Saturday morning.

Tucked between sheer walls of the canyons cut through by the Dajinchuan and Daduhe rivers, the town is a concentration of ugly concrete buildings and looks no different from other county towns.

However, the area is actually known for its distinguished Tibetan residential buildings and beautiful villages.

On the way from Kangding, capital of Ganzi, to Danba, I could already see lofty stone watchtowers and Tibetan houses with their unique stone "horns," along the Daduhe River. Clinging to the steep hillsides or nestling at the bottom of the valleys, they are a reminder that you are in Danba.

Before reaching Danba, I had decided to make a stop and find a Tibetan village to spend the weekend. I asked a local cab driver for recommendations and was directed to the Jiaju Tibetan Village.

He told me that about 10 kilometres from town was one of the most beautiful villages in Danba and many families there provided comfortable homestay to travellers. So I hired the cab to the village, which cost me 50 yuan (US$6).

After 15 minutes on the provincial road along the roaring Dajinchuan River, the car turned into a dirt road and started its upward climb. The road was built by the villagers of Jiaju in 2002 to bring in more tourists, the cab driver said.

We went up a slope, rising some 200 metres above sea level. Turning around a corner, I saw the Jiaju Tibetan Village stretched out on a gentle slope from the bottom of the canyon halfway up the mountains.

Houses painted white and red dotted the slope. Between them were dense woods, fields of wheat and corn and a clear stream winding down.

Leaning against the towering mountains on the north and facing the Dajinchuan River and sheer walls of the canyon on the south, the village was even more beautiful than I had imagined.

Soon we were at the entrance to the village. We were greeted by a beautiful woman dressed in colourful Tibetan robes. She was the tour guide, Labu Gexi. She told me that if I wanted just a short tour of the village, I needed to pay 30 yuan (US$4) for admission. If I stayed with a family for a night, there would be no charge.

So I followed her into a fort-like house owned by her father-in-law, Baosheng.

"We are the first family of the village to provide homestay to tourists," Labu said . "If you get lost while wandering in the village, just tell the villagers you stay in Baosheng's house. They will show you the way."

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