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

Toilet with a view

The house was truly something.

The stone and wood structure comprised four floors. At ground level were the kitchen, the dining room furnished with traditional Tibetan long chairs and tables, two living rooms for the family and a square courtyard. On the first floor were three guest rooms and two wide flat roofs. The second floor had another two guest rooms, a flat roof and a special toilet.

Attached to the outside wall high above the ground, was a wooden "hanging toilet" with fine views of the green mountains and dense woods. Stone enclosures below caught the droppings.

But for the less adventurous, there was also a Western toilet outside the house. "We're the first family to built a Western toilet at the village," said Labu. "There you can take a shower, but only cold water in the summer."

There was only a tiny room on the third floor of the house, which served as the family chapel with a niche housing a Buddha statue.

At each corner of the square house was a stone "horn" painted white, on which a prayer flag hung. All eaves of the house were painted red and the outer walls, white.

The family charges a guest only 50 yuan for a bed and two meals. I saw no reason to look elsewhere.

I spent the afternoon sitting on the flat roof of the house with a cup of tea in my hand and watching the villagers busy in the fields, pigs napping under trees, red-billed choughs skimming across the canyon and Himalayan griffons wheeling in the thermals. The peaceful and timeless atmosphere was intoxicating.

Soon it was dinnertime. At the dining room, I was served by Gengdeng Gema, wife of Baosheng, with salty milk tea, freshly-baked corn cake, and several kinds of vegetables fried with homemade bacon.

The night was beautiful, with the houses silhouetted against the mountains under a clear starry sky.

The only noises that could be heard were the occasional dog barks and owl calls.

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