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| Educated since their youngest age to recycling. |
At the end of March, on a pleasant Sunday morning, an happy group of four Japanese and two Italians climbed on a minibus and set off to a small village 90 kilometers away from Beijing, Cuandixia.
The trip could have last less than two hours but our driver wanted to teach us the real implications of the Chinese word milu.
A word that I will never forget and that translated into English sounds pretty much like: to get lost.
The sweet sound of it made you expect a wonderful hidden meaning and instead, there we are, asking for directions every 20 meters on streets traversed only by occasional rickety buses and ramshackle carts.
After more than 3 hours, we finally reached our destination.
End of March is not the best period for a trip to Cuandixia; trees are still bare and bushes are mostly dead.
It's like trying to sing The Sound of Music in the village of The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Cuandixia is located on a valley floor and populated by a small group of families (circa seventy) who decided to literally open their doors to tourists.
Their kitchens are the rest stops, their living rooms the folk custom museums.
The village is a labyrinth of small passageways and stone houses; the predominant colors are the brown of the dust, the red of the Spring Festival couplets, the grey of the stones, the yellow of the corncobs hanging to dry. And, unexpectedly, the blue of the sky.
On the slope of one of the hills surrounding Cuandixia, a secluded small temple dedicated to the Goddess of Fertility, whose striking resemblance with a Madonna did not escape our Western eyes.
After a brief walk through the hamlet, we decided to climb to the top of the fronting hill for a bird's eye view.
I am proud to announce to you all that I have been the only one to make it to the peak.
Maybe the rest of the group had understood that walking on the brow of an escarpment, without any kind of protection and with a strong wind blowing, it is not one of the most safe and intelligent activities on Earth.
The white line is the trail. The small coloured dots my companions.
Once on the top, my first thought was: WOW! The second one: And now, how the Hell do I get down?
The fresh mountain breeze stimulated our hunger and so we indulged on an healthy snack: steamed corncob.
The snack, more than assuage the hunger, whetted it. So, we entered one of the many courtyards, where a kind matron showed us to the dining room and brought us the DIY menu. The meal was simple, tasty and enjoyable.
The House Soup has been renamed the Granma Soup, not for its flavour of long ago but because the main ingredient was, in fact, the grandma (as you can see from her skinny hand coming out of the bowl).
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| Grandma is into the Chicken Soup |
The inhabitants of Cuandixia are by now used to the coming and going of tourists and they do not even notice if someone, driven by his curiosity, suddenly steps in their courtyard, adorned without fail with corncob and chilli peppers hanging to dry.
The d'antan atmosphere of the village makes it the perfect photographic location (it's a shame this picture does not show the fuchsia leggings the model is wearing. I understand that cold is cold but at least match the colors!)
The main temple of the village was our last stop before leaving. We had great fun tolling the bell three times using a tree trunk neither light nor handy. The tolls mingled with our laughter and spread in the whole valley.
Romantic epilogue: Do not use, if possible, the public toilet at the entrance of the Village.
Chiara Braccagni
The Italian Version of this Article and more and larger photos will soon appear at KingsCalendar Stories from China
In 2007 Chiara Braccagni spent 4 months in Suzhou as an Italian teacher at the SuZhou Polytechnic Institute of Agriculture before returning to Italy to Graduate from college.
After graduating from Interpreter School (Trieste) she returned to China (Beijing) where she did further Chinese studies to gain Oral Proficiency. She is currently and temporarily working in the Italian Embassy in Beijing. She likes to travel, explore and look for good excuses not to go back home.
Her articles appear in both Italian and English with larger Photos at KingsCalendar Stories from China
