We started the day off going to the Tusi ethnic village “二官寨村”. Thanks to the sheer skill of our bus driver we made it there alive. The roads were quite curvy and at some parts there were only dirt roads. (Somehow there was space for cars to pass our giant bus).
As we winded through the mountains of Enshi, the cliff faces slowly turned into rows and rows of tea plants. In a place where I wouldn’t think anything could grow, there were terraced tea fields.
Once arriving in the village, we were given a little tour around by a man who was born and raised in the village but taught at a College in Wuhan. We got to see the preserved traditional housing complexes, and the village square where they have community dancing every once in a while. We got the privilege to go inside a resident’s house, got to see their kitchen, their bedrooms, and wine making set up. Since there generally isn’t heating in Chinese households in that part of China, they had a multitude of thick blankets and once central “heating room” where they dried meat and where residents could go if they got too cold. When I walked into that room I was just grateful for the heat, and didn’t notice the hanging pig intestines until a bit later, it was quite surprising.
I was also happy to see all of the (definitely well fed) village cats all over the place. It was kind of an “I spy” moment.
Before we left the village, we had a nice walk along the river, I waded in up to my knees, and Karun went for a little swim (big surprise there).
We left the Tusi village for a cute little restaurant/tea farm (茶花山庄) where we had (in my opinion) one of the best meals, of local dishes. Since it was still in the mountains and it was a foggy day, it was a very cold dinner, but a tasty one nonetheless.
After dinner we sat at this long table and had a little tea ceremony, trying different types of tea locally produced and processed. It turned out that the same woman who harvested the tea leaves also made some fruit wines and liquors sold at the restaurant. So after the ceremony, I went back to the restaurant and bought locally made loquat liquor. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to buy any sticky rice wine, even though it was the best wine I think I have ever tasted. (I might try to make it instead). We all all bought a pack of locally sourced red tea which I am drinking as I write this (and its sooo good).
We then went to the old Tusi City and explored on our own.
The day concluded with a nice dinner (as per usual) and in order to heal the pains from the previous day at the canyons, a few of us decided to go to a Thai massage spa. (Which was amazing and also surprisingly quite painful)
Aza Wolfwood