2014 day 4 合欢山，纸箱王， 鲁山， 塔洛湾

歐鄉美邸

This was our second B&B. Unlike the previous B&B, beds were much softer and the room was warmer and dryer. 

Morning view from our room:

Property view around the B&B

合欢山

This is the most accessible mountain that can be reached by car. A few steps up and one can reach its peak. Needless to say, it was too cold to do this in this weather. The water that came out of the tap turned to ice in the basin.

Weather got steadily worse. The soft drizzle turned into rain. Clouds were gathering and we couldn't see much.  

So we came down hill and went to 纸箱王

These are cool products made of carton paper. Don't you agree?

鲁山

For lunch, we had another type of freshwater fish and the fish was sliced into two halves and each half was done in a different style. This place was much better. This restaurant was the first one on the left after crossing a bridge by foot. 

The owner let us try the tea grown in her farm. The tea itself was fragrant. The owner was 60+ years old but she looked like she was in her early forties. Amazing what clean air, cool weather, hot spring spa and outdoor work do to her body. 

Since the weather was so miserable, we decided to try the hot spring. At 鲁山, the hot spring doesn't smell of sulphur. There were many, many hot spring spas and some were closed by the government as it tried to control their numbers. So the place looked a bit like a ghost town. The spa that we tried was about 20+ years old and it was a bit run down. 

After the hot spring, we decided to hike a little since the sun came out. Again, there were many bryophytes. However, they were different from La La Shan.

After the hike, we visited an award winning 87 year old weaver. Every part of her wall was covered with pictures of her posing with presidents and VIPS. She played an instrument (passed down from her mother) for us. It sure required a lot of effort to get the thin sliver of bamboo made into a fork to produce sound by pulling a string and by blowing and sucking in air. 

塔洛湾

This restaurant was burnt down a year ago and it has been rebuilt again. We were in time to try their baked chicken, Asplenium fern, stream prawns, egg omelette and mushrooms. The soup was so-so. It was all a set meal and we managed to exchange the cabbage with Asplenium fern. Anything is possible, you just need to ask. We were really quite sick of cabbage by now.

Another vegetable that one must try is the longxuchai龙须菜. It is the leaf and tendrils of Chayote (Sechium edule). It is the one on the left. Crunchy and can be cooked in any style.