Full Moon in Da Zhai

11-21-2010 - Da Zhai Village guesthouse

An evening in Da Zhai village [of the long-haired women]. My room resembles a ski lodge/challet. I like it. Huge view. Very cozy. Especially now, that the friendly Yao hostess found me a heater for the room. It's immediately feeling warmer in here. The village is at the cloud level and it takes many twists of a windy mountain road to get up here [roughly 2 hours from the inconspicuous town of Longshen]. 

Immediately, as I have arrived in the village, I sat to meditate and have gone so deep that I fell asleep....its like something within my soul has relaxed and found peace here. I shall stay here for a couple days. I like it. It is quiet and pensive....Confuscian. What a relief from the busy cities full of tourists. This space is relatively insular with plethora of hikes and trekking loops. I'm considering doing a 5 hr trek to Pignan village - a path that leads through many of the small local villages....and then either staying in Pignan or in Da Zhai again. 

I met a curious young and handsome barrister from London who is inviting me to trek with him tomorrow. I just might do that.

The scenery here is genuinely dreamy - 1000 meters of neatly stacked rice terraces that fill with water seasonally [now most of them are dry] drowinging in milky rivers of diaphanous clouds.... the village lights shing through like wandering lights on a marsh. The little village perched on a hill amidst the terraces resembles the island of Laputa that just landed here to rest awhile. Gulliver would smile. The air here is permeated with wood smoke - the scent of my childhood....makes me feel cozy and at home here. Now that the heater is here and my fingers have thawed enough to type, all is truly well.