2015 China: Apr 8, Wednesday, Dongchuan

We got to sleep in a bit and then it was off on a four hour drive to the Red Land in Dongchuan. The drive went through some beautiful valleys and (of course) through many areas with rice fields and vegetable farms.

The Red Land covers a large area at elevations between 5900 feet (1800 meters) and 8500 feet (2600 meters). The area has breathtaking vistas with deep valleys and high mountains but the most notable part was the deep red soil terraces that climbed up the mountainside. The deep red was broken up by terraces containing light green barley.

The winds over the barley fields had a beautiful rippling effect. Paul now understands what is meant by “…waves of grain…” (Remember, he’s a city boy).

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We saw a lot of farmers working in the fields.

The area is very remote and has only recently become a tourist destination. Many of the locals are establishing guest houses in order to take in tourists. In our drives through there area there didn’t appear to be any real hotels. So it was with trepidation that we arrived at our hotel for the night. The building that we parked in front of looked very non-descript but then the guide and driver took us and our luggage through a moon gate (circular gate)

Entrance to the hotel

and into a magical garden area and walk that lead to the charming courtyard of our hotel, the Shang Ju Hotel. The reception building had beautiful furnishings based on the Ming style.

Courtyard

Reception Building

The main reception area had a very interesting chandelier made of blue and white porcelain.

This is actually a chandelier on the ceiling of the reception area.

There was a large pond off of one of the buildings and picturesque bridges over the canal that ran through the grounds. Our room was in another building that also had a lovely little courtyard. It was lovely with a very warm and decorative comforter and stone floors. Unfortunately the room had no heat but it wasn’t too terribly cold at night…at least the water in our water bottles didn’t freeze.

The hotel had the usual quirky Chinese maintenance and/or construction issues that had us scratching our heads. Notice the very odd (and useless) placement of the strike plate on the door jam to our room.

Late in the afternoon we headed out to a look-out to see the sunset over the fields and mountains. The sunset never really amounted to much as far as sunsets go but the views were spectacular and the colors very vibrant.