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Published: December 16th 2006
At last, after a few weekends of doing not much, we went on a wee adventure today....
Luodai apprarently gets its name from a bloke called Liu Adou who lost his jade belt in a well here (however I didn't manage to find out why Liu Adou was so important to warrant a town being named after him). Luodai Ancient Town is the largest Hakka Ancient town in west China, with over 90% of its inhabitants being descendants from Guangdong, Jianxi and Fujian.
We (my flatmate and I) heard about this place from a laowei laoshi friend of ours who had been here before with her students. To get here, take a bus to Wuguiqiao Bus Station which is near the Tazishan Park which has a very tall pagoda like structure which looks like it's ready to topple over but doesn't (or hasn't yet!). Then take the bus 219 to Luodai (if in doubt, just say 'Luodai?' in a questioning tone and someone should shove you in the right bus (it's 3 RMB, one way, journey takes approx 30-40 mins).
When you arrive, well we had our friend to show us but just head towards where everyone else
fake plastic trees
..in the background. Apparently the trees get very dry in the winter and the plastic covering is to protect them.is heading, you should soon see it. It is an 'ancient town' but those of you who have been in China before, or have been here for a while, should know that most 'ancient' things have been restored and look as good as new (which they pretty much are) so it's not really authentic China, whatever that may be, these ideas that you might have of old curved roofs, well they are here, but they aren't necessarily old. Anyway it's all aesthetically pleasing enough, and there's plenty of shops to browse around, snacks to sample or restaurants/eateries if you want something more substantial. We met a couple who wanted to show us round which we couldn't exactly say no to even though it was a bit stilted as their English wasn't that great and our Chinese is pretty much non-existent!
Anyway if you want a day trip out of Chengdu, fancy some browsing and getting close to the mountains, and maybe have a cup of cha, then you could probably do worse than Luodai. It even had a slight slope, which is a bit of a shock if you are a Chengdu ren!
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