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Published: August 15th 2009
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First thing in the morning I went to Dufu's cottage. Dufu's is one of China's most famous poets and lived 712-770 CE, during the Tang Dynasty. Most of his poems were either about nature or were patriotic. He only lived in the cottage for 4 years before setting out with his family on a boat down the river. During his 4 years there, though, he wrote his most important works. He was truly worried about the fate of China with all the warring that was occurring at the time. He fell out of favor when addressing the Emperor about another man, but his poetry is still considered a national treasure.
The grounds of the cottage were amazing. Lonely Planet called them one of the finest green spaces in Chengdu and they are right! It all seems to just go on forever. Lush plants, tall palms, and ferns. There were a few waterfalls a ponds with fish. I could have stayed there much longer, just wandering, but I didn't know how large Wuhou temple would be and didn't want to run short on time.
The cottage itself was modest, just a few rooms and a thatched roof. But to be
able to escape to the the solitude like that would be heavenly. Especially to escape the big city.
Dufu's cottage is quite the popular place for important people to visit. Kissinger, Mao, Deng Xiaoping, and the leaders of South Korea, North Korea, Singapore, France, and Canada have all visited and posed for photos and left notes that are on display. Quite impressive, especially considering I don't think many Westerners have ever heard of Dufu!
Afterwards, I ventured to Wuhou temple. It's beautiful but much smaller than I anticipated. There is an emperor entombed there and you can walk around the hill, but there's nothing to see except hill and wall. It seemed kind of pointless to me, but everyone else there seemed to think it was pretty great to walk in a circle around a hill.
I got my shopping done, too. I bought some gifts for some friends back home. Some of my friends are "helping" me to get to Minneapolis, as in they're all chipping in and paying for my ticket. I have the most generous friends in the world. Buying them a true Chinese experience of tea and a mug like mine
feels like a small token of appreciation, but I'm pretty sure they'll love them. I got tea recommendations from the manager at my hostel, who even wrote down the names for me in Chinese so I could get help at the store. I hope my friends have as much fun watching the tea leaves grow in their mugs as I did the first few times... and still do. It's such a different experience than dunking a tea bag.
One of my friends from Chongqing is also at my hostel here. She and I stayed up on the patio making friends with 3 generous French guys, one of whom is originally from China but has lived there for 10 years. I've never seen a Chinese person speak anything but Chinese or English, so that was sort of an interesting experience. They kept us well supplied in beer and laughs. We were eventually joined by 2 Brits and 4 Dutch. Nights like this remind me why I love traveling--I would never have experiences or meet people like this if I stayed home. We stayed up till 2:30, only going to bed because we realized we all had things to do
the next day. It was a great last night of my vacation. You can't go wrong with beer, friends, and laughter.
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