After going to Zhaoxing in the summer vacation of 2021 and accidentally discovering the Miaojia Inn on Lubei Mountain, Xiaopi and I have always been obsessed with the scenery there. The summer vacation in July 2022 is here again. The nasty epidemic is still invading the lives of most Chinese people. Everyone seems to be tired of these endless and meaningless control measures this summer vacation. We all think of the picturesque scenery Lubei Mountain, so we contacted Xiao Yang on Lubei Mountain in advance, planning to skip the noisy Zhaoxing Dong Village and go directly up the mountain to live in Lubei Mountain.


It takes 3 hours and 45 minutes from Guangzhou South Railway Station to Congjiang High-speed Railway Station. There are quite a lot of trains every day. After arriving at Congjiang High-speed Railway Station, there is a direct public transportation of about 20 minutes to the Zhaoxing Dongzhai Scenic Spot. In the Miao Village on Lubei Mountain, more than 30 kilometers away from Zhaoxing Dong Village in Liping, the village has a nice name "Gaoniao Village". There is no public transportation to enter Lubei Mountain, so you can only rent a car to go up the mountain. The quality of the winding mountain road on the road is not bad, and occasionally some areas in the middle are crushed by passing vehicles due to looser geology. Xiao Yang's husband, Mr. Lu, came to the high-speed rail station to pick us up. After more than 50 minutes, we arrived at the quiet and serene Lubei Mountain that we were looking forward to. We found a sign erected at the entrance of the inn, which said: "Lubeishan Homestay", Xiao Yang told us that it was newly built last year.


Xiao Yang has told us in advance that there are several tourists from Guangxi in their homestay these days. They only planned to stay for 1-2 days, but they stayed for 4 days and didn't want to leave. Xiao Yang seemed a little sorry for this, probably because he felt that the crowd was too "lively". But for us, there are only 5-6 tourists in Lubei Mountain, which is already the quietest place we can find.


These middle-aged Guangxi tourists seem to be of good quality. They came here by car from Guangxi, and this is the third time they have come here. Being able to find and appreciate the simple Lubeishan B&Bs is obviously a group of "veteran drivers" who know how to live. Although the voices of the aunts were a little louder, they were warm and polite. This time they came prepared. From tea to canned dace, all kinds of biscuits almost filled the entire tea table. It was dinner time when we arrived. , Xiao Yang was busy cooking in the kitchen. Ten minutes later, the table was full of chicken, duck and fish, which looked very attractive. 6-7 people started to eat, and they warmly greeted us to join.


At noon the next day, the Guangxi tourists packed up their things and left before lunch. In the afternoon, it finally returned to tranquility. On the top of the hill behind the house, you can see the iconic windmill driven by electricity. The sides and front are surrounded by green rice fields. From a distance, you can see the village below and the larger terraced fields in the distance, blue The mountains in the mountains are constantly shrouded in clouds and mist, the air on the mountains is fresh and the temperature is very pleasant, and there is a slight mountain breeze blowing constantly. Xiaopi and I sit on the deck chairs outside, not wanting to do anything or go anywhere, enjoying the rare tranquility and cool.


The homestay is built on the back of the mountain. The whole building has 3 floors. Except for the wine cellar and some walls on the first floor, the whole house is made of solid wood. Xiao Lu told us that the wood used in the house was demolished from an old stilted building in the stockade, and then moved to the top of the mountain for reuse and rebuilt. The structure is similar to the old house before, and a lot of renovations have been done.


The stilted buildings of the Miao people are full of wisdom. They use one room for multiple purposes, saving land and materials. Its construction is a dauntless structure, which is convenient for the whole building to be moved near the ground, or to be used again after demolition. Most of the Miao people live in deep mountainous areas, where the mountains are high and the slopes are steep, and it is extremely difficult to dig the foundation. In addition, the weather is changeable, humid and foggy, and the bottom of the brick houses is too humid to live in. Diaojiaolou perfectly solves these practical problems. Traditional stilted buildings are generally divided into three floors, with livestock on the bottom floor, people living in the middle floor, and storage on the top floor. The internal structure of Lubei Mountain B&B has been remodeled. There is a large wine cellar on the first floor, which is neatly divided into large tile vats and large wine tanks with covers, which hold fermenting rice and finished rice wine respectively. At one end of the wine cellar, there are four large cement firewood stoves, and there are four huge iron pots on the upper door, and a wooden utensil for receiving wine is hung on one of the upper doors.


Connected to the wine cellar is a hall for receiving guests. The hall also serves as a living room and a restaurant. The layout of the hall retains many original ecological elements, basically wooden furniture, and an old-fashioned loom in one corner. , the desktop is covered with traditional batik cloth of the Miao nationality, and some decorations of the Miao family are hung on the wall, and even two shotguns of the Miao family are hung. In addition, there is no lack of modern elements in the living room - the huge tea table. Passing through the living room is the kitchen and firepit, and then the second and third floors are guest rooms. The guest room retains the traditional look, and the owner has added many original ecological elements to the door decoration, such as doorknobs made of tree roots, hooks, lampshades made of pumpkin skins, and hanging baskets in the guest room instead of bedside tables. There are clean towels, tissue paper and washing supplies, etc., and a hammock is arranged in one room, which is very interesting. Some of the cross-stitches hanging on the walls of the guest room should be made by Xiao Yang himself. It can be seen that the ingenious owner has put a lot of thought into the details when decorating.


Several people came to the B&B during dinner time. Xiao Yang told us that they were cadres in the county. After visiting Shangding in the afternoon, the B&B was in charge of reception in the evening. He also warmly invited me to drink and eat with Xiaopi. There is an original firepit on the outside of the kitchen on the first floor of the homestay. Sitting on the ground around the firepit should be the tradition of the Miao family. The firepit room of Xiao Yang’s family built a circle around the firepit, just enough to place food, and the wooden low-leg benches around the firepit can seat more than 10 people. Although it is midsummer today, the firepit There was no fire, but Xiao Yang still placed a gas pot, and put a pot of vegetable soup on the door, surrounded by plates filled with different foods, and Xiao Yang thoughtfully divided the food into two plates. Put it where everyone can reach it, the whole scene looks very distinctive. One can imagine that in winter, when there is heavy snow falling outside, relatives and friends gather around the firepit to warm up together, and at the same time set up pots and utensils in the firepit to cook hot pot. It must be very interesting. Xiaopi sat in front of the firepit early to experience this unusual way of dining.



(to be continued... ...)