Surrounding Chengdu, visit the millennium-old Zen temple and admire the vast tea plantations

- Ya'an is only a 2-hour drive from Chengdu, just right for a visit to my favorite mountains and temples, trees and tea. - 🍃 Yunfeng Temple, a sanctuary surrounded by a thousand-year-old ancient Nanmu forest No admission fee, no donation box, no incense and candles for sale - a pure temple! It boasts over 200 ancient trees and is known as 'China's most beautiful ancient forest' - a pure land on earth. 🍃 Niunianping, the starting point of the ancient Tea Horse Road, with its vast tea gardens April is the most beautiful time of the year, with everything growing and the green tea trees covering the hills like 'fingerprints of the earth'. The tea garden is picturesque with its spring greenery, and it's busy with tea picking. Besides enjoying the flowers and scenery, you can also hike the small loop, pick tea leaves, cycle around, and learn about tea. There are hardly any food vendors in the park, so it's recommended to bring some water and food. 🍃 A Zen hotel hidden in the secret forest. I tried it out for the 'Top 10 Must-Sleep Green Luxury Awards' in China. The hotel is located within the Yunfeng Mountain Scenic Area, opposite Yunfeng Temple. Here you can hear the temple bells, the chanting of monks, and every morning the hotel butler reads scriptures on the chanting platform - a very healing moment. 🚗 Share itinerary: Day one: Sleep in until naturally waking up, leave around 10 am, have local snacks for lunch in Xingjing County, such as Zhou Ji's ancestral Bangbang Chicken (with many bamboo shoot side dishes, a quarter is enough for two people), Dada noodles, etc. After lunch, arrive at the hotel, drink tea, visit Yunfeng Temple, daydream, and after dinner at the hotel, take a leisurely stroll and soak in a private bath. (There is a famous Taihu Fish Restaurant 300 meters from the hotel that closes at 7 pm, and it takes about 40 minutes to roast a fish, so it's best to call ahead to reserve) Day two: Also sleep in until naturally waking up, have breakfast and then head back to Chengdu. Stop by Shangli Ancient Town for lunch on the way, and visit Niunianping Tea Garden in the afternoon for sightseeing and tea drinking. - - May you and I have the capacity for happiness -