2020 National Day: Thousand Island Lake, Southern Anhui Sichuan-Tibet Highway, Tachuan, Hongcun – A 6-Day, 5-Night Travel Guide

October 3: Departed at 6 AM, arrived at Thousand Island Lake Ecological Waterfront Farmhouse around 1 PM, 505 RMB for two nights. Nestled between mountains and water, with a large front yard and good parking. Online reviews say the owner cooks delicious food, and there are electric vehicle charging stations.

The entrance of the farmhouse indeed has convenient parking and nice scenery. However, the bed in the standard room was too small—fine for one person, but a bit cramped if you have a child. If it's not a major holiday like National Day, it's better to stay at a resort hotel. The river clams in Chun'an are a different species from those in northern Anhui. The ones there are really tender and tasty—you must try them. Restaurants usually charge 48–68 RMB per serving, but not trying them is definitely your loss.

After lunch, we arranged for the Thousand Island Lake Forest Oxygen Bar + 4-hour cycling (40 RMB/person). Parking cost 10 RMB per time. However, if there are few people, there are a few free parking spots near the entrance.

11 km, less than 20 minutes by car. The bike rental point was in the city center. By the time we arrived, it was already dark, so we found a nearby restaurant (Fish Plus Joy). It was just average, but if you go early, you can sit by the lake.

The area is great for cycling with a nice environment. The rental point is also the return point, so watch the time. The included bike was a single-person bike, but you could also choose one with a front child seat, or pay extra for a three-person or four-person bike.

October 4: Arrived at the Thousand Island Lake Southeast Scenic Area around 8–9 AM (14 km, 30 minutes by car). Route: Cassia Flower Island, Tianchi Island, Huangshan Peak.

Adult tickets + 4-hour cycling cost 185 RMB, children 100 RMB. This route is classic. Note the time: trips after 9 AM do not include Cassia Flower Island.

Huangshan Peak is like Meifeng Island in the central lake area. Climb to the top to overlook the Pearl Archipelago of over 900 islands. Behind it is the beautiful Xianshan Peninsula scenery. There is also a cable car. You can see the "world as a public trust" formation. Tianchi Island is actually a deep pit left from quarrying during the Southern Song Dynasty, later flooded to form a mountain pond.

Besides the pond, the island has natural attractions like waterfalls and rock gardens. There are multiple docks on this island; listen to the guide's instructions to avoid going to the wrong one. Cassia Flower Island was one of the earliest developed spots in Thousand Island Lake. Besides wild osmanthus, after renovation in 2015, the monkeys from the Monkey Island in the central lake area were relocated here, and there are animal shows.

Note: Lunch must be eaten on the island. It's recommended to eat on the second island or bring self-heating hot pot on the boat.

It's affordable, delicious, and saves time. If you don't mind spending, you can order food on the boat—a large fish head costs 498 RMB, hehe.

Around 2 PM, we finished visiting Thousand Island Lake. During the trip, we received three free tickets to the Ice and Snow World near the central lake scenic area. Paopao insisted on going, so we took her. It was mainly to make up for not having played in Suzhou Amusement Park. But it turned out to be a rip-off: renting clothes for two cost 40 RMB, and there was almost nothing inside, freezing cold. We came out in less than 2 minutes.

Note: The previously bought Thousand Island Lake tickets included both admission and boat fare, so if we wanted to visit the central lake scenic area the next day, we would only need to pay 65 RMB per person for the boat. But since we planned to take Paopao rafting in the morning and then head to the Little Sichuan-Tibet Highway in the afternoon, we skipped it.

For dinner, we went to the most popular local fish head restaurant, Fisherman's Fish Head, and the owner readily agreed to let us dine with a view.

The next day's bamboo rafting on the lake seemed hopeless because during the National Day holiday, city management banned bamboo rafting for safety reasons. But after I repeatedly requested and the owner saw that the child really wanted to go, he agreed to take us at 6 AM. We got up at 5-something, washed up, and waited for the owner's son. To our surprise, we even got to row for a while. But to avoid causing trouble for the kind owner's family, we quickly ended the bamboo raft activity.

Nevertheless, I give a big thumbs-up to the kind business owners in southern Anhui! (Accommodation included breakfast—another thumbs-up. Breakfast was delicious; the local eggs were very fragrant.)

October 6: The highlight—the Southern Anhui Sichuan-Tibet Highway began. Today was going to be the most tiring day.

Actually, arriving at Chujiatan so early yesterday, we should have arranged to visit Qinglong Bay Ecotourism Area, because the eastern entrance of the Southern Anhui Sichuan-Tibet Highway (hereafter referred to as the Sichuan-Tibet Highway) is at Chujiatan (where we stayed). Going to Qinglong Bay and back took about an hour, and that hour brought us a bit of trouble for this afternoon's schedule. We finished driving the Sichuan-Tibet Highway around 2 PM, ate something, then went to Shuimo Tingxi. We didn't finish exploring the entire scenic area because we were afraid of getting dark—we rushed to Moon Bay by 5:30 PM. According to the plan, we could arrive before dark. But unexpectedly, it started getting dark in the mountains at 6 PM, and we ended up driving half an hour on mountain roads at night. Coincidentally, that section was under construction. Those half an hour were nerve-wracking—more exhausting than driving the Sichuan-Tibet Highway during the day.

The reason for staying at Moon Bay at night was that the area near Moon Bay is suitable for children to play in the water. But after seeing Shuimo Tingxi, I think a more reasonable arrangement would be: if time permits the first day, visit Qinglong Bay; the next day, finish the Taoling Heavenly Road around 1 PM, have lunch, then go directly to Shuimo Tingxi to stay, explore it thoroughly, and the following day enjoy Moon Bay at leisure. That way, it wouldn't be so rushed.

Route: World Wooden House Village → Qinglong Township → Chujiatan → Fangtang Township → Banqiao Village → Taoling → Suhong Village → Tingxi Township → Aimin Township → Caicun Town.

First stop: Qinglong Bay Ecotourism Area.

Second stop: navigate to Banqiao, passing Huiyun Zen Temple and Redwood Bay, arriving at Banqiao Nature Reserve, which includes Shijing Orchard. The bamboo raft at Redwood Bay is quite fun. Unfortunately, it wasn't November, so the redwoods hadn't changed color. We could only imagine the brilliant red scenery during the trip. Adults 60 RMB, children 1.2m–1.5m 30 RMB.

Third stop: Shuimo Tingxi (ticket 115 RMB). If not staying overnight, parking is 20 RMB. Since there is a direct road, to take the Taoling Heavenly Road, first navigate to Suhong Village, then to Shuimo Tingxi—only then can you experience the classic part. That road looks amazing—haha! (Total 48 km, theoretical time 1 hour 10 minutes). Driving through water to enter the village is interesting.

Shuimo Tingxi has a beautiful name, and the scenery doesn't disappoint—the water is very clear. If the weather is right in the morning, you can reportedly see mist over the water—a beautiful sight. It's worth staying a night. Try some small fish and river shrimp. Unfortunately, I had arranged accommodation at Moon Bay this time. If there's a next time, I'd choose to stay here.

Fourth stop: Moon Bay, a beautiful name (29 km, 40 minutes by car). Many movies were filmed here, like "The Laughter of Moon Bay" and such, but I haven't seen them. We passed by the hotel where we stayed overnight: Jingxian Qingjing Renjia Farmhouse, 216 RMB per night. We could drop off luggage first—the hotel is 2 km from Moon Bay. The hotel wasn't easy to find, but the parking space was large enough. However, because it was a mountain road at night, I think my car was scratched that night. Although the entrance to the hotel was a bit narrow, everything else was great. When the owner saw us arrive, he offered to help carry our luggage and, seeing the child, quickly cooked for us. When I complained that the chestnut chicken had only half a chicken, he doubled the amount of chestnuts. At night, when he saw me drinking, he specially gave me a plate of smashed cucumber. The next day's breakfast was supposed to be 10 RMB per person, but in the end, he didn't charge. Together with the dinner (192 RMB), he only charged 180 RMB. The corn and pickles at breakfast were really delicious, but I didn't have the nerve to ask for more—haha! Except for the difficult access road, everything else gets a thumbs-up.

Next to the hotel there is a Turtle Pool, good for playing in the water. When I opened the balcony door in the morning, I was greeted by a fairyland-like mountain scene. It rained at night at Moon Bay, and the morning air was really fresh, with a faint floral scent. Besides the USA, China also has sweet-smelling air! Although we regretted not staying a night at Shuimo Tingxi, Moon Bay did not disappoint.

October 7: Directly navigated to the accommodation for the night: Hongcun Xinyi Inn, 131 RMB per night. I'm at a loss for words. The landlady even upgraded us to a room that normally costs over 200 RMB a night. In terms of accommodation, this was the best. The room had camphor wood furniture, and the whole room smelled of wood. But perhaps it was too antique—there was a large rat running around on the ceiling at night. The owner offered to change rooms, but since the two children were already asleep, we declined. However, I must say, next time I come to Tachuan, I will definitely stay here again. The value for money is incredible.

Located within the Tachuan scenic area. Today's planned itinerary mainly included Tachuan and Mukeng Bamboo Sea. Tachuan sits between Hongcun and Mukeng Bamboo Sea. As for Hongcun, I feel a quick stroll around the entrance is enough—it's similar to most water towns inside.

Tachuan in late autumn is very beautiful, but this time we couldn't see that desolate beauty. The leaves were just beginning to turn yellow—I really loved it.

Originally, I planned not to enter Hongcun, because the most beautiful spots in Hongcun are the South Lake at the entrance and the Moon Pond in the center. I remember that before, the ticket booth was after the small bridge over South Lake, but now it has been moved to the edge of South Lake. If you don't buy a ticket, you can't even see South Lake. So we had no choice but to change plans. The ticket allows entry for three days. To not waste the over 200 RMB, we reluctantly skipped Mukeng Bamboo Sea and visited Hongcun for two consecutive days. A guide costs 90 RMB; I basically tagged along with other tour groups. If you have a large group, hiring a guide is nice, since cultural attractions are hard to understand without explanation.

Around 8 PM, it was completely dark. A taxi driver jokingly asked us to name a price to go to Tachuan, and then charged us 15 RMB. It was about 3 km of mountain road at night—pitch black. This was the sky at that time, photographed from the small path in front of the inn. I was mentally prepared to pay 50–100 RMB. I can only say that people in southern Anhui are truly honest. This trip greatly increased my fondness for southern Anhui people.

If the beauty of Tachuan lies in its yellow and vibrant colors, the beauty of Mukeng Bamboo Sea lies in its green—a green that refreshes the heart. Both scenic spots are close to the inn and can be reached on foot.

October 8: Went to Hongcun again in the morning—carved beams and painted rafters. While eating noodles, I discovered the top ten ancient houses of Hongcun. Finally, sending off with fresh flowers...

I hope every traveler about to return can find the original intention of their journey at the end of the trip.

Note: Many photos could not be uploaded due to size issues, which is a pity.