Back at the hotel in Mudu after a fantastically great day. Fantastically great for all the right reasons: a little bit of planning, a little bit of improvisation and a whole lot of following your own nose, leading you to exactly what you were after all along. Traveling China is like that: what you remember invariably are the things you didn’t plan.

Guangfu Temple

After turning my nose up at the din and ruckus of Mudu, I hopped a cab to Guangfu Temple (光复寺(铜观音寺与光复塔), RMB15). Built on a small hill, it’s not as big as even the Hanshan Temple in Suzhou, but it’s very quaint and, unlike Hanshan, active monks still live there. The treasure of the temple is a 1000 year old copper Buddha of Mercy housed in the main prayer hall. Legend has it that it was unearthed in the area during the Song Dynasty. Standing about 1 meter tall, it would probably pass notice if you weren’t clear on the history. For me the real treasure was the short hike up the hill behind. With great views of Zhenhu (a small islet hemmed off of Taihu), a spacious courtyard and a small teahouse, it’s perfect for an hour’s worth of contemplation, i.e. lunch. Then scamper up the seven story tower for excellent aerial views and your first real look at what you’ve come for: Taihu!

The tower is genuinely old, several hundred years at least (my Chinese guidebook only specified that it was originally built in 1400, but had been renovated somewhere along the line. There is also an interesting photo at the base of the tower which shows the structure standing in the middle of greenery: clearly the temple complex itself, though originally founded in 500 A.D., had been rebuilt from scratch recently). The twinkling of the bells hanging at the eaves in the strong winds blowing in from the lake is intoxicating on a beautiful day like today.

I had come to see Guangfu Temple and I wasn’t in the least disappointed, but that’s where my concrete plan of action ended. I knew that I wanted to get up close with Taihu, but where and how? I decided to follow my stomach.

Taihu

Taihu is famous for seafood, and my guidebook mentioned a place called Taihu Boat Food Street (太湖船菜街). It sounded promising so I figured out which direction it was and began to walk hoping to get a public bus or find a minibus which wouldn’t rip me off. That’s one thing about traveling on a budget (and frankly who doesn’t travel on a budget?), you have to balance adventure with possible expense. After a few minutes I got my minibus and after negotiating them down to RMB25 I was off. I should have paid about 10. Oh well.

Taihu Boat Food Street is hilarious. It’s 10 restaurants, each four stories tall, each built on a separate barge and moored to the wooden promenade right on Taihu proper. Big, garish, it’s everything foreigners don’t really like nor understand about the Chinese way of eating. Whatever, it was on the water and they were sure to have good stuff fresh from the lake. After first ascertaining when the last public bus of the day to Guangfu was, I made a gamble and pushed on down the road on foot to see what was what. That turned out to be the best move of the day.

Yunfeng Zen Buddhist Temple

I’m walking on a paved road with the lake yawning out to my right and farmland backed by small foothills to my left. I rounded a bend and came upon a sleepy little water town. But lo, what is that on the promontory? The gilded yellow walls said temple immediately. Nothing about this in my guidebook! I wound my way through some alleys and then through some fields before coming upon the temple wall and four solemn graves. I followed the wall until I got to the entrance: 云峰禅寺—Yunfeng Zen Buddhist Temple.

The gate was wide open, but there wasn’t a monk to be seen. I made straight for the prayer hall where I did something I normally never do: 拜佛--thrice kneeling to pay your respects. I guess I was just happy that Buddha had let me find this intriguing place. Coming on a working temple is fantastic, they feel so much different than the museum pieces foreigners usually go to. I wandered around a bit and then finally spied the monks: they were shooting pool! Seriously, the monks were shooting pool. Laughing, I took off.

Tuhua Resort Hotel

The little town at the foot of the hill is named Chongshan (冲山) and I found out to my amazement that they have one industry there: making Buddhas. In every courtyard you’ll see cords of wood, huge trunks, half finished torsos of Buddhas and massive Laughing Buddhas just needing a coat of paint. So that’s where all those Buddhas come from! Chongshan! I asked someone how much to have one custom made. They hemmed and hawed so much I knew they were trying to figure out how much they could take me for so I took off. Freaking locals. Anyway, you can have them custom made.

I’d spied an interesting looking complex on the next promontory into the lake. Someone told me it was a hotel so I went to check it out. Readers, you should thank me for doing the hard work for you because otherwise you’d never know about the Tuhua Resort Hotel. It’s freaking awesome and I found it because I crossed a vegetable farm and scaled some big rocks wet with surf. This place is crazy, a four or five star caliber hotel almost totally empty with the most amazing view of Taihu ever. It faces due west so the sunset is ALL YOURS. It’s totally Overlook Hotel stuff. I thought I had stumbled into one of those resorts only for officials. It used to be the exclusive property of the Chinese National Petroleum Corps, but went public in 2006. Standard rooms are RMB560. I inspected two of them and they are great; the bathrooms even have bathtubs! I saw one room which felt like it was sitting right on top of Taihu. Unfortunately I had made arrangements in Mudu, or else I would be writing this from there!

Mudu Part Two

After a delicious songzi guiyu and a couple cold beers on太湖船菜街 while the sun was setting, I grabbed the last bus back to town. And, I have to say, I’m prepared to give Mudu another shot. At night, Mudu Old Town looks like the main streets in Suzhou’s old town. Interesting lights glimmer and the willowy lanes beckon an evening walk. Which is exactly what I think I will do. Right now.

Hint 1: There aren’t many free floating cabs in Mudu so have your hotel arrange one or just jump on 64 or 65 public bus which lets off just down the road from Guangfu Temple). Hint 2: Guangfu to太湖船菜街 take bus 651. Amazingly, you can swipe your Shanghai metro card! Go China! Hint 3: I’m staying at the Home Inn (RMB218, equipped with FREE high speed internet, and no “ma-sag-ee” phone calls.