Nanzhuangzhen

Day Trips

Touch down in the nearby train station and take a short bus ride into the heart of Nanzhuangzhen, soaking in the rolling green hills. Check into a family-run guesthouse and savor a steaming bowl of local rice noodle soup infused with bamboo shoots. Stroll along the narrow lanes to get your first glimpse of the town’s rustic wooden architecture.

Join a friendly locals’ tour to explore the old stone bridge, sample homemade pastries at a hidden tea stall, and watch artisans shaping bamboo crafts. Wander through clusters of lotus blooms beside the riverbank and capture reflections of patchwork fields in the water. Pause at a riverside café for jasmine tea and homemade sunflower seed biscuits.

Dine on a multi-course Hakka feast featuring braised pork belly, preserved vegetables, and fresh mountain mushrooms at a riverside family restaurant. Sit around a lantern-lit courtyard to hear folk stories about the town’s founding and the battles fought in nearby hills. Drift to sleep to the soft rumble of the stream under wooden footbridges.

Begin your day with a sunrise walk along Old Street, where wooden shopfronts display hand-pressed ink sticks and carved jade trinkets. Chat with shopkeepers about traditional Hakka paper-cut art and try your hand at cutting patterns on rice paper. Enjoy sweet green bean soup at a century-old stall passed down through three generations.

Visit a hidden museum tucked inside a brick courtyard to learn about regional lantern-making techniques and the town’s role in tea export during the Qing dynasty. Sample roast chestnuts dusted with five-spice powder on your stroll back toward the river. Join a local family for a hands-on dumpling workshop, rolling wrappers and shaping savory pockets filled with minced pork and chives.

Head to a moonlit performance of Hakka mountain songs held in the open-air temple square, where villagers gather to sing and dance. Sip warm rice wine served in bamboo cups as you mingle with performers afterward. Wander home past flickering red lanterns, breathing in the spicy aroma of street-grilled sausage.

Rise early to attend a temple blessing ceremony at the centuries-old Qingxu Temple, watching monks chant amid curling incense smoke. Explore colorful murals depicting local myths and the winding dragon stairway carved from solid stone. Collect a blessed talisman inscribed with ancient characters for good fortune.

Take a short hike up to the hilltop Xianghua Temple, passing terraced tea gardens and plum groves. Enjoy a vegetarian lunch prepared by temple volunteers, featuring bamboo shoots, wild greens, and fermented tofu. Sit by a lotus pond and join a short meditation session guided by a senior monk.

Return to town and relax with a foot bath infused with local herbs at a riverside spa. Savor a light dinner of river fish steamed in citrus leaves and served with pickled radish. End the evening browsing lantern stalls under strings of soft yellow lights.

Drive out to the sprawling green tea terraces that roll across the surrounding hills, mist curling through the valleys at dawn. Walk among tea plants with an expert guide who demonstrates proper plucking techniques and explains the art of aroma profiling. Sip the first brewed cups of freshly pressed Mao Feng tea while surveying the panoramic view.

Participate in a private tea-processing workshop at a small countryside factory, learning to wither, roll, and dry leaves. Enjoy a shaded lunch in a bamboo pavilion overlooking the fields, sampling local pickles and rice cakes. Experiment with blending flavors using wild jasmine blossoms and chrysanthemum petals.

Return to town in time for an intimate tea ceremony in a restored courtyard home, where a tea master shares stories of ancient tea routes. Pair delicate oolong infusions with sweet lotus seed cakes as the sun sets over tiled rooftops. Retreat to your guesthouse with a curated tea set to practice brewing.

Set off before sunrise to Lotus Lake, a serene body of water blanketed with pink and white lotus blossoms. Glide across the lake in a bamboo raft piloted by a local fisherman who points out egrets and kingfishers diving for minnows. Shore your feet in cool water and wander along mudflats studded with blooming pods.

Follow a narrow footpath into the surrounding nature reserve, where bamboo groves give way to wildflower meadows. Picnic on handmade rice balls, smoked tofu, and fresh fruit beneath swaying bamboo canes. Take photos at a wooden observation deck overlooking flocks of migratory birds.

Head back to town for a lively night market feast under red umbrellas, sampling grilled rice noodles, spicy tofu skewers, and crispy lotus root chips. Try a local specialty—sweet potato wine served in tiny clay cups—and cheer with newfound friends. Cap the evening with a stroll by lantern-lit canals.

Awaken before dawn to join morning Taiji in the riverside park, aligning breath and movement with the mist-shrouded water. Follow an elder instructor through gentle flows and martial postures overlooking weeping willows. Finish with Qigong stretching as the sun peeks over distant peaks.

Warm up with a bowl of steaming sweet potato congee at a roadside stall, then explore nearby bamboo instrument makers demonstrating flute carving. Hike a short trail to a cliff-perched pavilion offering sky-high views of terraced paddies. Enjoy lunch at a cliff-side tea house, feasting on wild mushroom stir-fry and mountain greens.

Return for a traditional massage using local herbal oils infused with ginger and camphor. Relax in a wooden sauna tub overlooking starlit rooftops. Share stories over a simple dinner of steamed fish and millet wine in your guesthouse.

Visit a rural hamlet renowned for its pottery, meeting a master potter who shapes clay on a wheel beneath a thatched pavilion. Try molding a small teacup under their guidance, then decorate it with traditional motifs using natural pigments. Watch kilns fire in the open courtyard amid the scent of burning cedar.

Walk to a nearby weaving cooperative to learn Hakka textile techniques—dyeing hemp fibers with indigo and weaving them into sturdy cloth. Enjoy lunch prepared by cooperative members, featuring rice wrapped in lotus leaves and stir-fried bamboo shoots. Browse finished scarves, aprons, and bags for authentic souvenirs.

Return under a canopy of stars to attend a calligraphy session in the town square, dipping brushes into inky pots and replicating ancient characters on rice paper. Share oiled sesame buns and sweet soy milk with fellow travelers and locals. Stroll back through lantern-lit lanes to reflect on the day’s creations.

Climb the ancient Wenfeng Tower at first light, each step revealing panoramic vistas of terraced fields and red-tiled rooftops. Pause at the midpoint to listen to temple bells echoing across misty valleys. Reach the top platform to watch the sunrise cast golden light on the surrounding hills.

Descend to the base where a local guide introduces you to street food vendors selling bean curd pudding and sugar-coated hawthorn. Walk through fruit orchards at the tower’s foot, sampling ripe persimmons and loquats. Enjoy a simple lunch of rice noodles with handmade chili oil under a maple-colored canopy.

Return to the tower at dusk when lanterns are lit and the silhouette towers against a violet sky. Join villagers in a lantern release ceremony, writing hopes on paper lanterns before they drift overhead. Celebrate with sticky rice dumplings and warm ginger tea.

Set out before sunrise to help your host family plant rice seedlings in flooded paddies, wading ankle-deep in warm water. Laugh together as you learn the rhythm of transplanting under towering bamboo scaffolds. Reward yourself with a breakfast of steamed corn buns and freshly churned yogurt.

Harvest morning vegetables—greens, peppers, and squash—from the family garden and head back to the farmhouse for a farm-to-table cooking lesson. Learn to make stuffed lotus leaf rice and stir-fried mountain greens over a wood-fired stove. Relax in hammocks hung between plum trees, sipping homemade herbal tea.

Gather around a clay-pit barbecue to roast fresh vegetables and river shrimp over glowing coals while local farmers share supper songs. Taste moonshine distilled from sorghum under a star-studded sky. Retreat to your guest room in the barn, lulled by distant frog calls.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast of dragon-well green tea and sugar-rolled rice cakes on your guesthouse balcony. Walk one last time along the riverbank, taking in details you may have missed—the mossy bridge stones and carved window shutters. Snap final photos of the mist-clad hills that surround the town.

Join a communal farewell lunch at the town hall, where villagers prepare a banquet of Hakka salt-baked chicken, bamboo shoot soup, and rice wine-infused pork belly. Exchange gifts with new friends and receive embroidered silk scarves as parting souvenirs. Take a slow stroll through the old market one final time to pick up last-minute treats.

Watch the sun dip behind terraced paddies as you board the evening train bound for home, carrying the chorus of temple bells and murmuring streams in your heart. Reflect on ten days of immersive culture, nature, and craftsmanship. Drift off, dreaming of returning to Nanzhuangzhen’s hidden charms.