Discovering the Tea-Horse trail, ancient town of Shaxi 探索茶马古道之沙溪古镇

Today I would like to share with all my steemit friends my favorite travel destination in China.

Yunnan is one of the most popular tourist destinations in China. Shaxi is a historic ancient town in Yunnan province and it has 2400 years of history. It is the important stage in the tea-horse ancient road, very prosperous in the thousand years ago. The big square of Shaxi is the only surviving ancient bazaar in the tea-horse trail. It is probably the most intact horse caravan town on the Ancient tea route leading from Yunnan into Burma and Tibet and is now being preserved through a cooperation between the ETH university and the local government.

云南是国内最受欢迎的旅行目的地之一，大理丽江也是闻名海内外，不知道大家知不知道大理附近的另一个古镇—沙溪。 沙溪是一个非常古老的小镇，距今已有2400年的历史了，是茶马古道上的重要驿站，在唐代时期非常繁华，沙溪古镇的四方街是茶马古道上唯一幸存至今的古集市。 它据悉也是保存最完整的通往缅甸和西藏的茶马古道上的驿站，并有来自瑞士联邦理工大学的修缮团队和当地政府共同修缮完成。

Shaxi is located in the valley of high mountains in Yunnan province, more than two hours' drive from another tourists city Dali. Because there is no direct bus to get to there and the mountain road is rugged, there are only less than 100 tourists arriving every day.

As an important caravan station on the tea-horse ancient road and it used to be very prosperous, but with the decline of the ancient road, Shaxi gradually returned to calm. Today, Shaxi is a quiet town at the foot of Shibao mountains. The commercial atmosphere is very weak. The shops are only for daily requirement. And some of the non-local people who open hotel or tea houses just do this to escape the big city life and enjoy the quietness.

沙溪坐落在云南深山幽谷里，距大理两个多小时的车程，因为中间还有转车，加上山路崎岖，所以每日抵达的游客不超过一百人。 作为茶马古道上的重要驿站，这里曾经无比繁华，但随着古道的没落，沙溪古镇也渐渐回归平静。如今的沙溪是石宝山脚下一个安静的小镇，商业气息很淡，商铺只是为了满足人们日常生活的需要而设。还有些外乡人开的小店也是不过是他们自己厌倦了都市生活，来此打发时间。

When you wander around in Shaxi town, you can have a tranquility feeling. Shaxi has many Ming and Qing dynasties buildings, which already exists for centuries.

It is said that the mark of the horse's hoofs can be seen on the stone road in Shaxi. But which pretty true is that you really can see the traces of the years in this little town. At night, only the barking of dogs can be heard, the stars can be seen, and the yellow light has a feeling of vicissitudes.

在古镇里散步能感受到那种不争不扰的幽静，沙溪还保留了比较完好的明清时代的建筑，许多宅院已闲置，古拙的老式建筑质朴醇厚。
传说在茶马古道的石板路上可以看到马蹄的印记，在沙溪，岁月的痕迹俯拾可见。
沙溪的夜晚静的只听见狗叫，抬头即可看到繁星，昏黄的灯光有一种沧桑感。

We slept in a boutique hotel in Shaxi, it’s very small and it probably just has five rooms. It was designed and built by the owners, they are a couple who were architects. The style of the hotel match up with Shaxi buildings style and inside of rooms are very modern and comfortable.

我们住在沙溪一家精品酒店，酒店不大，是由一对本身就是学建筑的夫妻共同设计的。酒店也是跟沙溪整体建筑风格相似，看起来很古朴，但房间内又有现代感的舒适。

Shaxi is especially quiet in the early morning. In our hotel, I can see the mountains and smoke curling up from kitchen chimneys, and hear the mountain sounds from nature.
There are two kinds of breakfast in our hotel, western style and Chinese style.
Shaxi is my favorite ancient town in China. It is different from other ancient towns. There are few tourists here and it is very suitable for a short stay.

清晨的沙溪尤为宁静，在酒店里可以看到远处的青黛山脉和炊烟袅袅，听到来自大自然的山音。 酒店的早餐分为东西方两种，有面包也有中式米粥。 沙溪是我在国内最喜欢的古镇，它有别于其他古镇，这里游人稀少，很适合小住一段时间。

Thank you for reading! Hope you like my post! ❤️