March is indeed the month of Aries! Every March, there’s a noticeable feeling of energy rising. Recently, although I’ve had a heavy workload and business trips, I still eagerly arranged a weekend trip to Tiantai Mountain in Taizhou, Zhejiang, dragging along the equally tired 🐙. After being together for over a year, I’ve found that 🐙 is quite easy to take care of; he loves eating sunshine roses and fish (recently narrowed down to river fish, preferably braised), and as long as there’s good Wi-Fi, he has no other requirements for the surrounding environment. Staying at a Yaduo hotel or a Bali resort makes little difference to him.
This time we stayed at the Tiantai Hotel next to Guoqing Temple. We arrived at night, and it was pitch dark outside. The next morning, while 🐙 was in the bathroom, I went out to the balcony to enjoy the view.
Me: Honey! There are fish outside!
🐙: Can we eat them?
Me (with a facepalm 😓): …Koi!
🐙: Can Koi be eaten?
Me: …well… I guess you could if you really wanted to 😓
I had previously mentioned to 🐙: “Honey, when I get old, I want to go to a temple and translate Buddhist scriptures,” and he didn’t object. After feeding the Koi on the balcony in the morning, we walked to the neighboring Guoqing Temple, which is said to be a 1400-year-old ancient temple from the Sui Dynasty. 🐙 was underdressed and had little interest in the temple, but he patiently accompanied me.
We looked at the gilded Arhats, recognized the inscriptions on the stone tablets, touched the moss on the brick walls, and curiously peeked at how the monks operated their CMO. We wandered all the way to the end of Guoqing Temple, the monk living area. At this point, 🐙 seriously said: “I think becoming a monk might not suit you; it’s too cold, and there are many chilly places in the temple. You’re afraid of the cold.” (At this moment, he had already started to have a runny nose.) I joked: “When the time comes, you can install underfloor heating for me, and I’ll be the popular one in the temple.” 😁
But in moments like this, I realize that while I’m whimsically thinking of ideas, 🐙 is genuinely conducting a feasibility analysis 🤔.
After our temple visit, we had a hearty meal. Back in the room while 🐙 was taking a shower, I called the front desk to get some incense, connected the Bluetooth speaker, played classical music, boiled water for red tea, and completely immersed myself in the poetic atmosphere of “burning incense, brewing tea, and music.” I then took a book and lay on the lounge chair by the window, enjoying the beautiful mountain time, completely lost in it～
As a result, when 🐙 finished his shower and sat down at the computer (he might have been holding it in for a while), he expressionlessly said: “Move the incense away; it’s affecting my computer.” (So I quickly moved it to the other end of the table, about 2 meters away from him in the picture.)
The book I brought this time is "China Reconnected" by Wang Gengwu. I hadn’t noticed before, but this time I flipped through it and felt that the paper quality is really good; the photos don’t do it justice, every page is smooth and feels great to the touch. I checked the publisher, which is "Hualing Publishing House," and thought it should be a good publisher. So I opened JD.com, found the publisher's store, and immersed myself in selecting books, placing an enthusiastic order! It seems this publisher has many rare ancient books that aren’t commonly found in the market, truly opening the door to a new world!
After placing the order, I was still not satisfied and opened Xiaohongshu to research what kind of publisher this is. I discovered that Hualing Publishing House is currently a self-financed institution directly under the National Aging Work Committee Office (China Aging Association), and it is the only comprehensive professional office in the country primarily targeting elderly readers and aging workers.
And today, when I returned to Hangzhou, the book I bought from JD.com also arrived, but the paper quality was much worse! So the exquisite quality of "China Reconnected" was just a coincidence…
Finally, the Tiantai Hotel is quite good; friends from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai can give it a try. Remember to choose a room type that starts with the character "Zen," as the design is quite nice, with visual extensions from every angle, and the red tea in the room is also delicious. The biggest advantage is that it’s a 3-minute walk to Guoqing Temple.
On our way down the mountain, we also spotted a Tiantai hot spring hotel (we even thought about rushing there directly but gave up because we didn’t bring swimsuits). Additionally, we noticed a slightly farther “Tianyu Homestay” (on the way from Guoqing Temple to the high-speed train station, we saw someone reading quietly in a clean floor-to-ceiling window, so I quickly glanced at the sign!). The online reviews are very good, so friends looking for a homestay can consider it.