Zhang Chao, a man of A Qing Dynasty, said in his Shadow of Dreams: "The article is the scenery on the table, and the scenery is the article on the ground."

one

May day holiday. The deep feelings accumulated in a spring have finally found an outlet to vent, and the desire to walk is so urgent that it seems that people who have stayed in a dark room for a long time suddenly see the sun.

My original destination was Guilin. At noon on the 30th, I even picked up the phone to book tickets. However, the strict control measures taken by the Guangxi government to prevent SARS from flowing into Guangxi include not allowing returnees and individual tourists from Beijing and Guangdong to enter Guilin, Liuzhou and other cities. If they insist on returning home, they must be quarantined for a week ... Finally, let me take a step back.

My eyes turned to Dinghu Mountain on the outskirts of Zhaoqing, Guangdong Province. I remember when I first arrived in Guangdong, I read the newspaper carefully every day, not only searching for job information, but also reading the travel section. The result is very disappointing. The newspaper kept speculating all day, just for a few dishes, whether old wine in new bottles or new wine in old bottles. No wonder Guangdong looks like a yellow-faced woman, full of city walls and sparse hills that occasionally show her head, compared with natural advantages such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Yunnan.

At that time, every newspaper was crazy about Dinghushan's "natural oxygen bar", which was a new word to me, but what flashed through my mind was the scenery when I climbed West Tianmu Mountain in Lin 'an, Zhejiang last summer. The picture in my memory is like Monet's oil painting. The mountains and flowing streams have blurred brushwork scenery, and there is a cold and distant wind under the brushwork, wandering back and forth between tall ancient trees, water and rocks.

Later, I looked up the information of Dinghu Mountain on the Internet and saw some beautiful pictures, including deep silent trees and a dreamlike lake. I was really tempted.

On May 1, I got up very late in the morning and packed my things at home at 10: 30. Last night, I went to Tianhe Cinema to see The Lord of the Rings 2 "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers". From 10 to 1 0, the movie lasted more than three hours, and I couldn't help it. I seldom go to the cinema to watch movies, because the air is stuffy and the smell of old seat covers often makes people suffocate. However, the unique sound, light and shadow of the cinema can't compare with the huge scene and magnificent momentum anywhere, so when faced with the temptation of the premiere of The Lord of the Rings, I don't think it is necessary to give in to the DVD at home. Since I saw the first The Lord of the Rings in Hangzhou, I have been paying close attention to the launch of the second one. Speaking of it, I was really fascinated by the magnificent scenes, gripping plots and rich background music in The Lord of the Rings's films ... the majestic snow-capped mountains, the vast grasslands, the blue sky, the deep and magnificent forests, the galloping handsome horses, the heroic complex and the portrayal of human history.

When I came out of the cinema at one o'clock in the middle of the night, all the lights in the street went out, and the taxi glided silently from one car to another like a fish swimming in the middle of the night. Don took my hand and waited for the night bus at the bus stop. I was speechless for a moment, and my immersed thoughts still stayed in the scene of light and shadow. At this time, I looked up and saw sparse stars scattered in the dark sky. Suddenly, my heart is as soft as a stream. Buried in his shoulder, I wonder when I can spend my life like this, and I can safely face the endless prosperity and desolation of this huge city with my back.

two

At the check-in counter of the provincial station, the medical staff in white coats took an infrared detector to check Tang's temperature and touched his forehead. It's a little hot, but I don't have a fever The doctor took some photos before releasing his palm. These days, people all over the world are nervous about SARS.

Get off at 1: 00 noon in front of Dinghushan archway. In the scorching sun, people had to be handcuffed in vain. There is no figure or shadow in the dazzling white cement strip, and the mood is repeatedly baked as if the earth is about to crack. There is still a long way from the archway gate to the foot of the mountain. Two men in black on motorcycles are reluctant to part behind us. With perseverance and persistent action, they lobbied us to take their car and enter the mountain through the back door, with half the fare and a 25 yuan.

Don is a little tempted. After I persisted for a while, I saw that it was really impossible for a bus to pass by here. The sun was so poisonous that I wanted to dry us, so I gave in.

The motorcycle chug chug bypassed most of the town and drove on another loess road. We sat in the back of the car and were covered in loess by the traffic in front. When I left the village and turned into a cement road, I looked up and was surprised that the scenery in front of me was excellent. Not far away is a continuous green hill, not high, but very green. At the foot of the mountain are patches of farmland, fields, ponds and cottages. Just like my hometown of Yunnan, Tianyuan is full of wild taste.

Ten minutes later, the car stopped at a village at the foot of the mountain. The man said, let's get off. He drove his motorcycle directly into a house and then came out to take us up a mountain road.

Most of the mountains are Pinus tomentosa, which is sparsely distributed. Only purple azaleas bloom so brightly in the sun. We climbed the mountain road for nearly half an hour and had several breaks on the way. Every time I ask: How far is it? The middle-aged man replied: not far, just ahead. Then he said, "Keep your voice down, don't talk loudly. There are many patrolmen on the mountain, and they are all equipped with sound detection devices. " . So I walked hard until I was short of breath. I really can't remember how I walked behind my grandfather all day in the towering mountains of Yunnan. What's so exquisite about this navigation? But now, I live too tired, but one is to bypass two hills and add a valley.

After half an hour, I finally climbed to a place only a few steps away from the main road of the scenic spot. The middle-aged man stopped, and Tang took out fifty dollars and handed it to him. The man said, give me another five dollars, as a motorcycle fee to send you here. Don hesitated and gave it to him. The man took the money, turned down the mountain, and disappeared into the depths of the jungle after three seconds. We rushed into the scenic avenue at a speed of 100 meters, and there was not even a car in the middle of the wide road, let alone people.

This road is paved with asphalt. In about five minutes, a grass-green bus will come roaring and pass us with a strong wind. On both sides of the road are lush plants, which grow on gables and slopes. Under the sun, the ground is covered with colorful shade trees, and the sun shines directly from the middle of the crown, making the pieces of light and shadow distinct.

When I came to the mountains, my eyes were naturally clear and bright. Tired of walking, I gently sat on the rough stone covered with some moss by the roadside, listening to the long cry of cicadas and the bleak wind blowing through the treetops, and finally got a trace of human peace.

three

There are three scenic spots on the mountain: Baoding Garden, Dinghu Lake and Qingyun Temple.

In fact, Baoding Garden has nothing to see. The garden is a park pattern, square, artificially trimmed and planted, and the scenery is flat. It is said that Baoding Garden has two firsts in the world, one is Baoding in Zhaoqing Kowloon, and the other is Longdi inkstone in Duan Xi. After a long stroll, except for a big black tripod on the central platform of the garden and some famous imitations of Ding in the past dynasties. On the other hand, a stone fence on the left side of the garden is very quiet, reflecting the trees on both sides, which is quite simple and beautiful.

Go ahead over Baoding Garden, the terrain is a little lower, and you can see Dinghu Lake by turning the mountainside. At first glance, the lake is blue; The second is surprisingly blue; Third, it is blue enough to make people think it is a dream. Surrounded by several mountains, the lake is hoarded halfway up the mountain, and the left side is dammed to store water, making it a semi-artificial lake.

When I first saw it, I only felt that the lake was surprisingly bright and blue, like a fairyland left by a fairy. Through the cracks in the treetops, you can see that the lake is full of a pool of blue, like jade, which is always hard to believe. I always suspect that this is a scene that can only be seen in my dreams, so that I can't speak.

This lake is a long and narrow semicircle, and there is an island of several hundred square meters in Fiona Fang. There are some lush trees in the greasy field, half of which are trees and half are bamboo. The half of the island that likes bamboo best, the faint bamboo shadow is reflected in the blue sea water, which has a long and cold luster. Some people who have been to Jiuzhaigou say that the scenery is comparable to a fairyland on earth, which I deeply agree with.

There are boats and paddles by the lake, so you can drink tea by boat and swim around the lake. According to the boatman, the water in the lake flows down from a Tianchi lake on the top of the mountain. After being filtered by the dense plant roots in the mountains, it gathers into this crystal clear water. There are no fish in the lake because it is too alkaline.

Go forward after crossing Dinghu Lake, one side leads to Qingyun Temple, and the other side is the downhill road through Xiangshuitan. In the direction of Qingyun Temple, the trees on both sides of the road are getting deeper and deeper. The ancient trees are towering, and Yin Wei is full of gas. Even in midsummer, it will be cool if you sit on the stone table by the roadside and let the pores and roots of your whole body grow up. The road is still circuitous halfway up the mountain. There are more than 100-year-old vines everywhere between the tall plants on the mountain and under the slope, leading to a large number of branches and vines, witnessing the glory of hundreds of years.

Go through a winding avenue, and Qingyun Temple is at the end. Qingyun Temple, one of the four famous temples in Guangdong, is built by mountains and rivers, with screens on the left and right and the sun in the middle. It is located in the west and east, built on a slope.

Even though I have been to the White Horse Temple, which is known as the best in the world, or the Zhongyue Temple at the foot of Chongshan Mountain and the Lingyin Ancient Temple by the West Lake, compared with any ancient temple, there is no such long association as Qingyun Temple.

The temple on the hillside was built in the Ming Dynasty, the former site of Lotus Temple. The mountain is a little steep and there are many stairs. Tang and I walked down from top to bottom, falling layer by layer: the water pool tower hall; Pilu Hall and Guanyin Hall; Zhongzhengtang; Daxiong Hall, Zushi Hall and THE TEMPLE OF JIALAN Hall; Zhaitang, Thousand-person Pot, Guest Hall, Bell Tower, Wei Tuo Hall ... The whole temple is symmetrically arranged according to the central axis, with seven platforms, each with a tower, tripod, furnace or cylinder; Magnificent momentum. Each platform has its own theme tree, such as osmanthus, bodhi, orchid, or banyan, which is clear and quiet.

four

Quietly, dusk has come, and the mountains behind us are towering in the sun. After crossing many thresholds, we went to the guest room to find a place to live. There is a little novice monk in a gray frock cleaning the tea tray in the teahouse. We asked each other for gifts, and the little novice monk returned the gift. The plot seems to have returned to the heyday of etiquette a long time ago.

The guest room is next to the temple. We rest our luggage, then climb the stairs and have dinner in Zhaitang. Unfortunately, Zhaitang looks like a Chinese restaurant in a four-star hotel, with waitresses standing in a row. Looking at the menu is even more stupid. A dish of vegetarian dishes is called "crispy duck", 25 yuan; The second vegetable dish is called "Happiness from now on", 30 yuan; Three vegetarian dishes are called "Huazi Chicken". Miss 45 yuan ... asked blankly: Are there chickens and ducks in the vegetarian dishes here? Miss Buddha smiled: no, and asked: what is that? Miss also laughed and said that it was fried with fragrant dried tofu. Not yet. By the way, where is the chicken? Miss slightly unhappy, A: Mushroom grinding.

Oh, oh, I gave an ugly cry, then your food is really outrageous! The young lady looked embarrassed, and the two ladies at the next table immediately looked back at me. I stare back. Miss reluctantly replied: this is a vegetarian dish, a vegetarian dish of Qingyun Temple.

What kind of reason is that? I whispered curses in my stomach. I picked up the money in my pocket, but I still gritted my teeth and ordered two dishes (vegetarian cooking and braised eggplant) and two bowls of rice (because there is only one place to eat in the whole mountain, the monopoly is too harmful). What kind of tea do you want? Don't drink. The young lady asked again: What kind of tea would you like to drink? Two dollars per person. No, just a glass of boiled water. Besides, miss, boiling water is two yuan each.

I said, do you mean give it if you drink it, or give it if you don't drink it?

Miss probably saw that I was angry and didn't answer. Turn around and go, and bring a pot of boiling water and a pot of chrysanthemum tea.

Anger.

Later, two small appetizers were served without permission. One is Zhaoqing's specialty: instant noodles and fruits, and the other is pickled beans. Miss put down the dish and dropped another sentence: 9 yuan with kernel powder, 5 yuan with sour beans. Oh, my God, this is a righteous massacre.

Angry and wanting to call her back, Tang grabbed me and blinked.

Later, when the dishes were served, they were all soaked in vegetable oil, which was really difficult to swallow. Because we were so hungry, we had to wolf down two appetizers and then gave up in a hurry. Last check, 70.

Gosh, why is vegetarian food so expensive?

five

After dinner, the bell rang in the temple, and the mountain rang for a while, and the peaceful and heavy bell echoed slowly in the air. Stop on the stone steps and listen carefully, knocking on your heart. I ran to the bell tower to watch the monks ring the bell. In the open window, I can see the figure of the monk in gray banging the bell back and forth. Soft rhythm and long voice. It has been ringing for a long time, and the night is slowly leaching out in the bell.

At night, the incense in front of the temple flashed a little red light, and the smoke lingered in front of the Buddha, revealing the length of the air in the temple.

Quietly walking back and forth on the stone slab in the temple, looking up at the railing under the tree, staring at the shadow dancing under the light for a long time, the incense filled the temple, and the faint fragrance floated by, as if it had become a lonely mood for thousands of years in an instant. Then I remembered a few familiar lyrics: the city was full of wind and rain, the city was silent with acacia, and only osmanthus fragrance floated in the darkness. ...

This state of mind is so closely linked.

Tang sat on a big stone, under which was written "Seventeen Blessed Lands", smiling at him through the incense burner and red incense. Chat, talk about many people and things, talk about everything we think, talk about all the troubles and sorrows of the world of mortals and the world. The night is so cool, the wind lingers from the temple until there is nothing to say. We kiss and kiss in front of the Buddha, and our skin fights coldly in the air. Ordinary happiness is immersed in a state of mind like water, and the face is deeply buried in my arms, and I have the illusion of independence in an instant.

In the morning, when you open the window, you will see sunshine everywhere, and the trees are as fresh and spotless as after the rain.

It suddenly occurred to me that someone said that Qingyun Temple has a great wonder, that is, its roof is spotless all year round, without sludge, fallen leaves and weeds, and you will never see anyone who climbs the roof to clean it. According to local people, this is because Qingyun Temple is blessed by gods all the year round, so even the leaves will not fall on the roof of Qingyun Temple. I counted them one by one and stood on tiptoe to look for them. As a result, except for some sundries on the roof platform of my guest room, all the temples and jade buckets were covered with green tiles, and no leaves were found. It's weird.

In addition, there is a "thousand-person pot" in the temple. Through the iron fence, I can see the scary pot, which is rusty and nearly two meters in diameter. I always thought it was as big as a bathtub and more like a pot. I don't know how the chefs in the ancient temple used to cook with shovels, which is quite staggering.

There is a "relic sightseeing place" in the wing next to Zhiketang. Somehow, we didn't open the door that day, so we played with water in the mossy yard below the hall. The bluestone wall in front of the courtyard is carved with faucets the size of two washbasins, which are lifelike. A stream of water flowed out of Longkou and fell straight into the bluestone trough below. The water is sweet and delicious, and it quenches your thirst. After drinking for a long time, my stomach will growl, which seems to promote digestion.

six

Go to Dinghu Lake for a self-help tour through the forest at noon. 20 yuan a person, first take a wooden boat to the island in the lake to see the wedding tree, and then take a boat to the entrance of the virgin forest. The boat walked gently on the blue water, and the paddle pushed the boat. The water is so blue that it reminds people of dreams.

Ten minutes later, the ship landed, and under the guidance of the tour guide, a group of people walked along a steep path and entered the undeveloped virgin jungle.

Along a difficult "road" between the stream and the mountain wall, the sun gradually fails to shine in. There are dense trees overhead and steep waterfalls and streams at the foot. Dense shade and humid air are everywhere, and intermittent streams are winding and undulating in the rugged rocks. We climb branches and vines, walk on winding rocks, rise and fall, and linger between pools and waterfalls. The water in the stream is clear and the dead leaves sink to the bottom. The color and withered traces are still clear. Speak a little, and there will be a big echo.

The tour guide showed us the living fossils of plants more than 100 million years ago and the Alsophila spinulosa trees left over from the ice age. That tree is just a plant that is more than one person tall. It is not special, but it is a plant with strong vitality.

After walking in the winding valley for more than half an hour, the path turned into a hillside and the ground was not so wet. The plants began to widen, and the air was still cool and humid, but not as humid as in the valley. The mountain road is paved halfway up the mountain, with stone pillows and railings on one side of the valley. When I leaned down, I could only see the ups and downs of the plant crown, with strong colors, from emerald green to dark green, rich layers and touching texture.

There are bamboos on the far side of the mountain road, one after another, and there are clouds in the nightmare: bamboo makes people clear. Therefore, where there is bamboo, there will be beauty. There are many withered and yellow bamboo leaves between the stone slabs, which occasionally fall. In the meantime, the heart is very quiet, quite like a thousand years in the mountains.

Occasionally, there are several large waterfalls on the mountainside, which are very imposing in the air. I just didn't expect that the exit at the end of the mountain road turned out to be Baoding Garden.

The downhill direction is through waterfalls and Xiangshui Beach. On the edge of Dinghu Lake, there is a double bridge connected to the blue jade pool, and the bridge before flying is connected to the Xu Ling Bridge. The bridge before flying is about 50 meters long and flies between deep valleys. There is a dam under the bridge to cut off the water in Dinghu Lake and become a natural swimming place. The water in the pool is still blue and motionless. Xu Ling Bridge is about 30 meters long and forms a three-dimensional intersection with Feiqian Bridge. It was built on a deep valley, and Xu Ling passed by. Under the bridge are deep valleys and streams, and walking on them is tantamount to walking on clouds.

Going forward, the stone steps gradually spiral down, the trees are still light and mixed with thick wet green, and the branches are intertwined with vines, which are inseparable. At the foot of the stone steps, but also covered with traces of moss, patches of gray, wet and slippery. The lower you go, the more vines and green plants there are. The sound of spring water is stacked in your ear, but there is no trace, only the sound is getting more and more pleasant.

Xiangshui Beach is a waterfall several meters long in Shixia. Under the waterfall in Fiona Fang, boulders piled up several feet of vacant land. Water flows down through a gap, forming a small waterfall in the valley below the clearing. There is a pavilion on one side of the clearing, which is dark gray, simple in shape and very quiet. At the four corners of the thatched pavilion, the wooden fence leans against it, and the chess heart is born in the air. It's just that the sound of the waterfall is loud and rumbling, spinning in the valley and making a clear sound. Sitting in the pavilion, I feel very sleepy.

Go down and you will reach the waterfall. This is the largest waterfall in Dinghushan, and the scenery is spectacular. You can't say anything without experiencing it. Several white horses poured down from the depths of the cliff top more than 40 meters high, and several thousands of feet hung in the air, splashing and falling like rain and fog. The waterfall merged into a huge pool, and the word "pillow flow" was engraved on the boulder. After the Revolution of 1911, when Sun Yat-sen and his wife Soong Ching Ling visited Dinghu Mountain, they swam here. So there are six characters written by Soong Ching Ling on the left cliff, "Sun Yat-sen's swimming place". The pool water poured down from several stone squats, forming another deep pool, which is said to be the Dragon Cave, also called the Dragon Bath.

Further down, there is a huge canyon, where stony streams stretch, and the trees on both sides are no longer dense and inseparable, but scattered and tall. This valley is a famous oxygen absorption area in Dinghushan, and the natural oxygen bar is here. Take a deep breath, and I can't wait to wash off the waste gas in my chest in one breath, so that I can be thoroughly remoulded and refreshed. The air is really clean and clear, and the stone stream is extremely shallow. Many people waded barefoot in the stream. It goes without saying that it is cool and refreshing. Needless to say, just relaxing your eyes and showing your face will make people linger.

Down to the Woods near the entrance of the mountain gate, the trees really open up, and you can see the sun shining, mottled with light and shadow, and the sky blue is dazzling, making people look up at their heads.

It was four in the afternoon when I went down the mountain. I'm hungry. I eat snacks at the exit of the scenic spot Although it is much more expensive than downtown, it is not bad. Perhaps because of hunger, I wolfed down several large plates, such as fried snails in Dinghushan, fried Huang Huan, duck blood soup, cold noodles, rosin buns, radishes and beef offal, until I had to walk with my stomach propped up.

When I went down the mountain to sum up my experience, I felt that I must get my food ready before going to Dinghu Mountain, otherwise there would be too few places to eat in the mountain. In addition to instant noodles, fish balls and landscape tofu, a few grocery stores have to go to Qingyun Temple to eat expensive and oily "vegetarian dishes". However, the landscape tofu flower worth remembering is smooth and refreshing, and it is still very good.

When you leave the gate, you can take a bus back to Zhaoqing city, which takes about 45 minutes.