Maling Ancient Road 马岭古道

I have been binging Craig Mod's work, I must have read through his entire Roden and Ridgeline archive in a couple days (banging-the-credit-card-on-the-table meme), immediately became a paying member of his community Special Projects after, and read all of his pop-up newsletters too.

But binging, no matter how gourmet the food, leads to lethargy. So I had to move.

I went for a walk down the Maling Ancient Road in Tonglu, in western Zhejiang.

I had a few rules for the walk:
-prioritize taking pictures of people over objects or scenery
-day trip, no overnight
-less than 500 rmb total spend
-max 20km, with time for meandering

Jaap Grolleman's writeup (his blog is also binge-worthy) was a great reference. He beautifully details what you need to know about the road if you're planning a visit.

He also hiked uphill, in winter, in the gray morning, whereas I was moving downstream on a warm autumn afternoon. Our accounts and pictures are of opposite directions. Halves of a whole. Yin and yang. Something one content creator could produce with an Insta360. If you had that last thought, you need to go for a walk too.

Stealing this insight from Jaap:

Like water, merchants — probably carrying heavy goods — follow the path of least resistance.

I was looking for a little more resistance though. My muscles were fine, only my feet were sore, because I wore Yeezy-type shoes.

On that front, here are some further recommendations from my Didi driver, a 土生土长的桐庐人：
-the full road is 50km, starting from 建德, and some portions of it require clipping yourself in
-visit 深奥，then walk to 杏梅尖
-come back in mid March-April, when the scenery is peak
-drink from the stream, it's sweet

So look for Maling Ancient Road, Pt. 2, in six months.

The trailhead at Shishecun Old growth bamboo Shan, shui At the Dongshan Academy. The man (playing Teamfight Tactics) behind the front desk tells me that last week, all the empty houses around us were filled with tourists.

"Peep the construction, this building was made with imported materials! 90 years ago." "From where? How about you, were you born here? How long have you been here?" "Don't remember. Yes, I'm 86." Even in villages of a few hundred, people like to live bunched up The main attraction

Most villages die, but this one gets a highway

One of few non-rebuilt houses along the road, in Shaojia

It was sweet, ever so slightly

There may be more piles of discarded dice than pink dragonflies in the world Exactly one backyard A wild 闸 appeared. This is going straight in the water field guide "The Precarious Perch" in some open-world RPG The impeccable form of a spry gentleman. Had to waddle strenuously with my badminton-addled legs to keep up. He's been walking for 30 years all over China. Apparently there are groups of ayis and uncles 150+ strong who he does these walks with.

Thanks for the lift 杨大哥