Cycling The Silk Road In China – Liujiaxia, A Temple Festival

On our way to the dam, at Liujiaxia, we noticed a beautiful temple, decorated with colorful flags, filled with music and many people gathered… We stopped to investigate.

By Divine blessing, we stumbled upon a bi-annual festival, that is celebrated for three days now, in May, and again in September.

We were invited to eat a delicious bowl of vegetarian noodles soup, with tofu, potato and cabbage.
They offer us to try some locally made bread and some corn bread.
Both kinds of breads were as large as a melon, and were steamed, and not baked, giving them a milky white color.

We observed some dances, and women admired the dressed in beautiful costumes.
We enjoyed listening to their music, we prayed with them and made some offerings.
It was such a happy place, filled with a feeling of celebration and good communal spirit….
We stayed there for hours, eating with them, photographing, praying, listening and offerings our own blessings.

People were happy for us to photograph and film them, and the beautifully decorated temple, combined elements and symbols from Taoism and Buddhism.

Old ladies came over to me, to hold my hand, hug me or sang some blessing and soft songs in my ears…. My heart melted with gratitude for the opportunity to be here when this festival is taking place….. What an unplanned blessed stop along our way to explore the Silk Road region in China…