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| Pu'er Tea Horse Ancient Road Relic Park Pu'er, Yunnan, China |
Wednesday Feb 26 2025 (Day 18 Afternoon - Pu'er, Yunnan) - After the Sun River Forest Park visit & a lunch, our group spent the afternoon (14.00 > 18.00) visiting the Chama Ancient Road Relics Park, a major avenue for tea & horse trading in ancient China, spanning across the southwestern regions of Yunnan, Sichuan & Guizhou & connected the Han nationality with other ethnic groups, facilitating economic exchange & cultural communication.
- Entrance fee (Chama Gudao Relic Park): CNY90 = Rm54 per pax (Senior 70+ inclusive of buggy & cable car rides + show performance, tickets purchase via our hotel)
- Food: CNY28 per pax
1) The start of my buggy ride from Pu'er Tea Horse Road Tourist Attraction Visitor Centre > Grand Stand (besides Standing Wave Lake) to watch a water dance show starting 14.30 (30 minutes), thrilling & entertaining
2) Chinese calligraphy demo by a professional calligrapher prior to the start of the show
3) Water Dance Show " Love Song of the Horse Gang " created by the Mekong River Tourism Company showcasing the touching love story that has been passed down on the ancient tea horse road to this day, relying on the beautiful scenery of forests & lakes (Standing Wave Lake), using music fountains & misty fireworks effects, it showcases the tea planted by the ancestors of various ethnic groups in Pu'er, connecting the border & mainland & taking you into the difficult & tumultuous years of the horse gang.
4) After the show, we took a short walk passing a pontoon bridge over the scenic Standing Waves Lake to the rainbow cable car starting station, a brief photography session with mini horse, sheep & deer at a R & R area !
5) Historic old black & white photos of Chama Ancient Route hung up on the wall of the Cable Car Complex !
6) Rainbow cable car ride from the Starting Point Station > Terminal (next to the Loyalty Inn Museum), scenic views of rice terraces & lake from the top !
7) Loyalty Inn Museum - a great exhibit of various kitchen & home utensils, lamps, furniture, basic necessities, clothing, horse accessories, knives & protective weapons etc used by horse gang in the olden days & an interesting audio-visual show on Chamagudao .... this was once upon the time the resting & meeting place for the north-south tea horse caravan, horse gang sit by the side of the kitchen stove lit with fire & engaged in long chat of sympathetic & touching story over a dinner table served with food till the wee hours of the night ......
8) The origin source of the Chama Ancient Route (Chamagudao) - a must visit when in Pu'er, one of the highest terrain in the world, horse rides for a fee, Instagram spot, horse monument, panoramic view of Hengduan Mountain etc; from here, you could take a cable car back to the original starting point or choose to take a leisure downhill walk towards the Tang Tea House ......
9) Audio visual documentary show on Chamagudao in Loyalty Museum
10) Cable Car ride from Terminal Station (Royalty Inn Museum) to Original Starting Point Station (near Standing Waves Lake).
11) Tang Tea House - downhill walk, exhibits of Pu'er tea for royalties & palace, royal tea accessories, tea source, high quality Pu'er tea as tribute to royalties during the Qing Dynasty, old Tang dynasty art on a group of people interacting in tea drinking, playing musical instruments & tea drinking etc.
12) " Because of the tea, because of the horse grow up ", tea & horse trails cross the main road & the branch line like the subtropical jungle towering trees numerous branches, the Yunnan, Tibet, Sichuan "triangle" area & radiation to neighboring countries & the Central Plains earth. To Tea Yima, began in the Tang Dynasty, tracing the source of history, tells the Tang Dynasty tea politics, revealing the evolution of tea & horses, depicting the original imprint of the Tea Horse Road. "
13) Site of the ancient tea horse road & the present visitor walk steps
14) Land Altar - forest plank road towards the direction of Land Altar
15) Pavilion of Look Back - feeling the emotions, it was in this spot that the caravan horsemen who left home hastily made a stop & look back, staring & thinking dearly of their home after parting with friends & relatives from far .....
16) Land Altar - the starting point of praying prior to the caravan taking on the Chaoma ancient route seeking blessings for the people, horse & the goods safety, returning home & uniting with their family.
17) God Tree, Towering Old Tree - worship by horsemen or caravan during the old days, grabbing hold of a fistful of soils underneath the old tree & placed them inside a packet & carrying it along throughout the journey, seeking god blessings for a safe return & wellbeing !
18) Soong Ming Court - exhibits of olden day official border passes, write up on the nature of the roads & the key role played by Yunnan caravans / horse gangs cooperating closely with the minority tribes to boost the tea horse trade covering Yunnan, Sichuan & Tibet & finally to the outside world. This brought about political stability & also united the various ethnic groups in China.
Due to frequent border clashes, Soong Dynasty officials set up tea horse barter trade market near the border, exchanging tea for horses owned by north-west minority tribes, thus Soong military was able to strengthen the rule & the rear defence line ....... this led to a story about an important role played by the horse caravan during the Tang Dynasty.
19) walking downhill to take a buggy ride back to the Chaoma Tourist Attraction Visitor Centre passing a number of rice terrace fields.
20) Tribute Tea House - in 1735 the Qing government set up a Tribute Tea House in Pu'er, to ensure consistent supplies of high quality Pu'er tea, the government set up a tea horse official shop specially to manage the tea horse trade in south-west, Sichuan, Yunnan production area & minority tribes area, all the major trade routes were subject to post inspections & policing to ensure the tea horse trade complied strictly with the government policy & ruling; exhibits of tea mountain growing area, background & history, production, color & quality of the tea produced, grading of tea, tea making process etc.
21) Exiting the Tea Horse Ancient Route Relics Park by a buggy vehicle to the Tourist Attraction Visitor Centre & a short walk back to our hotel. I must confess I enjoyed very much in visiting this Chamagudao Relics Park especially from a historic standpoint !
22) Chama Ancient City, Pu'er - walkabout & familiarisation visit, our hotel is located inside the ancient city so very convenient for our movement day in & out !
23) Bought some takeaway food (onion pancake CNY5 + wan tan funsi noodle soup CNY13 + mutton skewer CNY10) from nearby food stalls & enjoyed eating our food in the open city square in the evening !
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