Pu'erhei: A Solitary Whitespace Amidst the Ridge Forest

In the height of summer in Yunnan, Puzhehei is not a bustling tourist spot but a blue dream soaked in water. Here, there is no oppressive sense of skyscrapers, only a few traces of human life scattered beneath the karst mountain ranges. Choosing to live here is choosing a form of "wabi-sabi" in habitation — finding the essence of life in roughness and tranquility.

The residence should conform to the mountain's contours, with an abundance of unpolished blue stone slabs and raw wood. As you push open the door, the coolness and faint bitterness of the blue stone slabs greet your feet, with tenacious moss growing between the cracks, its texture roughened by time. The walls retain the patchy appearance of rammed earth or old bricks, unadorned, allowing light and shadow to etch out varying shades of gray. In the morning, mist rises from the water's surface, and light dances within, as if time here becomes thick and slow. Sitting on a bamboo-woven soft sofa, the spine feels the gentle warmth of the bamboo strips, the most solid support nature can offer.

Sound is the only decoration here. In the afternoon, retreat into a wicker rocking chair and listen to the rustling of the wind over the vast lotus pond, the most primal white noise of nature; in the evening, glide through the caves on a small boat, the "Splash!" of the paddle slicing through the water, crisp as the beat of a drum on the heart, intertwining with the distant barking of dogs and chickens, forming the backdrop of life.

Diet also seeks the ultimate "simple and unadorned" experience. In the morning, pluck lotus seeds from the pond, peel them to reveal tender, creamy莲子, and when stir-fried, only a pinch of salt and sugar is needed, leaving a sweet and crisp taste in the mouth; in the fall and winter, when mushrooms are found in the mountains, they are slowly cooked with a local chicken, the broth golden and the flavor striking the soul. Best of all is the cold dish of wild water celery, crisp with the fragrance of earth. Accompanied by a cup of locally roasted tea, the smoke rising, the bitterness giving way to sweetness, allowing the taste buds to fully settle in the taste of the wild.

In Puzhehei, avoiding the summer heat is not just a physical cooling but also a spiritual blanketing.