In 2008 UNESCO put 46 clusters of Fujian Tulou into the list of the World Cultural Heritage sites, and since then tourism of Tulou has been flourishing. However, most tour companies offer a one-day trip only, but those earthen houses are too scattered to be seen in a single day. Hence, my wife and I spent two days there instead of joining a tour. It is an interesting experience. The transportation mean is a motorcycle arranged by a local farmer. Three people and all luggages were cramped into the motorcycle while we were traveling along narrow mountain roads. At night we stayed in a room of an earthen house. Needless to say, we could not expect availability of modern facilities, such as a bathroom. The host
just gave us a bucket. The nickname of the Tulou in the first picture of this
page is "East-west declining earthen house" because as you can see
all the supporting columns are skewed.
