Home of the Sage

Qufu, China

The Lonely Planet China really didn't like Qufu, home of the famous 孔子 (who us Westerners know by his Latin name Confucius). There was talk of high prices and being constantly hassled by souvenir vendors and paddy cab drivers. Don't know which Qufu they visited. I actually liked it quite a lot here. So much that I extended my planned stay by a day.
Yeah, sure, there are lots of tourists (mainly Chinese ones) around the centre of town with two of Qufu's "Three Kongs", the Kong Temple （孔庙） and the Kong family home （孔府）. And there's the souvenir alley where any foreigner (or any obvious tourist, for that matter) is just a walking wallet waiting to be milked of its contents. But it's not too difficult to get away from all that. Just a bit off the centre, e.g. just outside the city walls, hotels are affordable, food is cheap and people are very kind. I got invited for dinner on two successive evenings. First was a group of young local businessmen who called me over to share their noodles, fish soup and crispy chicken head. Then there was a big group of cab drivers who insisted I had to have a beer (or two) and some barbecued snacks with them.
The final highlight and my favourite was the Kong Forest （孔林）, the final resting place of the sage and all (!) 76 generations of Kongs that followed after him. Of course, all tourists get herded (literally!) to his tomb and onto electric buses for a tour. But the area is vast and has countless little paths. I ended up spending an entire day walking around the peaceful forest of ancient trees, purple spring flowers and silent graves. I can't imagine a more relaxing way to end the day than watching the sinking sun through the foliage at this ancient place.