Wuyuan Part 2 (8-3)

Saturday I stayed in Little Likeng. The weekend tour groups were out, which was not surprising. There weren’t too many groups; so it was easy to avoid them or wait until they moved on. I enjoyed walking slowly through the village, looking at the various items for sale and picking up a few small items for gifts. 

I also walked out on the road along the fields for a short time. I do enjoy fields. 

They are small, family-sized plots that have several vegetables in each plot. And rice. After relaxing in my room for a while, I went to a teahouse on a covered rooftop and enjoyed tea and reading for a couple hours.

Sunday I took a private tour to Huang Ling and the Conxi River. Huang Ling is one of the places photos of which enticed me to visit this area. It’s known for its terraced rice fields and earth art, the various configurations of the fields. 

It is also known for its ocean of flowers during all four seasons. They plant flowers between and around the rice fields, perhaps as a tourist draw. Different flowers for each season so something is always in bloom. This season's flowers were dark pink.

The trail along the ridge to view the terraces is also lined with flowers in some places. I loved walking around the area and viewing the configurations of the fields. 

At the end of the paved trail, a man pointed me to go ahead; so I walked on farther along the farmers’ path, reminding me of walking on such paths in Sapa, Vietnam. After several minutes I came to another field of flowers of a different kind. These were purple. A few people were working among the flowers. And a few farmers were working in the rice.

The next place to walk was the corridor of 24 solar terms. I had no idea what that meant, but I was curious enough to walk it. After passing the second set of six stone pictures about farming with Chinese explanations, I figured out that there would be 24 pictures. Later I remembered reading that people met in the village pavilion on the 1^st and 15^th of each month, which would make 24 times a year. So the 24 solar terms related to the farming cycle through the months.

The path goes through a wooded area that has ancient yews. These are labeled the “panda of plants” because they have been on earth for over two million years and are now endangered.

The final place to visit is Huang Ling village, an ancient village that is famous for its folk culture: drying seasonal produce on huge bamboo trays. Bamboo poles jut out from the roofs to hold the trays. After seeing a poster of thIs, I was thrilled to be experiencing it in person. 

On the way out there was a sign on a building that I almost missed inviting people to go to the third floor to take photos. This was the view that was on the publicity poster, and I had it to myself. 

Houses in the village are stucco with elaborately carved wooden doors, windows, and decorations. The village is in the process of being upgraded. Many of the houses are gutted and are being renovated. New construction is going up outside the ancient village. It will become more touristic.

We stopped at a local restaurant for lunch where I was able to point to the food I wanted to have cooked. I chose fish, thinking I was ordering one fish, and bamboo. Of course, I got more than one fish and couldn’t eat them all.

After lunch it was time for river drifting on the Conxi River. I envisioned myself floating down the river on a bamboo raft. But that’s not what happened. Because I am only one person, I had to either pay 120 RMB/$20 more or wait for several other people to arrive. After a few minutes, Vivian approached and introduced herself, speaking fluent English, and asked if she could help. I explained why I was waiting and sat with her and chatted. She was there with her colleagues, as they were having a weekend outing together. When everyone had arrived, they invited me join them on rubber rafts. (Vivian said she, too, preferred a bamboo raft but the group preferred the rubber ones.) Four of us were in the raft and we each had an oar. So, instead of relaxing while a man poled the bamboo raft, we were rowing ourselves down the river. It was fun. People on a couple of the rafts were into water fighting. My companions tried to avoid this, but we got wet anyway. Mostly we quietly rowed, sometimes drifting along, for an hour. The river itself isn’t very special, but it was a fun activity and it was nice to do it with these people.

Wuyuan Part 1 (8-2)

Thursday was travel day from Tongkou to Little Likeng. It started off poorly when I realized that Simon, the man I had hired to take me from Tongkou to Tunxi/Huangshan city where I would get the bus, had taken advantage of me. He had told me that there is only one bus in the morning and that there weren’t any buses from Tongkou to get me there in time. This may have been true. He said the trip takes an hour and a half. I thought his rate (200 RMB/$33) was a little high based on past experiences, but I decided not to argue with it. However, in the morning he decided to take the expressway, cutting the time to 45 minutes, which means he charged for double the actual time. Then he didn’t give me change, charging me for the tolls. I didn’t complain about the time, but I did complain that he had changed his fee and that wasn’t right. He was angry that I mentioned it because it was only $2. It was actually $3. The amount was insignificant; it’s the idea that he was then charging more money than he had agreed on, which was already overcharging. He has a nice little scam going. It doesn’t really matter that I complained because I was leaving and he’ll do it again with the next tourists. I just wanted him to know that I was aware that he was taking advantage of me.

When I arrived in Wuyuan, I took a taxi to Little Likeng, where my hotel was. This was all very easy, but Simon had said it would be difficult when trying to convince me hire a car for $100. When we arrived at the ticket gate (There is a fee to enter the area’s villages.), the driver took me to the ticket office and made sure I was aware of the discount for people aged 60-69. Then he took me to the entrance. Good service. The ticket has a fingerprint scan. When entering, you put the ticket in one place and then scan your finger. If they don’t match, the gate doesn’t open. This happened on Friday when the man and woman I was with had the wrong tickets.

First I checked into the hotel. The young woman working there speaks English well, which is always a pleasure for me. They also have an English menu. After checking in, I realized that I wanted a personal day. So I stayed in the room all afternoon and caught up on personal things. The notice on the room door mentions doing laundry; so I decided to take advantage of that. When I asked about it, I learned that they have a washing machine guests can use. What a treat that was. Then I hung the clothes on the rooftop clothes lines. Later in the afternoon it rained heavily. When it stopped, I went up to wring out my clothes and found that they had been moved to a covered area and weren’t soaked. How thoughtful of her to have moved my clothes.

In the evening I went for a short walk in the village. Little Likeng is an old village—18^th to 19^th centuries. It is touristic in that there are lots of stalls selling goods to tourists. Unlike in many ancient cities, the goods sold are mostly made in the village. Many are made in the place where they are sold, as the front room is the salesroom while the people live in the back or upstairs. The village features wood: scented wood items and wood carvings. I was surprised when two women commented on how beautiful my silk money holder is. These items are fairly common in many places I’ve been to in China, but they hadn’t seen them. I guess they haven’t made it to Wuyuan, and these are not people who have the opportunity or money to travel.

Little Likeng is what I call a living ancient village. People live here. Most houses are not reconstructed. Every house along the stream has stairs down to a slate slab beside the water. This is where everything is washed. In the morning, women—and a few men—wash clothes. 

I saw people washing vegetables, wood carvings, 

and chicken and fish being prepared for cooking. 

Although the sidewalk is on one side of the stream, buildings are on both sides with slate or wooden bridges from one side to the other. 

The houses are highly decorated with intricately carved wood in the interior as well as on doors and windows.

Friday I joined five other people for a day tour. The woman had told me they were going and had room for one more person. The group was a family of three and two young men, one of whom I’d chatted with briefly Thursday night. First we went to Sixi Yancun, two other ancient villages. Each has several historic houses. Houses—historic and lived in--are not decorated as elaborately as those in Little Likeng. 

The villages are not touristic. Rather they are small, ancient villages where people live. Tourists visit but the villages aren’t set up for tourists; they aren’t full of shops for tourists. The group was good to be with, as no one was hurrying and they also enjoyed looking carefully at the buildings.

The next part of the tour was Wolong Valley. The first stop there was Rainbow Bridge, a covered bridge over the river. 

There is an altar in the middle of the bridge. 

There are stones on which you can walk across the river, but those of us over 25 declined. I might have tried a shorter distance, but the width of the river was daunting.

At noon, the family left for another afternoon plan and Li, Kong, and I had lunch. I learned that they speak English OK. Li is working on a Master’s degree in Chinese language and literature, and Kong teaches Chinese at a university. Both were pleasant companions for the afternoon. Our first destination was Crouching Dragon Valley. There we walked along the river 

and then took a cable car up a mountain, planning to walk down. Most of the cable cars were empty. 

At the top we walked to two waterfalls: White Dragon and Large Dragon. Large Dragon Waterfall, which is 90 meters high, is the highest one in China. 

To get to White Dragon Waterfall, we had to walk around a tree that had fallen over the path. Li was impressed that I was able to do that and told me that he was proud of me. We sat at the waterfall for several minutes enjoying being the only people there. 

The walk down goes along a stream with clear water, waterfalls, and clear pools. We learned that there are 78 waterfalls in the scenic area. It was very refreshing.

After reaching our van, we were off to the final destination: two caves. To get to Huaxin Cave, we walked up the mountain to the entrance. We were lucky to get there just before it closed; we missed the second cave. Walking through the cave requires having a guide; we had a group of seven, which was nice. Huaxin Cave is a famous cave in China. Li was happy to see it because he knew it only from TV. It is 90 meters high and has seven levels. The water in the cave is 40-60 meters deep. My favorite room was the peony room. I could

have stayed there longer.

The last part of the trip is by boat to the lower cave entrance.

Then it was time to return to the hotel. We were out for ten hours, a long but enjoyable day. In addition to the sites, I enjoyed Li and Kong.

Huangshan Part 2 (7-30)

Tuesday was sunrise day. We all woke up at 4:30 to go out to the viewing point. Of course, there were already a lot of people there when we arrived. The sky started to brighten at 5:15 and the sun made its appearance at 5:40. It wasn’t a spectacular sunrise, but there was a red sun. Back in the room, we all rested and slept some more.

The family left at 8:30 to head down, and I decided to stay in the room and relax for a while. At 10:00 I started on a short walk. I had decided to stay in the general area of the hotel and just hang out. First I went to revisit an area I’d walked through while arriving. The trail was blocked off not far from the hotel, as a VIP was at the viewpoint. It was a media event and a big camera on a long crane was reaching out to the viewpoint. I don’t know who the man was, but he was there most of the day. At this time, the mountain was in a cloud with no visibility over the edge. 

But that changed soon and some rocks emerged from the clouds.

I had thought about going down the trail and coming up on the cable cars I had seen on Monday. The trail is used by porters carrying goods up the mountain. Probably down as well, but at this time they were coming up with baskets of food. It is several kilometers from the bottom to the top. After seeing these men, it was easy to understand why prices are high on the mountain. After a few minutes, a porter coming up said something and motioned “no,” which I took to mean that the trail was closed. Another man did the same. I also realized that the trail just goes down and that wasn’t what I wanted to do all day.

I went back to the sunrise viewpoint to see what it looked like during the day. Since it’s off the main trail, not many people were there. I stood on a small, lower viewpoint alone for about fifteen minutes watching the clouds move in and out and the mountains play peak-a-boo. 

There were people on the viewpoint above me but during that time no one ventured out to my viewpoint. When people came, I left so they could take their photos. But that was one of my favorite times on the mountain.

By that time the sky was clear on the other side; so I decided to revisit a few places I’d been to on Monday. I met another junior high student who decided to chat with me. His English wasn’t great, but it was fun to chat with him. I ended out slowly walking around for several hours.

My new roommates were a family of three and two other woman, one of whom had a baby. The family was pleasant to me. The others weren’t in the room much until they were ready to sleep. The baby cried once during the night, but not for long. I passed on the morning sunset, since once was enough for that experience.

Wednesday it was time to head down the mountain and back to Tongkou. The others left at 8:30, but I decided to relax a while longer and left at 10:00 since I wasn’t in a rush. That may not have been the best decision, as the trail was crowded starting shortly after I left. I hadn’t thought about it, but many tour groups go to the mountain for only one day. They take the east cableway up in the morning and the south one down in the afternoon. So in one day, they do what I did in three days and what overnighters do in two days, but they miss the Xihai Grand Canyon. And they don’t get to have a relaxing day.

 Since the hotel is in a valley, all trails leading out of the area go up. So I began the day going up the steps I was so happy to go down Monday evening. 

The trail was crowded and I realized that these were probably day trippers. At the summit at Brightness Mountain, there is a building with what looks like a football/soccer ball on the top. I learned later that it is a planetarium. I had seen it across the valley Monday afternoon and had passed it Monday evening returning to the hotel after the cable ropeway.

I could see a huge crowd across the way. 

The trail became packed going up to that area and was divided with barriers into two lanes—one for each direction—to help control the masses of people. This continued for much of the way to the cable car station. 

On the way to 100 stairs (which were really more than that up a steep cliff), there are two trails—one for each direction. The trail becomes quite narrow in a few places where it goes through the rocks, which contributes to the crowdedness. It was quite a walk. 

After that, the trail widened and wasn’t as crowded until I arrived at the cable car line. It rained lightly at one point and then rained heavily for half an hour just before I got in line. 

The line took only an hour, and since it was on the trail with a barrier down the middle, there wasn’t as much pushing as there had been at the bottom.

An interesting encounter on the trail: When I wasn’t wearing my hat, I heard “Hello, grandmother.” Two elementary school girls were greeting me as they passed. Sweet.

I was really glad to have had three days on the mountain. The slow day between the two long hiking days gave me time to really relax and enjoy being there and enjoy the mountain itself. My heart was relaxed.