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.