Bamboo Sea (4-10)

Since I’d been intrigued about the Bamboo Sea for a while, I decided to go last week because it was a 3-day holiday weekend for the Tomb Sweeping festival. The official day was Saturday with the holiday including Sunday and Monday. With no classes on Thursday and Friday, I was able to leave Wednesday and return on Saturday, giving me two days to rest before teaching again on Tuesday. This plan worked out well.

Wednesday I took the teachers’ bus to Chengdu. For the first time, one of the Chinese teachers of English sat with me. I enjoyed meeting her and chatting with her for the hour-long ride. Before I left, I’d run into Sam who had mentioned missing burritos, which got me in the mood for the Tex-Mex restaurant. So I had dinner there—enchiladas that were pretty good. On the way back to the metro, I stopped at the new European-style bakery Yang had told me about when I had lunch with her last week. There I bought a loaf of dark bread that turned out to be chocolate bread to snack on during my trip.

Thursday morning the bus left at 9:10, and we left Chengdu an hour later. After a total of six hours on the bus, it stopped, and the attendant announced “Bamboo Sea.” Three of us got off. A man met us, took us to his car, and drove us the rest of the way. After the man passenger got out, the driver had the young woman tell me that he could take me back to the bus on Saturday morning if I called. When we stopped to purchase park tickets, he had her ask my age and tell me about the senior discount. It was nice of him to do that and of her to translate for me. Then she got out, and he took me to my hotel. There he gave me a map and used his translator to inform me that you need a car to “go to the play areas.” Oh, dear. I hadn’t realized that. Since he’d been nice and the hotel looked barren, I figured I might as well hire him; so we negotiated a price. After dropping off my bag in the room, I had to pay him to drive me back to an ATM, as I hadn’t planned on paying for a private car.

Back in the park, he took me to a trail along a stream that has several waterfalls. After so much time on the bus, I was more than ready for a refreshing walk among the bamboo trees. 

I enjoyed my first glimpses of the tall bamboo shoots. They are much thicker than the ones I was familiar with in Thailand. The new shoots are brown while older trees, having shed the brown layer, are green. 

After I finished this walk, he took me to another trail along a different stream. 

There were a few small waterfalls along the way to the one at the end of the trail, which was meager at this time of year. 

It was a pleasant walk during which I enjoyed the changing light as the sun descended. By the time I did both trails, I’d walked for two hours. Both times my driver made sure I knew where to walk and where he would be when I returned.

The driver was very nice and took good care of me. His only English words are “hello” and “bye bye.” He used the translator app on his phone when he had something long to communicate. Otherwise he grunted and used sign language or my few Chinese words. We managed quite well.

I was the only guest at the hotel with 75 rooms, which felt a little eerie. When I asked about dinner, the woman had to call the cook, and he didn’t sound like he was very happy. I was asked what I wanted. Michelle had mentioned that I could try bamboo, which seemed perfect in the bamboo forest. So that’s what I requested with the help of my phone dictionary. I was served a soup with tomato broth and bamboo and fried bamboo with ginger sauce. Both were delicious, and I was hungry.

Friday morning we started at 8:00 to see the Sea of Clouds, the viewpoint for which was quite near the hotel. Lucky for me, there was a bit of a Sea of Clouds, a layer of clouds between the high viewpoint and the valley below. No brilliant blue sky and sunshine above like the photos always show, but this was the first time I’ve been lucky enough to see any sea of clouds.

Driving along the road, we stopped so I could walk through the corridor of bamboo trees bent over the road. The road is paved with stone for this lovely stretch of the road.

Next I was taken to the temple, which is on top of a mountain with a lot of stairs. 

At the top, there are twin pavilions to walk up for nice views of the valley. 

I enjoyed the architecture of the temple.

Then we stopped at the lake. The fee for a raft for 1 to 4 persons is 160 RMB/$25, which seemed expensive, especially when I realized that it doesn’t include an oarsman.  The driver let me know that there’s no time limit. When I hesitated so I could think a bit, he made it clear that this was something he thought I should do. It’s a famous area where movies have been filmed. Michelle had mentioned this, and there are bulletin boards showing them. 

So, I paid, and my driver became my fellow rower. Even though there’s no time limit, you can’t go very far because the roof of the raft doesn’t go under the bridge; so we were out for about an hour, much of which we drifted and relaxed. While rowing, I was glad I’ve been doing some upper body machines at the gym. It was relaxing to be on the water, but I could have skipped it. Of course, when I started, I didn’t know that we wouldn’t go far or see much more than we could see from the shore.

The next walk was to the largest and most beautiful of the waterfalls—Rainbow Waterfall. The trail goes down and then up to a different location. My driver walked me in to show me where to start walking and to point out the trail from the bottom to a different location on the top. Sure enough, he was at that parking lot when I emerged. This was the largest and most beautiful of the waterfalls. The path goes down on one side of a mountain, across, and up another mountain. Going down, there were lovely views of the waterfall across the way and of the valley. 

The trail goes behind the waterfall, which is always fun, and then up to another small waterfall. 

On the way up, a rainbow could be seen across Rainbow Waterfall. 

At the top of the upper waterfall, 

there is a raft that a man pulls along a rope to take people across the lake between that waterfall and one above.

The last walk of the day was a long one. When the driver dropped me off at 1:00, he explained, using his translator, in detail—more than once to make sure I understood— that I should walk to the other end and should not take the cableway across the valley, which is called the Grand Canyon, as it is not interesting and I’d go on the other cableway that is interesting. Although he didn’t mention it, I don’t think there was time to do both. He would pick me up at the other end at 5:00. He also explained that he had to go to his house but would be back to meet me. Shortly after the trail begins, there is part of a lake to cross. Again there is a raft that a man pulls along a rope to cross the lake. But there is also a raft with a woman who rows it across. I got that one. 

The trail goes half way down the cliff and then along the side of the cliff. 

One section has huge carvings celebrating battles. 

Another has Buddhist statues, and there are two temples. When I saw the cableway, I understood why he said it’s not interesting; you can see the valley from the side and there’s no need to see it from above, especially in this season when the fields are not green. Later I read that the cableway goes over a huge canyon. That must be on the other side of the mountain across from the cliff and would possibly be the more interesting part. Then the trail goes back to the top. When I arrived there at 4:00, thinking I would eat dinner, my driver was already waiting.

So on we went to the cableway across the Bamboo Sea. For 25 minutes, the cableway goes down a mountain and then up and over another. It’s a lovely way to enjoy the expanse of the sea of bamboo below and all around. When I got to the other side, it wasn’t clear whether I was to return or not. Since the car wasn’t there, I tried to go back and was told that I needed another ticket. So I figured that I was to wait. Another man spoke to me and asked if I am American. He used his translation app to let me know that I should wait. I showed him my driver’s card, and he indicated that that was the man who would be coming. Before he left with his passengers, he made sure I understood that I should wait a short time.

When my driver arrived, he had two new passengers. I guess he stopped at the bus stop to see if anyone needed a ride to the park and a driver. We took them to the first trail I had gone to on Thursday. We then talked about plans for my return to Chengdu on Saturday. He said he’d pick me up at 1:30. When I asked what time the bus arrived, he showed me 8:30, which is too late to get a bus to Wenjiang. When I asked about the 10:00 time he had mentioned on Thursday, he shook his head and said “no” in Chinese. When I told him there aren’t buses from Chengdu to Wenjiang after 8:30, he thought. Then he said he couldn’t afford to see me on Saturday. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I figured that I needed to pay him then; so I did. He talked on the phone, and in a short while another man arrived. The driver let me know that this man would pick me up at 7:00 to take me to the bus to Chengdu. Eventually I figured out that the 1:30 time would be when the new customers would be doing the cliff trail and he would have time to pick me up and take me to the bus stop. In the morning, he wouldn’t have time. It wasn’t about there being no bus, it was about his not being able to take me then.

When we were negotiating the price for taking me to the bus stop, a one-way trip, the translation app suggested 60 blocks of copper. I didn’t have my copper blocks with me; so I suggested 40 yuan, which was OK.

For dinner I went to the small town area near the hotel. There I chose a restaurant overlooking the river and trees. I had another stir-fried bamboo dish. The woman had a teen-aged boy ask me what I wanted and then he asked what I should pay. That was strange, but I suggested 25 yuan in Chinese. He suggested 50 yuan. After checking to make sure he’d said 50, not 15, I told him that was too expensive and he asked about 20 yuan. I agreed. It was strange to be negotiating the price for dinner, as I hadn’t done that before.

Throughout the forest there are people digging small bamboo shoots to sell. They are thicker than ones we had in Thailand. There were also people selling many kinds of dried mushrooms and fungi.

Saturday morning my new driver picked me up at 7:00. When we exited the park, he stopped so his friend could take a photo of him and me in front of the entrance. He was quite pleased to have that. Then we went to the bus stop. While we waited, we had noodle soup for breakfast, which he paid for. Then he put me on the bus at 7:30. The bus didn’t leave for half an hour. Then it stopped in a town for 15 minutes. We finally hit the road at 9:30, arriving in Chengdu at 3:00. I was glad to be walking to the metro after the long ride. Between the metro and the bus stop, I stopped at DQ for a blizzard. After two bus rides and the walk to the university, I arrived home at 6:30. So it was a long day. I was glad that I had two days to recover and relax before classes on Tuesday.

Thursday I went to Chengdu to meet Xiaoyu for dinner. In the afternoon, I took the opportunity to do some “getting ready to leave” shopping in the art district. After a few minutes in one shop where I was looking at paintings, I heard a woman greet me in English. The shop owner had gone to get another shop owner who speaks English pretty well. She helped me make a purchase and then invited me to visit her shop. As soon as I entered her small space, a hand-painted fan caught my eye. She told me she usually sells fans to Chinese customers for 100 yuan but she’d give it to me for 50. Hmmm. I have to wonder about that, but I purchased it anyway. When I asked if she had painted the small paintings on the desk, she said she had and gave me one. Then she gave me another slightly larger one and put them in a catalog so I could transport them without ruining them.