Bamboo Heaven

We promised you pandas, so here they are!

Hello, my name is Wen Li

Eats shoots, and leaves!

Sometimes it's just all too much...

The morning after the night before?

New-born pandas

A red panda

On Saturday 19th October, we got an early start from Chengdu to make sure we got to the Giant Panda Breeding Centre before all of the tourist buses. This plan worked pretty well, as we were indeed amongst the first people there. This is easily the largest and most important panda breeding and scientific research centre in the world. We confess to a little cynicism at the start: is the huge investment in pandas worthwhile, for an animal that seems to be so lacking in adaptability and apparently so lacking in instinct to procreate? Would all this fuss exist if pandas didn't have the 'cute, cuddly' factor? Could we not get a better environmental 'bang for our buck' in other less glamorous areas?

Our heads were turned a little, however, when we were told that pandas pre-exist humans on this earth and that they had proved themselves perfectly able to survive until humans came along and started to destroy their natural habitats, particularly in recent years. Then, of course, the 'cute, cuddly' factor is hard to resist.

In some ways the Chengdu centre is not much more than a zoo, but there is a lot more going on than this under the surface. First of all, the whole site has become a sort of nature reserve, recreating the pandas natural habitat and this has attracted lots more bird and animal life. Did you know that there are over 100 types of bamboo? We didn't, but apparently they are pretty much all to be found here. The center-piece of the site is a lake that is stocked with carp and other fish and black and white swans. Here we found a great 'natural adaptation' story. The black swans get a lot of tourist attention, or in other words they get fed a lot. The carp have sussed this out and you couldn't see a black swan without an attendant entourage of carp waiting to pounce on any scraps!

Carp follow the black swans around waiting for scraps from their table!

But back to the pandas. The site is paid for by the volume of tourists (both western and Chinese - we saw many more western faces here then we have seen for a long time) and fees earned from 'loaning' pandas to zoos around the world. Apparently every panda in the world is technically owned by the Chinese government.

We arrived in the middle of birthing season and there are dozens born here each year between August and October. We were able to go through the panda incubator, where we saw about a dozen cubs that have all been born this year. There are over 50 pandas here in total and, though they are kept in pens, they have a fair bit of space to roam in and all seemed in good condition.

After 3 hours at the site, we headed on towards the town of Leshan, which had attracted our attention when we were working on our itinerary. Leshan stands at the confluence of 3 rivers, but is now famous partly due to the efforts of the Taliban in Afghanistan. About 10 years ago they destroyed the largest Buddha in the world, thereby passing that title on to the Dafo Buddha in Leshan. He was carved into the rock-face by the water's edge some 1,200 years ago to protect fisherman from the dangerous waters created by the merging rivers. At more than 70 metres high and with and a 28 metre shoulder, he sits proudly looking down on the river, hands camly resting on his knees. We didn't really have time to do him justice, so to avoid the queues to get right up to him (see the people coming down the stairs to his left in the photo below), we took a ferry across the river that provided great views and perspective and went slowly enough past to get some good photos.

The town itself is also very pleasant and we spent a short time walking along the river where there were some beautiful rock carvings that seemed to go almost unnoticed next to the bigger draw of the Buddha. Back at the truck, we found a game of football going on around the truck, with some of our guys against some locals, which had started to have attracted almost as big a crowd as the Buddha!

 

The girls on our group pose in front of the Dafu Buddha

Back on board again and we had another couple of hours drive to get to our next stop of Emei Shan, one of China's 4 holiest mountains. We will tell you more about that in our next post, but just to say that we had a great surprise of a modern, stylish 4 star hotel for our 2 night stay.

And finally....we've been thinking just this, but haven't been able to put it so politely!

 

A Birthday on the road

We left you in the last post rather bedraggled on a rainy Wanzhou pier on the banks of the Yangtse. Archie was waiting faithfully for us nearby and we were quickly back on the road again. We were heading west now, with a 5 hour drive to the town of Dazu, in the steady rain. This apart, the drive was pretty uneventful, but after the awful accomodation on the riverboat, we were relieved to find that we were staying in a very nice hotel for the evening. Doubly so, because the next morning was Sue's birthday - and nobody wants to wake up somewhere grotty on their birthday!

On the morning of Sue's birthday, we were treated to a traditional Chinese breakfas buffet, which included: roasted peanuts, finely sliced pickled peppers, cabbage and chillies, giant fluffy rice dumplings, an odd tasting sponge cake (no candles!) and buck wheat tea (an acquired taste). To most people, rising at 7.00 to eat such fare might not be the ideal start to their birthday, but strangely we both really enjoyed it.

The reason for the early start was that we had a long day ahead of us. Our first stop of the day were the nearby Baoding Shan Caves, a UNESCO heritage site that dates back to the 9th century Tang Dynasty. We were enchanted from the first moment and even though the weather had turned grey and grizzly, this just added to the atmosphere. The early start also helped, because we pretty much had the place to ourselves, before any megaphone wielding tour groups arrived.

The complex started at the 'Treasured Summit' and we slowly descended through rain-forest, until the granite rock sharply dropped away into sheer cliff faces. The path then levelled and curved around to reveal a series of wonderful carvings under the overhangs of the cliffs. The largest was a 31 metre long, 5 metre high reclining Buddha, but there were numerous other Buddhas that towered several metres above us. What was most impressive, bearing in mind their antiquity, was how intricate and well preserved they were and several even had their original paint intact.

The site descended a couple of hundred metres to a valley floor which was cleaved by a clear stream, which we crossed on stone bridges: first looking down from high above, then close enough to feel its spray as it crashed over large boulders. In between, we came across several enchanting temples and pagodas, hidden away. We could easily have spent the day wandering around this site, with numerous peaceful places to stop. We were both taken by the contrast of the contemplative stillness of this place, with today's freneticism and information overload. Where is the time and space in modern life to simply sit and make sense of ourselves and our situations?

Buddhas carved from the rock at Baoding Shan Cave

The Baodang Shan site steps down to the valley floor

The Treasured Summit Pagoda at the cave site

All too soon, we were leaving Baodang Shan, for the 6 hour drive to Chegdu, though we did have a date with some pandas coming up to keep us interested (more on that later). We drove through a mix of mountains, farmland and industry, passing the large industrial city of Chongqing, with its huge factory chimneys belching out smoke and chemicals over the Yangtse valley.

Chengdu is another big city with around 4 million people, but is much cleaner than Chongqing. It also feels quite lively and everyone was looking forward to going out in the evening - there were two birthdays to celebrate, as our Belgian accountant was turning 36. Sadly Sue was exhausted by the past few days and rapidly coming down with a migraine as we arrived and she was the only person not able to come out. I went along for the birthday meal, but felt quite sad when a big birthday cake arrived after dinner, with 'Happy Birthday Kevin and Sue' piped onto it. The cake quickly disintegrated, but I managed to smuggle a couple of chocolate roses back for Sue.

Sue was a little better the next day, which was a free day, but as we were staying in quite a nice room, we seized the opportunity of a lie in to recuperate. Our main activity of the day was to walk for a couple of miles through the city centre to a huge new Carrefour supermarket. Walking through the streets is always the best way to get to see a place and we quite liked Chengdu, despite the usual noise of Chinese streets and the constant peril of being run over. Green lights on pedestrian crossings only seems to be a guide: traffic can, and will, still come at you from all angles and one just has to start crossing the moment there is a gap in the first lane and then dodge between cars, lories, buses etc, playing a kind of game of chicken.

Chengdu traffic following the 'Chinese rules of the road'

The Carrefour supermarket was quite an experience when we got there. Most Chinese supermarkets focus almost exclusively on dried goods, with fresh fruit and meat difficult to come across. Carrefour seem to have come up with a good formula, mixing a standard supermarket with a farmers market. In the fresh goods area, we found large aerified tanks filled with a variety of live fish, which you could chose and have killed and gutted for you on the spot. We also found live crabs and frogs on display: we watched carefully in case one of them hoped into our basket! There was also an amazing variety of fresh fruit and vegetables: we counted more than 20 types of mushrooms for example. Sue, in particular walked wide eyed around the place, which was jammed full of people.

Supermarket shopping - Chinese style

On the way back, we passed a junior school. It was a Friday afternoon and as a treat, the whole school seemed to have been brought out into the playground to watch a clown / magic show. We stopped to watch and, though we had no idea what was going on, it was hugely entertaining just to watch as the children jumped up and down with excitement, laughing, cheering and shouting when prompted. It seems that the future Chinese generation isn't going to be any quieter than the current one!

In the evening, we headed out to an area of traditional hutongs close to our hotel. This was a maze of narrow paths and alleyways, criss-crossing streams and a small lake, with covered stone bridges where courting couples sat, clandestinely holding hands. Dark was falling as we arived and the lanes were lit up by tunnels of glowing red lanterns. The air was filled by the hubbub of the locals out for their Friday evenings, the sounds of music from bars, restaurants and a nearby Buddhist temple and the smells of roasting meats. The whole effect was quite intoxicating and we just walked for a while taking it all in.

Eventually we stopped in a small restaurant that was full of Chinese people. With no means of communicating, we picked 2 random dishes with no idea what would come our way. One was a big bowl of noodles filled with a greasy red oil, chillies and some bones of indeterminate animal origin and was pretty much inedible, the second a plate of stir fried vegetables with rice which kept us going. In any case, it didn't really matter, because we had a prime window seat looking down over the street below.

We will finish this post on the streets of Chengdu. The next day was another big day, taking in the nearby panda sanctuary, the world's largest Buddha and ending in one of China's holiest mountains at Emei Shan. We will let you know how we got on with that in our next post!

And finally...Chinese chickens out for a family picnic at Baodang Shan

 

Ganja on the Yangtse

On Saturday 12th October, we sadly left Wudang Shan, but looking forward to our upcoming 2 day / 3 night ferry down the Yangtse. We took a brief detour on the way down to see the Purple Heaven Palace, a beautiful Buddhist temple complex, nestled into the forested hillside. It was a good time to see it, coinciding as it did with morning ceremonies and the atmosphere was a heady mix of burning incense, chanting, tinkling of cymbals and the solemn faces of the saffron and burgundy robed monks.

The Purple Heaven Palace on the lower slopes of Wudang Shan

Preparing for the morning mantras at the Purple Heaven Palace

Before getting onto the boat, we had pretty much 2 full days on the road. The first took us through more mountain scenery, eventually descending into fertile agricultural land, with rice paddies cascading down the hillsides. We stopped at a service station for what is becoming our ritual lunchtime stop. We typically get a buffet lunch, with rice and a variety of meat and vegetable dishes, though I use the term meat loosely, because very often it is mostly bone and gristle, swimming in a cocktail of oil and chillies! As we head south and west, the food is getting more and more spicy and we have to watch carefully for the lethal little peppercorns which leave the mouth fizzy and numb: chewing a couple of these would render a trip to the dentist entirely pain free!

In the late afternoon, we arrived in the city of Yichang and our first glimpse of the Yangtse. It is a city of some 4 million people, described as 'drab and hum-drum' by the Lonely Planet. Fortunately, as often, they are off the mark and it turns out to be a good place to spend the night, with a nice promenade along the river, a spectacular new suspension bridge and a lively centre with lots of restaurants, bars and shops. We also have a comfortable, clean, modern hotel for the night which always helps. We mainly spent our time, stocking up with provisions at a large new supermarket. To our delight they stocked things that we hadn't seen since arriving in China, including bread, cheese and coffee.

The next day we had a longer drive then expected, due east to Wanzhou to pick up the ferry. Because of the mountainous terrain, the motorway heads north-east before curving back south east to re-join the river. The main interest, is some of the feats of engineering: long tunnels through the rock and one modern bridge after another, either crossing gorges, or a river. The Chinese must, surely be the great bridge builders of our times.

We eventually arrived and boarded our ferry at after 8pm, for a 9pm sailing and we are in for a pretty tough few days. The boat is a hell hole, rammed with noisy Chinese tourists and us, probably the lowest class ferry still in service on the Yangtse! We shared a cabin with Michelle and Geoff, which was just about big enough for 2 pairs of bunk beds and a filthy squat toilet / shower which reeks - and it would take great courage to use either. We cleaned it the best we could, but to no great effect.

Later that night we noticed a pungent, sweet smell coming from a gap in the wall to next door's cabin (and as we had the end cabin, concluded that it could only be the staff quarters). We quickly realised that this was marijuana. We were not sure whether to be more worried by the state of the boat, or the fact that at least some of the crew were stoned, but at least it overpowered the smell from the toilet and we drifted off into the sweetest of dreams!

In the morning, the boat passed through Qutang, the first of the famous Three Gorges, but the 2 small observation decks are crammed full, each with a Chinese tour guide bellowing into a megaphone and we crouched below deck by a tiny port hole (or should that be pot hole?!) and saw a little of the towering cliff tops slide by the rubbish strewn Yangtse.

In the afternoon, the boat docked for 4 hours and, with most of the rest of our group, we decided to go on a side excursion on a smaller boat up a tributary of The Yangtse, which runs through very similar terrain. The views from the boat were indeed spectacular, with cliff tops towering sharply hundreds of metres above us, punctuated by small farming communities and the occasional stop for tourists. Unfortunately, there was a huge BUT. The smaller boat was just as crammed and came with a Chinese guide who shouted into a microphone incessantly, pausing for breath just once for 5 minutes in each direction. This was relayed on loudspeakers throughout the boat at ear-drum shattering volume and there was no escape from the din. The Chinese loved it and shouted and chered and laughed and took pictures of one another. Poor Sue put her ipod on full volume to try and muffle the noise a little and curled up in a corner to try and insulate herself from it, but the whole experience was quite traumatic for her.

Bizarrely, half way through the trip we stopped at a jetty and were transferred to a series of flat-bottomed gondolas and were punted along into a small cove, whilst a guide dressed up as a mythological creature sung folk songs to us. This sounds like it might be quite enchanting, but even he, on a boat with about 20 people in a serenely quiet spot, needed a microphone to pump up the volume. Just when we thought it couldn't get any stranger, a few more costumes were found and every Chinese person on the boat had to dress up and have their photo taken in return for a few yuan to the guide.

On the second day, the boat docked early in the morning at a peaceful little village. On one side of the pontoon, however was docked a flotilla of gaudily painted dragon boats. Our boat largely emptied in a few minutes and poured onto a series of these to head off on a 2 hour backwater tour. We had learnt our lesson from the previous day's experience and opted out. Instead we wandered into the village, which was quite charming, with lovely views down onto the Yangtse and the mountains beyond. We found a small restaurant and, though they understood no English, managed to get ourselves a tasty breakfast with noodle soup steamed vegetables and baked sweet-potato. This was, at least a small reprieve from the bedlam of the ferry.

In the afternoon, we docked again and were herded off on a series of buses to see the controversial Yangtse Dam. The whole tourist experience is clearly intended to sell the concept of the dam. We are fed a series of statistics about it's huge scale (the largest dam in the world, that will produce vast quantities of clean hydro-electric power etc) and I can't help thinking: 'there are lies, dam lies and statistics'!

We were not allowed onto the dam itself, but instead got taken to a series of arm's-length vista spots. The last was probably the nicest, viewing the dam from below from a newly created park featuring carp-filled ponds, lush vegetation and sculptures crafted from waste materials from the dam construction. We were assigned an English speaking guide, but her English was barely intelligible and she just wanted to bark out a series of statistics into a microphone at us. We managed to detach ourselves from the group, but felt a little sorry for her: our group was like trying to herd cats, compared to the orderly Chinese groups, who dutifully followed their flag-waving guide.

We came away from the tour really none the wiser on whether the dam should be applauded or decried. The sensible conclusion would seem to be that when the dam finally starts to produce its electricity (in 2014) the costs in terms of uprooting communities and other damage, will probably lead to a significant environmental positive.

Back to the boat and we had just one more night to get through, which was basically a non-stop downstream sail back to our starting point. A lot of people had got off, so we passed a quieter evening in the restaurant. All things are relative though and we were jointed at one point by some high-spirited Chinese guys who were on a holiday. We did a number of 'Gambeis' (formal toasts) with them, as they were determined that we tried their home-brewed, 12 year old rice wine. This was surprisingly smooth and we had a fun half-hour with them, though neither of us had any idea what the other was saying, much as our guide struggled to translate!

We arrived back to a rainy Wanzhou early the next morning, all pretty much bedraggled and worn-out by the experience. Time will tell whether we will look back on this as an unforgettable and privileged close-up experience of Chinese culture, but for the moment, it just feels like we sailed for 2 days, 3 nights through paradise spoiled.

Here are some pictures to give you a flavour

A view of our boat, during our peaceful interlude on the 2nd morning aboard

Our cabin toilet on the Yangste - only for the brave or need

 

The Qutang Gorge on the Yangtse

A scene from the Yangtse tributary (but we couldn't photograph the noise!)

Some Yangtse Kitsch - all aboard the dragon boats!

The Yangtse Dam from above.....

... And below

And finally...fresh Yangtse fish anyone?

 

Ganja on the Yangtse

On Saturday 12th October, we sadly left Wudang Shan, but looking forward to our upcoming 2 day / 3 night ferry down the Yangtse. We took a brief detour on the way down to see the Purple Heaven Palace, a beautiful Buddhist temple complex, nestled into the forested hillside. It was a good time to see it, coinciding as it did with morning ceremonies and the atmosphere was a heady mix of burning incense, chanting, tinkling of cymbals and the solemn faces of the saffron and burgundy robed monks.

The Purple Heaven Palace on the lower slopes of Wudang Shan

Preparing for the morning mantras at the Purple Heaven Palace

Before getting onto the boat, we had pretty much 2 full days on the road. The first took us through more mountain scenery, eventually descending into fertile agricultural land, with rice paddies cascading down the hillsides. We stopped at a service station for what is becoming our ritual lunchtime stop. We typically get a buffet lunch, with rice and a variety of meat and vegetable dishes, though I use the term meat loosely, because very often it is mostly bone and gristle, swimming in a cocktail of oil and chillies! As we head south and west, the food is getting more and more spicy and we have to watch carefully for the lethal little peppercorns which leave the mouth fizzy and numb: chewing a couple of these would render a trip to the dentist entirely pain free!

In the late afternoon, we arrived in the city of Yichang and our first glimpse of the Yangtse. It is a city of some 4 million people, described as 'drab and hum-drum' by the Lonely Planet. Fortunately, as often, they are off the mark and it turns out to be a good place to spend the night, with a nice promenade along the river, a spectacular new suspension bridge and a lively centre with lots of restaurants, bars and shops. We also have a comfortable, clean, modern hotel for the night which always helps. We mainly spent our time, stocking up with provisions at a large new supermarket. To our delight they stocked things that we hadn't seen since arriving in China, including bread, cheese and coffee.

The next day we had a longer drive then expected, due east to Wanzhou to pick up the ferry. Because of the mountainous terrain, the motorway heads north-east before curving back south east to re-join the river. The main interest, is some of the feats of engineering: long tunnels through the rock and one modern bridge after another, either crossing gorges, or a river. The Chinese must, surely be the great bridge builders of our times.

We eventually arrived and boarded our ferry at after 8pm, for a 9pm sailing and we are in for a pretty tough few days. The boat is a hell hole, rammed with noisy Chinese tourists and us, probably the lowest class ferry still in service on the Yangtse! We shared a cabin with Michelle and Geoff, which was just about big enough for 2 pairs of bunk beds and a filthy squat toilet / shower which reeks - and it would take great courage to use either. We cleaned it the best we could, but to no great effect.

Later that night we noticed a pungent, sweet smell coming from a gap in the wall to next door's cabin (and as we had the end cabin, concluded that it could only be the staff quarters). We quickly realised that this was marijuana. We were not sure whether to be more worried by the state of the boat, or the fact that at least some of the crew were stoned, but at least it overpowered the smell from the toilet and we drifted off into the sweetest of dreams!

In the morning, the boat passed through Qutang, the first of the famous Three Gorges, but the 2 small observation decks are crammed full, each with a Chinese tour guide bellowing into a megaphone and we crouched below deck by a tiny port hole (or should that be pot hole?!) and saw a little of the towering cliff tops slide by the rubbish strewn Yangtse.

In the afternoon, the boat docked for 4 hours and, with most of the rest of our group, we decided to go on a side excursion on a smaller boat up a tributary of The Yangtse, which runs through very similar terrain. The views from the boat were indeed spectacular, with cliff tops towering sharply hundreds of metres above us, punctuated by small farming communities and the occasional stop for tourists. Unfortunately, there was a huge BUT. The smaller boat was just as crammed and came with a Chinese guide who shouted into a microphone incessantly, pausing for breath just once for 5 minutes in each direction. This was relayed on loudspeakers throughout the boat at ear-drum shattering volume and there was no escape from the din. The Chinese loved it and shouted and chered and laughed and took pictures of one another. Poor Sue put her ipod on full volume to try and muffle the noise a little and curled up in a corner to try and insulate herself from it, but the whole experience was quite traumatic for her.

Bizarrely, half way through the trip we stopped at a jetty and were transferred to a series of flat-bottomed gondolas and were punted along into a small cove, whilst a guide dressed up as a mythological creature sung folk songs to us. This sounds like it might be quite enchanting, but even he, on a boat with about 20 people in a serenely quiet spot, needed a microphone to pump up the volume. Just when we thought it couldn't get any stranger, a few more costumes were found and every Chinese person on the boat had to dress up and have their photo taken in return for a few yuan to the guide.

On the second day, the boat docked early in the morning at a peaceful little village. On one side of the pontoon, however was docked a flotilla of gaudily painted dragon boats. Our boat largely emptied in a few minutes and poured onto a series of these to head off on a 2 hour backwater tour. We had learnt our lesson from the previous day's experience and opted out. Instead we wandered into the village, which was quite charming, with lovely views down onto the Yangtse and the mountains beyond. We found a small restaurant and, though they understood no English, managed to get ourselves a tasty breakfast with noodle soup steamed vegetables and baked sweet-potato. This was, at least a small reprieve from the bedlam of the ferry.

In the afternoon, we docked again and were herded off on a series of buses to see the controversial Yangtse Dam. The whole tourist experience is clearly intended to sell the concept of the dam. We are fed a series of statistics about it's huge scale (the largest dam in the world, that will produce vast quantities of clean hydro-electric power etc) and I can't help thinking: 'there are lies, dam lies and statistics'!

We were not allowed onto the dam itself, but instead got taken to a series of arm's-length vista spots. The last was probably the nicest, viewing the dam from below from a newly created park featuring carp-filled ponds, lush vegetation and sculptures crafted from waste materials from the dam construction. We were assigned an English speaking guide, but her English was barely intelligible and she just wanted to bark out a series of statistics into a microphone at us. We managed to detach ourselves from the group, but felt a little sorry for her: our group was like trying to herd cats, compared to the orderly Chinese groups, who dutifully followed their flag-waving guide.

We came away from the tour really none the wiser on whether the dam should be applauded or decried. The sensible conclusion would seem to be that when the dam finally starts to produce its electricity (in 2014) the costs in terms of uprooting communities and other damage, will probably lead to a significant environmental positive.

Back to the boat and we had just one more night to get through, which was basically a non-stop downstream sail back to our starting point. A lot of people had got off, so we passed a quieter evening in the restaurant. All things are relative though and we were jointed at one point by some high-spirited Chinese guys who were on a holiday. We did a number of 'Gambeis' (formal toasts) with them, as they were determined that we tried their home-brewed, 12 year old rice wine. This was surprisingly smooth and we had a fun half-hour with them, though neither of us had any idea what the other was saying, much as our guide struggled to translate!

We arrived back to a rainy Wanzhou early the next morning, all pretty much bedraggled and worn-out by the experience. Time will tell whether we will look back on this as an unforgettable and privileged close-up experience of Chinese culture, but for the moment, it just feels like we sailed for 2 days, 3 nights through paradise spoiled.

Here are some pictures to give you a flavour

A view of our boat, during our peaceful interlude on the 2nd morning aboard

Our cabin toilet on the Yangste - only for the brave or need

 

The Qutang Gorge on the Yangtse

A scene from the Yangtse tributary (but we couldn't photograph the noise!)

Some Yangtse Kitsch - all aboard the dragon boats!

The Yangtse Dam from above.....

... And below

And finally...fresh Yangtse fish anyone?

 

Holy Mountain Hidden Dragon

We're a little behind with the blog right now due to a hectic schedule and difficulties in getting decent wireless to do our posts, but we will do our best to catch up! On 10th October, we headed out of Xi'an with our new companions for the 6 hour drive to the mountains of Wudang Shan - made famous by Ang Lee's film Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

The road rose steadily as we headed out of Xi'an, with the cityscape replaced by more rural, mountainous scenery. The land looked dry, but fertile and the valleys were full of small to medium scale farmland with all manner of different vegetables and grains under cultivation. It was a good road and we made steady progress, with the views occasionally punctuated by long mountain tunnels.

The mood on the bus was good, with the group split pretty much 50/50 from those who had already been on board for a couple of weeks from Beijing (and therefore already in the rhythm) and those, like us, who had freshly joined in Xi'an. We just watch the scenery in the morning and then I joined a card school for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

The Wudang Shan area is heavily managed by the authorities and we had to leave the truck behind for the next couple of days at the base of the controlled area and join a tourist bus. This is ostensibly for environmental reasons, which makes a lot of sense, because there is a solitary tarmac road heading up the mountain and one can envisage it being grid-locked with cars. The tourist bus, wound it's way up through the lushly forested hillside and tea plantations which remind us of our time in southern India.

The road ran out at a small village, with a cluster of shops, hotels and restaurants and we had a couple of hours of daylight left to explore. Our hotel was back to basics again and rather dank after the luxury of Xi'an, but the clear mountain air more than made up for that. Just off the end of the road, we found a tunnel through the rock that ended at a dance-floor sized viewing platform that looks westwards over the valley, but surrounded by a horse-shoe shaped amphitheatre of jagged peaks. We stopped and watched the sun go down here and it was a truly beautiful spot, with only the occasional group of noisy locals coming in to spoil the peace.

Half an hour later, we realised why the platform was dance-floor shaped. A group of older Chinese people arrived with a babble of excitement. As the sun finally disappeared behind the mountain peaks extinguishing the light, the far wall was lit up with bulbs, giving the rock-face a turquoise and flame coloured hue. They set a ghetto-blaster down, switched on some traditional Chinese folk music and proceeded to tango gracefully around our viewing platform. We stood quietly in the shadows, hoping we wouldn't be asked to join in - this surely was one of those surreal experiences that makes travelling so memorable!

The Last Tango in Wudang

We rose bright and early the next day to make sure we got to enjoy our one full day in this place. Not only is it spectacularly beautiful, but it is the home of Tai Chi and one of the holies places for the Taoist religion and pilgrims come from all over China to climb to the summit. Our plan was to follow suit. The peak is at a little over 1,600 metres, which we didn't think sounded much, but because of the topography, the path rises up and down along steep concrete steps, so just when we thought we were making good progress, we would descend another 100 metres. It was also a hot, sunny day, but fortunately we were shaded most of the way by a dense canopy of trees, through which we occasionally saw amazing views.

The real treat though was the the succession of atmospheric old Taoist temples we came across as we walked, with wonderfully evocative names such as The Purple Heaven Palace, The Palace of Supreme Harmony, The First, Second and Third Heavenly Gate and the Ancient Bronze Hall and Golden Palace at the Heavenly Pillar Peak. One of the fundamental principles of the Taoist religion, is that of humanity and nature co-existing harmoniously and this felt most appropriate here. We barely spotted any non-Chinese people and though they were noisy and boisterous at times, it sort of added to the spirit here.

The Golden Palace at the summit was rammed with pilgrims and, though the views we're magnificent, we didn't linger for too long before starting our descent. We took our time coming down as we kept spotting exotic birds swooping through the treetops, including a pair of mating Stone Chats (or so we believe following subsequent investigation), who kept us entertained with their dancing displays for 20 minutes.

We stopped for a pot of tea on the way down at a little path-side stall and fell into conversation with two guys from the north east of China, one of whom spoke very good English. One of the difficulties in China can be having any meaningful conversation with local people, so it was nice to have 15 minutes talking with them.

Wudang Shan was our most enjoyable stop in China so far and we were both enchanted by the place, even if the full day hiking had stretched us physically. It is difficult to do justice to the beauty and atmosphere of the place with photographs, but hopefully these will give some smal impression.

 

A bonsai tree at our hotel in Wudang Shan

The end of the road and the start of the hiking trails to the Heavenly Pillar Peak

One of the many great views on the way to the way up

The path passes the Taoist Langmei Shrine

One of the steep bits (and no, that isn't Sue in the sedan chair)...

...and then a REALLY steep bit

The custodian of The Second Heavenly Gate

Looking down from the summit onto the Ancient Bronze Hall

Some locally grown herbal remedies for which the mountain is famous (anything for lactic acid build up?

Chinese translations can make the prosaic sound poetic!

And finally...canine conversations!

 

Travels with Archie

Archie is to be, probably, our most important travel companion for the 45 day trip from Xi'an to Bangkok. If you wonder why we didn't mention him when we introduced everyone on our last post, it is because he is a 30 foot long converted refrigeration truck. But we will be getting to know him rather well over the coming weeks, so we thought an introduction was warranted.

First off, it has to be admitted that Archie is one beaten, battered, hulk of a converted refrigeration truck. Made with sheets of steel crudely riveted together to withstand the most rutted of roads, he looks like he has dealt with some rough ones in his time. His lurid orange, black and white livery is dulled by the dust of the road, but still makes him stand out from the rest of the traffic like an old punk-rocker striding through gentile suburban streets, whilst simultaneously hiding his rusting body-work. This impression is bolstered by the great bumper grilles at the front, surmounted with a bull's skull and horns (apparently a relic of a recent journey through the Gobi Dessert) and, strapped to the rear, 4 hulking four foot diameter spare tyres and a cage filled with spare parts and accessories.

Even in these early stages of our journey, we can see that Archie turns heads like a long-legged blonde passing a building site: workers in the fields go into open-mouthed suspended animation, as if they have just spotted a UFO; service stations empty to find out what has arrived and everyone smiles and waves. Earlier, a car started to overtake us, then held level, before a grinning head popped out through the sun roof and started to take pictures. A short time later we were stopped by a policeman: he walked slowly around us, carefully inspecting every detail, then back at the front, he pulled out an I-phone and proceeded to take pictures of himself with an 'Archie backdrop'.

On board, old coach seats have been bolted into the chassis: 5 'bad-boy seats' in a row at the back; followed by the 'social seats' (2 sets of 4 facing one another across a table, just waiting for a card-school); then 3 forward facing pairs before the cockpit (with 2 throne seats, a man-sized steering wheel and the most basic of consoles) which gladiatorially faces the road through a vast expanse of, occasionally stone chipped, windscreen.

In the middle, the seats are punctuated by two large cold-boxes, liberally filled with beers, soft-drinks, fruit and other perishables, ensuring that Archie retains at least an element of his former life. The interior roof is adorned with flags of the various countries he has vanquished; loud-speakers that allows I-pod music to be pumped through; travel-themed quotes from various wits and sages and webbed racking that gives it the vague feeling of a troop-carrier. Between the cockpit and seating, a half wall is pinned with maps, timetables and truck duty rotas (in recognition of her talents in this area, Sue has been assigned to scrubbing the floor for the first week).

Which leaves us with the most important component of all, being 13 passengers and 3 guides / drivers / mechanics, reading, slumbering and watching the world go by as we meander our way south-westwards through China. More of that journey to come, but in the meantime here are some pictures of Archie and his many admirers!

Here's Archie!

Archie turning heads - well one anyway!

Drawing a crowd

Even the cows are curious.