Week 8 (Part One) - Goin' South

Pretty nice!

Thanks to the generosity of the University and the people within the Marine Science Department, I was afforded time to travel around this country and also have significant costs covered while doing so. I planned a whirlwind trip that would take me to 3 new cities, cover nearly 4000km spreading 1700km+from North to South (equivalent to Boston to Jacksonville, roughly). The trip was planned very carefully, with many factors contributing to the timing of transportation transfers and such.

First, I would travel south, 3 hours by fast train, to Fujian province to the city of Wu Yi, home of Wu Yi Mountain and the surrounding World Heritage area. Once again in the hub that is Hongqaio Railway Station in Shanghai, I saw many people peddling kids toys, probably illegally. These toys had all the stimulus any child could need: lights, sound, movement, all at once. Amazingly, I saw one lady sell 4 within the hour that Jie, my southward leg companion, and I ate lunch. A quick 100RMB. I guess it pays well! The trip south by rail was noticeably different from the trip north. There were steep mountain ranges and rivers that flowed from them along the way. Such moisture allowed the growth of dense forests, rife with bamboo. With more mountains, came way more tunnels. Why go up or around a mountain when you can just go through it? I should also mention, in advance, that the trip back revealed that these big metropolitan areas in the south were not lit up like Christmas trees at night, instead, you would have barely believed the amount of housing existed at all. I found this to be very curious.

Nice jacks! Need replacements, though.

Upon arrival at Wu Yi, we were approached by a taxi driver attempting to solicit his services. Not speaking the language, the interaction seemed very suspicious. This is how human trafficking happens, I thought. Get in my cab, let’s go! It turns out that Jie was negotiating the price. The cabbie wanted to impose a flat rate for any destination and Jie wanted to let the meter run. The cabbie accepted our terms and took us to our hotel for nearly the same price as he initially asked for, in the end. Our hotel room was located near the center of a village/town at the foot of a steep cliff. I was really impressed by this hotel’s appearance. It had a remarkable garden and the grounds were beautiful. It was a great find by Jie. That night, for dinner, we saw many small bats as wandered across the river into the town, which was pretty busy and had the local cuisine: Fish endemic to that one river. It was a pretty tasty (albeit spicy) whitefish. The province is also known for its tea. This was very apparent, with tea shops everywhere. Tea, tea china, and tea furniture could be seen on every block. Also, tea bushes were everywhere. The tea at the restaurant was definitely the best I’ve ever had. (Sidenote: China. You are a very hot country in the summer. Why do you demand to eat and drink things that are even hotter during this time? It’s madness). WuYi also provided some raw instances of China. Five people on a small scooter, a truck parked facing the wrong way in the middle of a 6-lane highway, two separate instances of very public urination by seemingly-sober individuals.

Pretty good!

The next morning, Jie and I headed out: we were going to go rafting through the Wu Yi mountains. We quickly learned that the tickets for the time we initially wanted to go were sold out and that the only way to guarantee such an activity would be to purchase a total park pass for the day, which doubled the cost. It would also require some hustle in hiking a very famous peak, so that we would be able to catch the bus to the rafting area on time. We decided to chance it and doled out the extra cash. A short caravan ride later, we were at the trail to Heavenly Mountain. After following the path for a short while, we came upon the staircase to the top. Along with the rest of China. It was (supposed to be) a one-way staircase, about 2.5 people wide to the top, with semi-frequent overlooks that allowed for traffic to flow more freely. I made frequent use of the handrail, as the drop from the stairs was no joke and the jostling was fairly constant. It was also very sunny and very hot and Jie and I took our packs, because we believed we might not return to the hotel (this was a poor assumption, and in hindsight, was an unnecessary burden – but it makes the story better). When we got to the end of the stairs, there was a more expansive overlook, with multiple vendors and a temple waiting for us. The hardest part of the hike was from this area, which I had initially presumed to be the summit, and the actual summit 300 meters away. I was not mentally prepared for this extra ascent, but completed it without much trouble. The descending trail was a staircase along the back of the mountain, in the shade of the forest. By the end of the hike, Jie and I were drenched from the heat, but we had made excellent time and easily caught a bus to the rafting site and even caught (an overpriced, tourist-area) lunch.

We're being followed....

From there, it was onto the bamboo rafts. We arrival a little early and loitered a bit before it became apparent that we should join the line early. The crowd of people swelled at the door and tightly pushed through when the doors were opened. From there, Jie and I were assigned 4 other travelers to complete a full boat roster and followed the crowd to a Disney-type switchback line that seemed to go on forever. When we were finally spit out, there were endless amounts of rafts. We boarded ours and pushed off, along with everyone else, and headed down the 1-5ft deep stream through the mountain range in an endless line of rafts. Our raft, like the others, was powered and steered by two guides with long, skinny bamboo poles. The raft was outfitted with 6 bamboo chairs and was surprisingly super-buoyant, only suffering minor spillover during the gentle rapids we encountered. The views were incredible and constant, while the ride was so relaxing that Jie caught some shuteye for a decent stretch of it. Our raft was faster than others, as our guides took no break for the near-2 hour duration of the trip and were also a little peeved than the boat didn’t want to shill the extra 20RMB/person to hear about the region during the trip. No issue for us, as we had a 40 minute fast train south to catch to Jie’s hometown of Nanping.

Location, location, location

Jie’s parents picked us up from the station and drove straight to my hotel. It was China’s National Army Day, and Jie’s father and grandfather both served as army personnel. I was also to stay in an army-affiliated hotel, though I would admit, it was very much a typical hotel. The drive from the station to the heart of the station was really something to behold. The terrain is unsuitable for a local airport, but very suitable for your viewing pleasure. Situated in a location where two rivers merge into one, the city’s downtown area is densely packed on the banks of the water, with steep mountains preventing any sprawl. Multiple bridges span the water, including a foot bridge, connecting the two sides. After a much-needed shower, it was time for dinner. Dinner, in the restaurant within the hotel (a realllly common thing, and the restaurants are good, too), also happened to be with most of Jie’s family. I counted 4 generations of Caos. I ate bamboo (very good) and coagulated pork blood (like a pudding brick, but not great) and other delicious food and a good time was had by all.

Even during the uncommon dryness, still plenty of water

The next day, Jie took me to his version of Acadia National Park, Xiyuan Canyon. A truly remarkable place, the area claimed to has 95% forest cover and over 12,000 species. There is one single-lane road, running concurrent with a vibrant stream, that supports two-way traffic that runs through the canyon to the small village on the other side. There are places for tourists and children alike along this road and views of the steep, forested side of the gorge that included obvious spots were powerful waterfalls frequently run, just not after such a dry period that happened to include my visit. Once through the gorge, I found myself in a large valley, still surrounded by steep, forested mountains. We made our way to the other end of this valley, in search of a trail up one of these mountains, but found the trail to be closed for repairs. I was not terribly sad, the two-hour canyon hike was plenty for me, as the kilometers were starting to add up on my legs.

Looking back at the canyon/gorge

After the hike, we wandered around the streets of the city for a bit before heading to Jie’s family apartment for a brief rest before we were on the fast rail northbound. It was about this time where we started to realize that my journey back to my SHOU hotel room would be one of incredibly tight scheduling. It required a lot of hustle. Things were looking good, with the train arriving 2 minutes early to nearly every station, including the 2^nd to last, but then we arrived at the terminal station 10 minutes later than expected somehow, further crunching my time. We ran way ahead of the crowd as soon as the doors opened and, after a brief difficulty with my ticket not being immediately read by the turnstile exit, fled to the metro station and caught a train 5 minutes after leaving the fast train. Good time. We figured that I would have a minimum of 5 minutes to make my final transfer and catch the last train back to Lingang and man, that was the case. Running with what I would guess were other SHOU residents, I just missed a train, but it turned out to be the penultimate run, thankfully. After some confusion whether the final train to pull in was indeed headed the direction I desired, I hopped on and finally rested my nerves.