Yuntai Mountain

Day 2 (or Day 3 depending if you want to add in the train ride as Day 1) we were scheduled to travel to Yuntai Mountain. Now for a little information on Yuntai Mountain to set the scene for you. Yuntai Mountain is located near Jiaozuo and is about 70 kilometers away from Zhengzhou (Henan Province). It covers a total area of 240 square kilometers and has 11 major scenic spots. Yuntai Mountain is named after the clouds and fog around the peaks. In August 2007, Yuntai Mountain became a sister park of the Grand Canyon National Park in the United States and is China’s second government park affiliated with a foreign park. Some of the scenic spots; there is the Yuntai Tianpu Waterfall, the highest waterfall in Asia, and Red Stone Gorge, which is acknowledged as the most peculiar gorge in China, and the Tanpu Gorge, which is known as the most beautiful gorge in China. Fenglin Gorge integrates the beauty of mountains and the romantic charm of water, and is praised as the lake that is shared by humans and gods. Qinglong Gorge is another spot which is the biggest gorge in Yuntai.

This was the best part of the trip without question. The Yuntai Mountain area was H-U-G-E and we only got to see just a few parts of the area (and by a few, I mean two). This area is also called the Yellowstone Park of China (although affiliated with the Grand Canyon) due to the large number of gorges and rock formations in the area. We started at Red Stone Gorge and had about 2 hours to get around and head back. We first got off the bus and headed into the park where we had to get on another bus in order to go up the narrower roads towards our start point. It’s unfortunate because along the way there were many photo-worthy spots but you couldn’t get the camera out on the crowded bus and he wasn’t stopping until we reached the top. If the bus had pulled over just at 2 spots, it would’ve been so much better but it is what it is and we (by we I mean I) dealt with it. The weather was pretty good, although not a crystal clear day it was a little cool but it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t too “overcast”. The scenery was absolutely astounding as we started up near a dam and headed downward into the gorge area. This is where things really got interesting. Everyone obviously got in their 8 hours worth of sleep and was re-charged for a full day’s worth of walking. Everywhere a photo could be taken, there were people lined up for their photo shoot. People would basically look around, see a good area where they thought a photo could be taken and “beep-beep-zip-bang” off they went to try and get into that area for the photo. Keep in mind that this wasn’t exactly a wide open area; it’s a gorge so you have narrow, fenced paths to follow and so it wasn’t like there was a free-flow of people. You moved along at the pace of the people in front of you (and the people in front of them, and so on). As usual, I had my camera out and took a whole bunch of photos but a lot of my photos were of the landscape and the surroundings. For the Chinese, it wasn’t as much about the landscape as getting a photo of their friends and colleagues with the proper background (and sometimes by proper I mean with any background). It was crazy! They would barely look around to see what was there or notice the beauty of the area; it was all about the photos. For Steve and I, we were very popular this day to get photos with the kids from work. Some of them I didn’t even know but they would come over, stand by me and get a photo taken. It was strangely familiar. In one area, I gave my camera to someone else to get photos of me with a few of the kids but it turned out to be more than just that. After the first photo, here comes another one, then another one, then another and it went on for about 10 people. Then here comes a Chinese couple that aren’t with the company but they saw an opportunity and took it. Like I said it was strangely familiar. Steve and I were in a group of 8 girls and 3 boys so you’ll notice that in most of my photos I am surrounded by girls. I’d like to say that it was my animal magnetism, handsome American looks or charming personality but it was because they were forced to be around me (but in my mind I still choose to believe it’s the handsome part and don’t try to talk me out of it). When we were informed of our group membership (the large groups were subdivided into smaller more manageable groups), we were told it was because we could eat more. The women wouldn’t eat as much as men so we had a chance to “fatten up”. After seeing the girls eat, I am not so sure about that logic but I digress (and I’m sure you are saying “That is strangely familiar”). The biggest problem was the people behind you that would try and squeeze by when you stop to take a photo or enjoy the scenery. It wasn’t like I was the roadblock and once they made it past me that things opened up. Past me were more people, and more people and more people. Somehow this is the Chinese way, I want to be first even if I don’t know what that means. Some would lose their patience and start to tell us to “Hurry Up” or “Keep moving”. They weren’t getting anywhere fast by saying this, the line didn’t all of a sudden start moving because someone told it to. It’s no different than their driving, just before the light turns green, they are honking their horn at the car in front of them (even if that “car” is a lineup at more than a dozen cars in front of them). It was annoying but I didn’t let it bother me too much. What I thought was funny was that many of the best scenic areas for photos (narrow walkways across water) had signs indicating not to stop on the walkway. Yeah, like that was going to work (and it didn’t).

We were at Red Stone Gorge for about 2 hours then it was back to the buses to backtrack a little to get to the lunch area. The restaurants were all lined up along the route that the buses follow up the mountain, it was just a matter of which one you would eat at. Again, we stopped and everyone was leaving the bus like it was on fire and headed into the lunchroom. The food came fast and furious and the eating commenced at the same pace. The one most interesting thing about the meals in Henan was the bread that came with the meal. They gave us rolls that were very dense, kind of like a bagel, that were steamed. These rolls were very good and provided some “filling” for those Westerners that weren’t chowing down on all of the other stuff. Little did I know it but at this meal, the meat was donkey. I didn’t notice any difference in taste or texture so I ate it like it was beef. After the 10 minute “relaxed” lunch period, it was back on the bus to the next area we were to visit. Longfeng Gorge was the area. Interesting enough was that the gorges always were basically U-turns, you walked in one direction got to the end of the gorge and then headed back along another route so you always ended up back where you started. I picked up a map of the area and this place was absolutely huge so we saw maybe 10-15% of the area in the two ventures we took. After the gorge walk, we had some time before the bus left so we headed up the mountain to see the monkeys (rhesus macaques). This was a very long and steep stairway up to the monkey show. We only had about 45 minutes so we rushed up the steps. I’m not in great shape but I was able to manage the stairs better than the younger Chinese. There was one area where there were easily 150 steps at a ridiculous angle but if you wanted to see the monkey show you needed to go up those steps.

The monkey show was a guy with three monkeys. The monkeys had dog collars on that were tied to ropes held by the “trainer”. I started to take photos but had to walk away in disgust because these monkeys, although they may have been trained, obviously were not treated very well. The others watching had a great time but I didn’t and just took a short walk around to see the view from this area. I was able to see where they kept these monkeys and noticed a few other monkeys roaming free. There was a sign at the bottom of this area that indicated some monkeys were roaming free and not to feed them but immediately afterward I found a monkey sitting there eating what looked like a cinnamon roll or some kind of bread. That wasn’t really in their natural diet so I guessed they were fed by the locals. The locals were all crowded around taking photos. This was one of those times that I was hoping for a “when animals attack” kind of thing but it didn’t happen. Anyhow, the show ended and it was time to head back to the buses and leave the area.

We headed to Kaifeng to spend the night at another top-notch, 5-star hotel (yes, that is sarcascm). This place was worse than the first place but it had a shower (although the shower had only a curtain, no basin to catch the water. There was a drain and a shower curtain that was about 18” too short to hit the ground so when you took a shower, the entire bathroom floor got wet) and a bed (rock hard, just like I like it….sarcasm again). It was cheap and we weren’t on the street so it served the purpose. We weren’t spending a lot of time there so it really didn’t matter much. It was a good day and the mountain was very nice. Many of the Chinese didn’t like it because they never climbed the mountain. I thought that was an interesting thing to say. When we asked what they liked the best it was Shaolin Temple. The Longmen Grottoes was very old but they didn’t like it and since they didn’t get to climb the mountain, Yuntai Mountain lost points. Steve and I had a different scoring system so it goes to show how perceptions are “built in” for some things. We thought Shaolin Temple (the portions that we saw, we left with still more to see that might have changed out perception) was shallow and a contrived tourist trap. The Longmen Grottoes was interesting and disappointing at the same time, interesting to see all of the caves (again, we didn’t see everything due to time constraints) but disappointing due to the damage done for whatever reason. Yuntai Mountain was better due to the fact that we able to see some different scenery that we might not have seen otherwise and just the gorges alone made the trip worthwhile.

Next post will be the final day on the trip and then we’ll move into Beijing or perhaps Warren will enlighten us on his trip to Japan. Photos have been added so click on the photos link for just a few images from Yuntai Mountain.