My Very First Blog

I really do not know the Chinese name of this cave we visited in Yangshuo but Jam told me it's called Ju Long Tan. Translated to English, it means Assembling Dragon Cave, but it also goes by the name Dragon Pool.

Having passed by Moon Hill without even a stop for us to take photos, our tour bus reached Ju Long Tan, our fourth destination on the tour's itinerary. Actually, this place is located 6km south of Yangshuo County between The Big Banyan Tree and Moon Hill. So we actually went from Banyan Tree to Moon Hill, then made a U turn to Ju Long Tan.

Our tour guide told us that our fifth and final destination, Exotic Stone Palace was located just next to Ju Long Tan so this would actually be our last stop.



This tall structure with sculpture of dragons climbing up the pole to reach the pearl greeted us at the entrance. We were asked to have our photos taken for free with this structure in the background.

So I happily went to have my picture taken, but guess what? After we came out of the Ju Long Tan cave, we were asked to pay (I could not remember how much) for our photos! Free my foot! Jam, his friend and I refused to pay. Why should we? I could easily ask Jam to take my photo standing beside that dragon structure for free! In fact, we could easily take each other's picture so there's no reason to pay somebody to take our photos for us!

I also snapped a picture of this building on top of that flight of stairs. Wonder what do the Chinese words mean? Can you help me out here, Jam?



I just thought the plants cut in the shape of love at the middle of the stairs were pretty interesting.

Following the tour guide, we reached a nice looking gazebo with roof shaped like pagodas by the pond.



I thought the gazebo really stood out!



We soon reached the entrance of the cave. The interesting part about this Ju Long Tan is that you need to enter by way of a boat! This is because it is surrounded by water!



I do not really know why it is called Assembling Dragon Cave. Perhaps the grotesque peaks outside the cave are like dragons jumping over the clouds. Or the varied appearance of stalactites in the cave are like teasing water dragons.

I took a picture of the stalactites above my head as I sat in the boat.



Once we reached inside, we got out of the boat and beautiful sights greeted us!



There was a lot of water all around and the reflection of those stalactites on the water was mesmerizing. Of course the colourful lightings helped to bring out the beauty of this cave and transformed it into some sort of wonderful fairyland.



I have to admit taking photos in this dark cave was a huge challenge and many of the photos I took had to be deleted.







There were actually many names for all the different rock formations. Among them were Dragon Daughter Meeting Guests, Peach Banquet, Concubine Bathing, Peacock Show, Bright Moon Above The Sea, Inverted Snowdrops and A Phoenix Drinking Dewdrops just to name a few.

I did not bother as after seeing so many different names, I was not even interested any more!

But I did capture Bright Moon Above The Sea, which was that last photo in my previous post on Moon Hill.



Didn't quite look like a moon to me, but well it was just a name given to a hole in the wall!

Now, what does this look like to you?



Rather ugly looking, no? In fact, without the colourful lights, all these stalactites and stalagmites would seem pretty ugly. Or maybe I just do not know how to appreciate them!

Oh, here's another hideous one!



Does it look like a scene from the movie "Aliens"? Haha!

OK, I guess this one was not that bad!



Can you make out those words? I think it's Wonders In Stone Forest, or something like that!

After spending about 40 minutes touring the cave, we queued up for the boat to take us out. Near the exit, we alighted from the boat and saw these two signboards on the wall.





We were about to touch a dragon! Well, if touching a dragon's head can make me rich, why not? And if touching the dragon's behind can ensure good health for me, why not?

Of course, it's not a real dragon. Because real dragons do not exist except in old, ancient Chinese folklores! Maybe the Chinese stumbled upon skeletons and bones of dinosaurs and assumed they were dragons!



We walked down that flight of stairs, touching the dragon from its tail end all the way to its head! Now that was fun! If I get rich in a few months time, I will let you all know! Haha!

After exiting from Ju Long Tan, we entered the Exotic Stone Palace next door. I did not take any photos here as I did not stay long. There were all types of stones and souvenirs being sold here. It is a place where the tour guide makes lots of commission from our purchases and I don't intend to buy anything!

With the tour ended, we went back up the tour bus which would take us to our hostel in Yangshuo.

And so, here's the million dollar question - Did we pay the tour company? To know the answer to that, don't miss my next post coming right up!

After seeing the amazing Big Banyan Tree in Yangshuo, we moved on to our next destination which was Moon Hill.

It was not very far away from the Big Banyan Tree, but surprisingly we did not stop there. Instead, as our tour bus approached Moon Hill, the tour guide just pointed and we craned our necks to look up to where she pointed.

I did not take any photos as it's difficult to take decent photos on a moving bus. So here are two nice photos I found online.


Photo courtesy of China Odyssey Tours

Does that hole in the hill look like a moon? That's why it's called Moon Hill!


Photo courtesy of China Odyssey Tours

The moon acts as a natural viewfinder up close. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to view it from up close. That's because the tour bus did not even stop there for us to take some photos! This is one of the five places we were supposed to visit according to the tour's itinerary. So what the heck is this? Just passing by like "Touch and Go"?

In fact, it was worse - we did not even get to touch the Moon Hill! It was more like "Look and Go". I think "SmartTAG" is more like it! Haha!

I guess time was limited and the tour guide saw it fit to skip Moon Hill and proceed to the next destination. Well, that may be convenient to her but I felt kind of cheated. This is undoubtedly another good reason not to pay the tour company!

Luckily, we managed to see another "moon" later in the next destination. This moon was actually inside a cave!



Well, I shall blog about that in my next post, so stay tuned!

After visiting the Jian Shan Temple, the tour bus brought us to our next destination which was The Big Banyan Tree, or Da Rong Shu in Mandarin.

Located by the west bank of Jinbao River in the Moon Hill scenic area, about 7 km south of Yangshuo, it was a major tourist attraction in Yangshuo County.

When I first heard about this Big Banyan Tree, I was like, what? We are going to travel all the way to look at a tree? Are you kidding me?

But it was no ordinary tree! Take a look!



Standing at about 17 metres high and measuring about 7 metres in diameter around the trunk, the tree was an amazing sight! Can you see those beautifully twisted roots and thick, gnarled branches?



I walked round the huge tree to take photos. Did you know that the whole tree covered an amazing 1,000 square metres?

First planted during the Sui Dynasty (581 - 618), the tree had survived wind and rain for over 1,400 years! Looking closely, I could see the stems and branches were very old and I could not imagine it had endured the ravages of nature for centuries!



I found that the tree provided a good shelter from the hot weather and the burning sun. With its thick branches and lush leaves stretching out, the sun could hardly penetrate through. It felt really good standing under the tree!

This Big Banyan Tree became a major tourist attraction after a scene from the famous old movie "The Third Sister Liu" (or "Liu Sanjie" in Mandarin) was filmed here. I have to admit I have not seen the movie before so I did not know the exact spot where the title character Liu Sanjie expressed her affection to her lover.

But I did see the very famous "Impression Liu Sanjie" live show during our stay in Yangshuo and I can tell you it was almost as amazing as the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony! I shall blog about this show in future!

Besides the Big Banyan Tree, I took some photos of the surrounding area. It was actually quite beautiful, with a lot of hills all around.





But there were also quite a lot of tourists!



Along the Jinbao River, there were people rafting.



I felt like crossing the river to the opposite side to explore the cave-like structure, but it was not on our tour's itinerary and with limited time, we had to move on.



Coming up next : Moon Hill and Dragon Pool

The first place we visited in Yangshuo was Jian Shan Temple.



It is reputed to be the oldest and largest temple in Guangxi Province. Originally built in the year 713, it was destroyed during the war in 1961. The local government then had it rebuilt in 1995 in the typical architectural style of Tang Dynasty.

I did not follow the tour guide around as she explained in detail about the history of the place. Besides, she was speaking in Mandarin which I hardly understand. So I just walked around the temple taking pictures.

Look at these interesting structures! Do you know what they are for?





I also saw some pretty interesting sculptures on the roof.



Now are these horses or dragons?



From where I stood, I could see some statues at the top of the stairs.



I climbed the stairs and found more statues there.













The views around the temple were nice. I found the temple to be clean and peaceful. I saw tall figures of Buddha inside the main hall of the temple but I was not sure if it's a good idea to take photos. So I decided not to take any photos of the interior but just focused on the scenery outside the temple building.











It was said that the famous great monk in China called Jianzhen who helped propagate Buddhism in Japan, had been to this temple before.



I like the green hill in the background of this photo below.



I was glad to be able to visit this temple but we were given only a short time here as we had four other places to go after this.

The tour guide did not seem too pleased with some tourists for returning to the tour bus late. All the more reason for us not to pay the tour company! What kind of attitude was that? But if you want to know if we ended up paying them or not, you would just have to be a bit more patient as I cannot reveal just yet!

Next, we headed to Big Banyan Tree which I shall blog about in my next post coming right up.