Thursday, October 2, 2014.
After crashing at the hotel the first night, we woke up ready for new adventures. Breakfast was a quiet affair, with more or less the same food as the night before. Mom was lucky enough to get some coffee off the tour guide, but I had to hold out for soda :(
Our first stop of the day was the Dragon Valley Pool Scenic Area, a beautiful park consisting of a series of cascading waterfalls and pools moving down the mountainsides. We were so proud, we actually made it up about 5 waterfall layers! (Quite the hike, let me tell you). But it was not quite as intense as the stairs the day before, so it ended up pretty nice. The waterside is covered with massive boulders and volcanic rocks that form this seam. The waterfalls and riverbeds are created by the shifting weight of the earth in this largely unstable volcanic area. The result is a stunning display.
Sadly, you can tell how bad the southern drought is here in Henan by how little water was actually flowing. Nonetheless, it was enough for a gorgeous hike, and the greenness of nature was a refreshing breath after living in the city for a while.
After leaving there, we stopped by a tiny roadside restaurant, that served us chicken heads and feet, rabbit heads, and slightly sick stomachs. Outside, several merchants pulled up in their carts hoping to sell to the foreigners. One of the children in our group kept running off with little trinkets, trying to hide them from her mom who wasn't wanting to pay. The mom was half terrified it would end in the arrest of an adorable, two year old, budding pick-pocket.
From there we embarked on yet another hither, thither, and yon trip in various circles as we sought out our next stop (the Jade Market in Nanyang). In one little town, we hit quite the predicament. Some brilliant individual decided to dump a dumptruck of gravel right in a pile in the middle of the main street. It was already a one-horse type of road, and with our bus's big rear-end trying to forge through, we ended up with an entire town coming out to watch us navigate it. Overcoming that small obstacle, we began barrelling down the road again (as only Chinese bus drivers can). Only to run into a real one-lane road (the other land had work trucks lining it) with no way out and a semi coming head on. Backing up fast-paced ran us into cars behind us also racing to back up and the Semi refusing to slow down. We moved out of the way only for cars to start going around us and creating a 4-way problem in a one lane road. Basically, our tour guide had to get out and protect the bus with his body while forging a way.
On we went, cruising through stunning mountains and beautiful valleys, until we reached the massive city of Nanyang. There we stopped by the Jade Market, a huge thing consisting of a thousand markets and stalls. Selling everything from jade necklaces to bloodstone rings to the leftover pieces of jade rock to entire rocks. It was honestly a little overwhelming. This market is where buyers come from all over the world to buy up large collections of jade for resale in their stores. Never seen so many jade bangles and buddha trinkets!
Leaving the market, we headed for the 3*** hotel. 0_0 no words. This Fashion hotel was about 45 years behind in fashion and 60 years behind in a good cleaning. Probably didn't help that I counted 2 sex stores on the same block. People asking for clean sheets got unchanged pillow cases and dirtier sheets. It was so bad, many just refused to eat there and headed for street food (including the people who just don't do that). We washed the table off, and still didn't want to eat. One guy started sterilizing our silverware and dishes. It was BAD. Next morning, nobody ate there for breakfast. People got up extra early and for the first and only time on the trip, we booked it out of there on time. Thankfully, Mom and I dined sumptuously on moon pies and coke from the local convenience store :)
After crashing at the hotel the first night, we woke up ready for new adventures. Breakfast was a quiet affair, with more or less the same food as the night before. Mom was lucky enough to get some coffee off the tour guide, but I had to hold out for soda :(
Our first stop of the day was the Dragon Valley Pool Scenic Area, a beautiful park consisting of a series of cascading waterfalls and pools moving down the mountainsides. We were so proud, we actually made it up about 5 waterfall layers! (Quite the hike, let me tell you). But it was not quite as intense as the stairs the day before, so it ended up pretty nice. The waterside is covered with massive boulders and volcanic rocks that form this seam. The waterfalls and riverbeds are created by the shifting weight of the earth in this largely unstable volcanic area. The result is a stunning display.
Sadly, you can tell how bad the southern drought is here in Henan by how little water was actually flowing. Nonetheless, it was enough for a gorgeous hike, and the greenness of nature was a refreshing breath after living in the city for a while.
After leaving there, we stopped by a tiny roadside restaurant, that served us chicken heads and feet, rabbit heads, and slightly sick stomachs. Outside, several merchants pulled up in their carts hoping to sell to the foreigners. One of the children in our group kept running off with little trinkets, trying to hide them from her mom who wasn't wanting to pay. The mom was half terrified it would end in the arrest of an adorable, two year old, budding pick-pocket.
From there we embarked on yet another hither, thither, and yon trip in various circles as we sought out our next stop (the Jade Market in Nanyang). In one little town, we hit quite the predicament. Some brilliant individual decided to dump a dumptruck of gravel right in a pile in the middle of the main street. It was already a one-horse type of road, and with our bus's big rear-end trying to forge through, we ended up with an entire town coming out to watch us navigate it. Overcoming that small obstacle, we began barrelling down the road again (as only Chinese bus drivers can). Only to run into a real one-lane road (the other land had work trucks lining it) with no way out and a semi coming head on. Backing up fast-paced ran us into cars behind us also racing to back up and the Semi refusing to slow down. We moved out of the way only for cars to start going around us and creating a 4-way problem in a one lane road. Basically, our tour guide had to get out and protect the bus with his body while forging a way.
On we went, cruising through stunning mountains and beautiful valleys, until we reached the massive city of Nanyang. There we stopped by the Jade Market, a huge thing consisting of a thousand markets and stalls. Selling everything from jade necklaces to bloodstone rings to the leftover pieces of jade rock to entire rocks. It was honestly a little overwhelming. This market is where buyers come from all over the world to buy up large collections of jade for resale in their stores. Never seen so many jade bangles and buddha trinkets!
Leaving the market, we headed for the 3*** hotel. 0_0 no words. This Fashion hotel was about 45 years behind in fashion and 60 years behind in a good cleaning. Probably didn't help that I counted 2 sex stores on the same block. People asking for clean sheets got unchanged pillow cases and dirtier sheets. It was so bad, many just refused to eat there and headed for street food (including the people who just don't do that). We washed the table off, and still didn't want to eat. One guy started sterilizing our silverware and dishes. It was BAD. Next morning, nobody ate there for breakfast. People got up extra early and for the first and only time on the trip, we booked it out of there on time. Thankfully, Mom and I dined sumptuously on moon pies and coke from the local convenience store :)