Day 5 - TianYan Scenic Area

We left the hotel at 0830. It will take about an hour to reach The Rainbow Bridge at the TianYan Scenic Area. "Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen. Today's weather forecast is between 2°C to 8°C at the foothill. It will be colder at the top. In Wudang Mountain, the forecast is between 6°C to 10°C,"  began the familiar sound of Ms Helena as we strapped in our seat belts.

View from Hotel

The journey was spectacular. Giddy with childish excitement, we oohed and aahed unabashedly as we feast our eyes upon a snowy white landscape.

Amused by our excited jabbering, the good driver announced that he will drop us for a photo shoot at a good location along the route.

We spotted several white goats as we left the above photo shoot location.

Ms Helena and the driver concluded that we were a lucky group because the white goat had made a rare appearance.

ENTRANCE TO THE RAINBOW BRIDGE We were repeatedly reminded that the ShenNongJia Entry Card issued yesterday will be required for today's visit to the Rainbow Bridge. However, Ms Jessica had left her entry card at a secure corner of her luggage which was now in the belly of the coach. While we piled out of the vehicle to have our middle finger and cards scanned at the entrance, the stowaway was covertly driven inside the coach, past the entrance, with the curtains drawn.

Finger and card scanner on left of picture

When we rejoined her in the coach after the scanning exercise, we were excited by the success of the cloak and dagger operation. Her beaming eyes belied the agitation she must have felt.

RAINBOW BRIDGE As it was snowing, we were advised not to climb up the slippery path to the rainbow bridge. Had we walked up the steps on a bright sunny day, the rainbow bridge would have appeared to us like the picture below.

The public washroom was at the lower level of a building next to the parking lot. As it had been a long drive, we headed that way. As we walked across the parking lot towards the rainbow bridge from the washroom, someone mentioned that plastic boots were available at the shops across from us. (picture: right) The ground was wet and slippery and the plastic boots kept our shoes warm and dry.

View from the parking lot. Public washroom at the lower level of another building behind this camera.

View from parking lot

Parking lot on the right of the road above

Steps leading to the rainbow bridge.

Shops on the right selling plastic boots and local produce. Steps going up to the rainbow bridge are on the left of the road in above picture

Exit

LUNCH After lunch at the restaurant on the right, it was time for Xiao Wang to leave. As she was so pretty to look at, everyone was a little emotional and all wanted to have their pictures taken with her. As hugs and well wishes were exchanged, I wondered what Ms Helena thought of the entire charade.

Restaurant on right. Shops manned by the locals on the left.

The shopkeepers were closing up because no more tourists were expected on account of the bad weather. We bought some seasonal chestnuts for a song.

Ideal for warming bellies on a cold day.

SAVAGE VALLEY It was about 2°C when we left the restaurant for The Savage Valley which was an hour's drive away. Our coach dropped us at the Ticketing Office at the foot of a hill. We were the only tourist there. What followed was a 20 minutes drive up to higher ground in a little bus. We alighted from the little bus for a one-hour's trek down the valley. (We ended up using the better part of two hours to reach the bottom)

We were dizzy from the exhilarating experience of watching so many eye-catching waterfalls and listening to the gurgling water as they frolicked between the rocks. Down below, the group had halted in front of a dark opening. A little warning sign (picture: right) stood near the opening. Ms Helena barked into her phone, then looking at us said, "This is too dangerous. We must not continue." (She must have been pretty anxious to have forgotten to say "Good Afternoon" this time.)

Warning Sign - Dark opening towards the lower left hand side of picture. The bubbling stream in the picture flowed towards the left and down the rocks in a waterfall

A large boulder had fallen onto a zigzagging track between the rocks. A quick headcount suggested that the missing three from our group had gone through this path and are ahead of us somewhere below. I wondered if the Yeren had kidnapped them but wisely kept this to myself. We could not go back and leave the 3 missing ones behind. The only way out is forward. We entered the dark opening carefully, ensuring that each step found a secure footing before descending onto the next. It was drizzling so the track was wet and slippery. Add dark to the magic formula and you'd respect our disquietude.

After emerging from the zigzagging track and at a safe distance from the roaring waterfalls.

Sunlight embraced us as we left the darkness of the zigzagging track. The deafening roar on our immediate right came from two waterfalls laughing all the way downstream. I could not help thinking about a scene from The Last of The Mohican.  Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Uncas leading the Munro sisters into a dark cavern under a waterfall and the men's subsequent fall down the waterfall to escape from Magua. Although the waterfall aforesaid paled in comparison, this was still my Last-of-the-Mohican moment.

The zigzagging track did not look dangerous at all from this distance

It was an impasse at this point. The steps ahead ascended to a large cave. The track we were on turned right to descending steps leading to the trunk-like bridge below. (picture: right) Ms Helena barked into her phone. We were asked to return from where we came (meaning upstream once more) but the three amongst us was still missing. We descended the steps to the right and walked past the trunk-like bridge below.

Trunk-like bridge below a flight of stairs

Looking up from the trunk-like bridge. The steps that ascended to the large cave

Water cascading from the large cave previously mentioned.

We crossed two hanging bridges. (Picture: right) The first one was held together by strong cables and looked relatively new. Thin cables held the second hanging bridge together. A few missing screws on the planks along this bridge did not prevent some of us from monkeying around with the swinging planks and scaring the daylights out of poor ole me..

No one had warned us to remain silent while trekking down the valley so we'd forgotten all about the Yeren (Chinese Yeti) until his replica appeared suddenly on the left of our track. By this time, our three missing group members had been found. They had respected the "No Shouting" warning posts and walked briskly to the end of the trek where they sat waiting for the rest of us to catch up. Fortunately for them and us, the yeren had remained indoors because of the rain.

It was 1645 when we finally reached the foothill where our coach was parked. The sky was darkening even at this hour so we decided to skip the next part of the itinerary, which is a visit to the "Savage Cave". This decision was documented by a collective signed agreement from us. After a 3½ hours drive, we reached the restaurant at the foothill of Wudang. As a wedding banquet was held at the same restaurant on this night, one of our dish were fried buns clamped with the "Double Happiness" mark.

After the warm meal settled in our belly, we were driven to the hotel in WuDang. Men dressed in white kungfu garment swaggered at the lobby, some concluding the purchase of swords from a gift shop and others picking up more linen kungfu garment from a table at the lobby. (A pair consisting of the top and bottom cost RMB300. The top had the word "WuDang Mountain" embroidered.

An hour's free Tai Chi class would be conducted for all hotel guests on the following morning.

My fitness tracker read 8097 steps.