Black Dragon Pools - Heilongtan
Trip Start
Jul 2008
1
10
23
Trip End
Sep 2008
Heilongtan, China
Friday, August 8, 2008
I try to hang back and stay out of view, because once seen, the price will be tripled or more. The Westerner is seen as a giant money bag and all sorts of scheming is done to lure tourists in with massive prices. ShuXin's father organises a taxi to take us directly there and paid the driver extra so he would not stop and pick other up on the way. We are off into the hills.
We pass the waterpark we went swimming at a few days ago and then past a large temple complex of sorts was pointed out to me. Apparently is is fairly new. We pass through the small town at the base of the Miyun dam wall. Next we climbed into the wonderful hills. A mountain to our left has had a giant painting of the Beijing Olympic logo on it. It is huge. We then pass through a couple of small villages as we drive around the lake. The remnants of the Great Wall still stand on the hills above us, giving a timeless quality to the region. Soon we leave the Miyun Reservoir and head up the river that feeds it and soon arrive at Heilongtan.
It is an amazing place. The Great Wall winds down and crosses the river valley here and the valley we are about to walk up is a small off shoot from the main river valley we drove up. We pay the admission charge and start out way in. An elevated walkway has been placed along the side of a cliff as we skirt around the steep sided canyon. Below us is a beautiful lake.
We soon round a corner and the canyon closes into a very narrow gorge above a waterfall. Above this waterfall, the valley opens up a little and we hit the first of many rest area shops. Despite being a National Park, the Chinese have commercialised it greatly. We climbed higher into the valley, walking through a strange tunnel of sorts made from branches. I am not sure of it's purpose but I expect it is just to look nice.
Next we arrive at the second waterfall, there is a dammed up pool at the base of it and rubber rafts are available for hire. So the girls take their chances paddling about while their father chats to the proprietor. I decided to go in a raft myself and have some fun despite my reservations about this man made aspect placed on a nature zone. Above our heads is an inscription carved into the rock wall beside the waterfall. That is also a common aspect to the Chinese view of nature with a need to add poetic graffiti to everything they can.
The climb to get to the top of this waterfall turned out to be an unexpected surprise. The track left the valley up a side gully and the went up steeply. Above us, a giant piece of rock has broken away from the canyon side and now covered the gully forming a cave. We climbed higher up into the darkness from the broad open mouth of the cave until we got to a tiny little hole at the top. A ladder was formed out of angle iron and one at a time we climbed back out into daylight. Something the girls were happy to do, being fearful of the heights combined with the dark.
The valley wall closed in again as we crossed ornate stone bridges and stepped across stepping stones. Various stall holders tried to sell us various drinks being kept cool by the creeks flowing waters. Watermelons were plentiful too but we passed by with our own well stocked lunch in our bags. It still astounded me how the people clambered to bring the stock all the way to these places and I could justify the increased asking price at the stalls.
Eventually we reached the head of the valley. It was steep and bare stone was carved into a narrow ravine. Here everyone is expected to get into homemade rafts made from tyre innertubes with a plywood bottom. Then you are to paddle further into the ravine, on the Black Dragon's Pool who is supposed to live in the deep water below. The girls quickly get into a raft for themselves, I grab a second one but because of ShuXin's fathers fear of water, a guide hops into his raft. It is only a short paddle around the corner from where we start and we have to cross a shallow narrow spot before coming to the final waterfall.
The girls are in heaven, having lots of fun. There place is crowded as it is only a small area and many rafts try to cram into the same space. I paddle about with my home made wooden paddle, taking photos and enjoying the weird chaos that was present. After half an hour or so, ShuXin's dad and I left to head back. The girls took their time. I crossed over the creek up to get more pictures and look down onto the site. There is another path heading further up but it has been blocked off with sticks and branches.
Eventually the girls return and we have a picnic lunch before start our descent. The track back down goes be a different route, staying high along the ridge before descending into the valley floor only when it widens out. We then circle around the lake on a path clinging to the opposite side of the canyon's steep sides until we finally get back out on to road we travelled in on.
Now it was time more me to hide while a taxi was organised but it turned out we could not get an exclusive van. So we end up setting off with 9 people in the vehicle and we stop a few times on the way back to pick up and drop off other passengers. It added alot to the time needed to get back home but I enjoyed the different view to Chinese life that it gave me. We eventually got back to Miyun, had dinner then everyone rushed home to watch the Opening Ceremony. What an incredible day!
