Why I never reached Jiuzhaigou (and what I did instead) - Part II -

4. The sights of Jianmen Guan mountain pass

Because the bad weather and subsequent blocking of the roads had stopped me from going to Jiuzhaigou (see first installment of this story) I decided to stay in the city of Guangyuan, Sichuan (广元，四川) for a couple of days to discover what kinds of sights this place had to offer. And since Guangyuan is trying very hard to earn a place on Sichuan's tourist map, it wasn't very difficult to find a list of places of interest. In fact, I had already picked such a leaflet up in one of the tourist information centers the day before and now took it out again from the bottom of my backpack. Because I was not able to enjoy Juizhaigou's natural beauty as once was planned, I decided to compensate this by selecting a nice woody area from the overview brochure; Jianmen Guan mountain pass (剑门关)

Jianmen Guan is a scenic valley amidst one of the forested mountain areas in the vicinity of Guangyuan. The pass actually is a chain of small scenic spots, comprising of temples, bridges, waterfalls, small towns, which are all linked by a rapidly-flowing stream that courses down the valley. The place is fairly easy to reach from Guangyuan. You first have to go to the regional bus station called Nanhe Qichezhan (南河汽车站) which, by the way, is located at other side of the town than the long distance bus station and train station. From there you can buy a ticket to Jianmen for about 15RMB. You have to board the bus bound for the mountain town of Pu'an (普安) and get off at the bottom of Jianmen valley, which you'll reach after a bus journey of about 75 minutes.

The first place of interest you'll encounter is Jianmen guan temple. It's a (genuinely!) old building that is built against the rocky valley wall, whilst the brook passes it on the other side. Although nothing too special, it is just a nice, scenic start of a trip trough the valley. The most memorable thing for me was a sign that stood by the side of one of the paths surrounding Jianmen temple [see picture]. Is there any more poetic way to say 'keep away!' ?
If you want to make your way from one scenic spot to another in the Jianmen valley, you can choose to walk, or wait at the side if the road for a bus to Pu'an to pass by, so you can hop on for a short ride to the next place of interest.
Even though the rain was coming down quite heavily, I chose to walk so I could enjoy some of the fresh mountain air. Living in smoggy Xi'an city makes you appreciate these kinds of things more and more. Thus, I hiked past some nice waterfalls and trough the town of Jianmen. This is a nice valley town, with -once again- the river flowing trough it. If you pass this town around lunch time and you like tofu, than you absolutely have to make a stop in one of the small eateries there, because this small village has a unique kind of bean curd which can only be eaten here. I tried it and found it delicious; it is spicy and crispy and is served with some tasty noodles. My suggestion: Go for it!

5. Cypress Corridor

The most impressive site lies all the way at the top of the pass. It is called Cuiyun Cypress Corridor (翠云廊) and is an ancient pathway amidst the woods that is lined with majestic cypress trees. When I arrived at this place on top of the mountain pass, the rain was really pouring down. As a result the park was practically deserted and the dark rain clouds gave the forest a gloomy atmosphere, which really contributed to me having some kind of mysterious feeling as if I was entering a Tolkienesque enchanted land.

The towering cypress trees are said to be at least 2000 years old and most of them carry lyrical nicknames like The Mandarin Duck Cypress and The Loving Couple Cypress. There is basically one main pathway, with a couple of side branches leading to a small temple, an observatory and some other things like stone tablets and a statue. All in all the Cypress Corridor is not very big and although advertised as at least a halve day's destination, you won't need more than one hour to see everything. Entrance fee is 50RMB, but can be cut drastically (down to 2RMB!) if you present them with an (international) student card or senior citizen certificate.

After my visit to Cypress Corridor I was completely soaked by the rain and decided to call it quits for the day. I hopped on the passing bus to Pu'an town and there bought a bus ticket back to Guangyuan for 23RMB. Two hours later I was back at Guangyuan's Nanhe bus station

6. A family outing to the forest

The next morning, fresh rain clouds were unloading again above the small river city of Guangyuan. It made my little room in the homely Warm House Hotel (家馨旅馆) seem extra snug, but I wanted to visit a forest park that day and therefore rose and dressed immediately after waking up. The couple running the little hotel asked me where I was planning to go for the day, and I told them I wanted to visit the Heishibo Forest Park (黑石波森林公元) Before I could say anything more, the husband grabbed the telephone and called his brother. Just 20 minutes later, we were sitting in his brother's luxury car and together with two children of the family drove off towards the forest area.

It has to be said; the way to the forest park isn't easy to find if you are not a local. There's no public transportation going that way, so besides a personal car, a taxi is the only possibility to get there. Funny enough, the road to the entrance of the park is increasingly bad and it hardly seems a road at all in the end, but once you pass the small office block that marks the entrance of Heishipo park, the road changes into a broad avenue nothing short of a first class highway winding it's way through the forest. We drove on and on, sometimes climbing, sometimes descending again and saw some nice views on the way. Suddenly the road stopped and we disembarked the car. Then the hotel-owner's brother drove the car back to the entrance of Heishipo again, whilst I and the rest of the family walked our way to the entrance gate. A nice hike! I again thoroughly enjoyed the fresh forest air, the beautiful color palette the autumn offers and the sight of the low hanging clouds against the hillsides [see picture].

After we arrived back at the car, my jolly hotel boss had another surprise up his sleeve. He took me to the farm complex where a part of his family still lives. As I was being welcomed on the farm with tea and walnuts by some relatives, I really felt part of their family. They showed me their houses, their few pigs and chickens and the old family tombs near one of the houses. And while the rain outside turned into a drizzle, I was led into a sitting room where they served a tasty hot meal. As I have been so often in China, I once again was moved by the generous hospitality of this family.

7. And the rain ceased...

My final day in Guangyuan started very different compared to the ones before: no rain! After many thank-yous and goodbyes I left my tiny hotel and nice hosts and walked to the long distance bus station again to buy a bus ticket back to Xi'an. I had heard that the new highway going from Chengdu via Hanzhong to Xi'an had opened last month and a bus journey from Guangyuan to Xi'an now only lasted 6,5 hours. A huge difference compared to the 11 hours you need by train! The ticket was 100RMB and my bus would leave at 2pm which left me with plenty of time to visit two sights near the city which I hadn't seen so far. First I went to the Thousand Buddha Cliff or Qianfoya Grottoes (千佛崖) which is a collection of niches containing carved Buddha figures, reminiscent of Luoyang's famous Longmen Grottoes. Next I went to Huangze Temple（皇泽寺）very near to the railway station. The temple complex is built between a steep hillside and a broad river and is quite impressive that way. Although to me both of the abovementioned places are really just nice to visit as so called 'travel snacks' not as main courses.

Sweet irony had it that when I entered to bus station for the final time, to enter my bus to Xi'an, a new sign said "Bus services to Juizhaigou resumed" Too late now! I stepped into my bus and was back in Xi'an exactly 6 and a halve hours later.