Into the Hinterlands

By -
10 January 2011

In wardrobe preparation for the wintry climes of China the one area where I failed was footwear. I am still cruising around in my Teva sports sandals I've worn almost everyday for the last eight months. They're closed toe but have large air vent holes along both flanks.

Layered up and boarding a train in Nanning
In Nanning, I checked out a few shoe stores. I would write my shoe size down and inevitably be met with great guffawing. The clerk would then flag over a colleague or another customer to join in the merriment and both throw their heads back in laughter. Just like this old lady in the noodle shop was laughing at me now. To quote John McClaine, "It's better than getting caught with your pants down."

Nanning was a twelve hour overnight train ride behind me and it was half past six in the morning. Neither the sun nor my connecting bus would make an appearance for another hour.The mercury had dipped considerably over the traverse. I had stumbled off the car at just past five into the dark, freezing desolation of central Jishou and wandered around a bit until finding an open noodle shop. It was unheated but as I was the only customer I took the liberty of straddling the space heater whilst slurping down my fare.

An elderly bus rumbled up in front of the train station. I inquired if it was bound for Dehang. The driver confirmed and I took a seat. We rolled out soon after with me the sole passenger. The ride was winding, jolting and chilly. The cityscape quickly melted away and we entered a bizarre landscape of craggy, karst spires.

Dehang is small, sleepy village in a geologic park. As it was the off season I had it mostly to myself. I spent the next three days tromping up and down mountains. One more stop and then Shanghai.
Early morning arrival in Dehang

Started the day off with a hike

Down there below is the center of Dehang and where I started from

Narnia-esque with Chinese elements


Chilling in my room. Apart from time spent sleeping under three comforters I wasn't here much

The path taken

I know you've been missing them

This is actually China's tallest waterfall at 216 meters

And you can hike behind it which is really cool

And a little disconcerting when chunks of ice and snow would plummet down from overhead


I soon found a path that wasn't nearly as accommodating


This scene could really used some hobbits

Dam above the waterfall



Hiking inland I found some high altitude rice paddy fields

And a village


Winter cabbage



Hiking back down from the village to the bottom of the waterfall


Apparently, they shut down the waterfall in the evenings.


View from my balcony

View from my balcony the other way

Off on another hike

Found another waterfall

Things started getting icy towards the end of a four hour climb

Insert more hobbits

Performing stiff, awkward Georgian photo pose

I got to the top and you'll never guess what I found




 





Comments

sly said…
Magnificent! It must be glorious in the summer, perhaps not so Tolkienesque, though.
19 February 2011 at 07:31
Unknown said…
Your pictures are wonderful. So interesting.
22 February 2011 at 14:57
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