Two days ago, Luna and I took a day-trip to Bingyugou, a famous valley that is often said to be the mini-Guilin of the north because of its towering rock formations jutting out from rivers and small lakes. It was also a celebratory trip as it was the one-year anniversary of our first date, which took place at Song Mountain in Luna’s hometown of Dengfeng.
It truly was an amazing nature park and the photo above was probably the most beautiful view of the day. The sun hadn’t shown all day but right as we entered the heart of the valley, it peaked out through the clouds and lit up the view above. I realize that I need a polarizing filter on my camera so the clouds don’t get overexposed. My landscape shots need work but I do the best I can, especially in post-shot editing using Aperture.
Photo Above: Biker on Cornfield Road leading to Bingyugou
We took a supposed 2-hour bus at 7:30 am from Dalian but arrived at about 10:30. It was a typical tourist driven small town with only one main road and a few roads intersecting it. It was quite deserted when we arrived. There are maybe 8 or so small hotels in the area. The first one we went to was the closest to the bus stop (well, the place in the middle of the town where the bus stopped) and a room cost 300 yuan. We looked at it and it was shit so we decided to move on. About a km ahead, at the end of town, we found another, bigger hotel and found the price was 150 yuan for a much nicer, cleaner, and western toilet included- instead of hole-in-the-ground- room. We decided to skip lunch and make our way up the road (seen above) that eventually reached the valley entrance. I took this shot as this xiaohuozi (young man) sped by, of course as he stared at me. Later ,at the police station where they were checking my visa and passport for hotel insurance purposes, I talked with the friendly police officers (they offered me grapes and a banana which I hungrily ate up!) they told me only a couple of foreigners visit Bingyugou every year. In fact, Luna and I did not spot another foreigner the whole day.
Photo Above: Painters by the River
Never seen anything like this in China. A class of art students are being monitored by their teacher as they paint a scene by the river. I took some photos and by then everyone was whispering, “look a foreigner!” and “with a chinese girl!” so I told a girl Piaoliang! which means beautiful and some of them said xie xie (thank you). It’s nice to see Chinese teens learning how to paint.
Photo Above: Forest Flow Scene
We walked a bit and came upon an area where we rented a bamboo raft for 100 yuan. Luna and I rowed across the small river and docked the boat at a place where you could walk up to a waterfall within the mountain. I saw this scene with the looped vine crossing the path of the flowing water and knew it would make a good photo. Only trouble is I didn’t bring a tripod and the rocks around the area were all angled and slippery so it was very difficult to place my camera on a rock to keep it steady as the self timer took the shot. I eventually got into the water and had to try to keep a steady hand to get this shot. That’s why it’s not perfectly still. A little disappointed about that, but it turned out not too bad.
Photo Below: Dude on Bamboo Raft: I loved that the fog was hovering just over the water. It was quite a sight.
Photo Above: Bride View with Blue Sky
This was taken on the little bridge that you see in the first photo. It was a very photogenic area and this was one of my better shots. You can see some people who rented a little raft paddling in the lake.
Photo Above: Mountain Reflection from Ferry Starboard
It was nice that we were allowed two free ferry rides, and there were no lines to wait in! I was hopping all around the uncrowded ferry trying to find a shot and this one came up. I read that landscape images are all about the foreground item and this shot proves that it really does add a lot to the photo. I choose the sepia tone here as well, just looks cool.
Photo Above: Split Rock Landscape B&W
A bit of a panoramic shot here to balance the fog with the lake. This was also taken from the ferry. This whole area was filled with beautiful landscape like this.
Final photo is a shot of Luna and me. I put the camera on self timer and we got this. Overall it was a good day and anniversary with Luna.
One more little anecdote – THE BUS: The next morning we got up at 5:30 am to catch a ride on the 6:25 bus bike to Dalian – the only bus going back the whole day. Well, of course we were expecting to pay the 55 yuan each and get a seat, but ohhhh nooo. Not this bus. It was already completely packed when we got on.
Imagine a tour bus, two rows of 20 pairs of seats and 5 in the back. So enough seats to sit about 85 people, give or take. When we boarded the bus, they were all full and there were about 10 kids squished in some of the seats. Then there were about 15 people sitting on small stools down the middle aisle, nearly touching back to back. Oh wait, there’s more – there were about 15 people standing up in front of the people seated in the aisle! It was a very oh-f**k kind of situation. But it got worse. For the next 45 minutes the bus driver kept stopping and the two guys working the seating and ticket situation kept cramming people onto the bus. Not shitting you, by the end of the 45 minutes their were more than 40 people (many with a baby in arms) standing up squished in down the aisle and on the steps of the two entrances. I couldn’t move my knees (as they constantly jammed into an armrest of a seat) or lift my legs, and I couldn’t even put my hands down by my side because I was holding on for dear life (and Luna hanging on to me!) as the driver start-stopped and swiveled along a bumpy country road! It was easily the worst ride of my life. Thank gosh I had my phone and headphones to listen to music. To pass the time I counted the people on the bus : I estimated about 135-145. Unbelievable. Only in China.
Oh, and then, a little girl who was with her mother and father, about 10 years old and about 5 feet from me, began crying hysterically. She had to pee and she was uncomfortable. So the bus stopped right? Nope. Not in China. There is a bucket for this sort of thing. From the second door a bus worker passed a bucket with empty bottles to the mother. She was telling her to squat and take a piss, but the girl wouldn’t. So then she started yelling at her to do it. And more yelling, right in the girl’s face. Then she actually smacked her, many people were a bit appalled I think but nobody said anything, and actually it did shut her up.
The girl was whimpering now but not crying as she obviously saw she really disappointed her mother. And she was a big woman, quite fat. The husband just looked worried and tried to condole her. The girl did calm down but she didn’t go. So the bucket was passed back toward the middle door. But then 10 minutes later it was passed back up.
A boy, also about 10 years old, had to piss as well. He was in the seat with his mom and grandma a row ahead of me on my left. He took a bottle from the bucket and his mother held it steady (the bottle, ha) as he pissed. I closed my eyes and had a giggle. Well, you can guess what happened next. The girl must have felt confident because the boy pissed, so surely she could piss. The bucket was passed back to her mother and she squatted over it and pissed (I didn’t watch, I closed my eyes and focused on the music). The bucket was passed back to the middle door.
Quite uneventful after that, eventually, after about 2.5 hours standing up cramped amongst 40+ people, some people started exiting the bus on the outskirts of Dalian. Luna and I eventually got a seat but it took another hour or so to reach a stop where we got off and walked home. A nice shower was in order at home (oh, no towels or hot water in the hotel the night before, so I had a nice Polish shower with a washcloth and bar of soap bought at a small store) and a big breakfast. Our day trip was ended, but it won’t be forgotten anytime soon.
Special word out to Brian Curry – thanks for the comment and congratulations, you are the first subscriber of my blog! It’s cool to know that you are interested in my adventures here in China and I hope you get a laugh or some insight into the life I live and have lived over here for almost five years now. Hope all is going well with you. I see you are in Colorado Springs now, quite a nice place! I have been there once with my family and it is a beautiful place but I would love to get my camera out there these days and shoot away. Cheers to you and all my other viewers/readers.
That is Phil and I literally throwing a stone at North Korea’s land. This small tributary from the Yalu river is all that separates Dandong, China from the DPRK and this little area is quite a popular tourist destination (basically known as ‘the closest you can get without getting shot’). We were amongst lots of Chinese with their family, some South Koreans, and perhaps people from other Asian countries; everyone wanted to get as close a look at NK as they could.
Postcards from China 