Sledgehammer

This is part two for the post of my trip to Danxiashan Geopark in China. After lunch, we took a boat ride on the Renhua River. We then observed some culture in the village where the boat launch was located. After a rest, we went for another hike. We got a view of the Yang Yuan Rock. This is where you pay your respects if you desire a son. We then hiked to a natural bridge and walked across it. Here are the pictures.

Sleeping Beauty (The Mountain) & the boat launch.

An Elephant (The Mountain)

A former Entertainment Palace along the Renhua River. 

Renhua River

Renhua River

A little bit of culture in the village at the boat launch

The Yang Yuan Rock (left). The Peak on the right could be used for an opening of an Indiana Jones movie.

All about the Yang Yuan Rock

A natural bridge.  The Trail goes over it.

Yangyuanshan Mountain

Me on top of the natural bridge

Me on top of the natural bridge, Yangyuanshan Mountain is behind me

The stairs down. Going under the natural bridge.

Heart-Shaped Box

While in China, I took a train trip from Guangzhou to Shaoguan. From Shaoguan, we took a 45 minute bus ride to Danxiashan Geopark. We stayed two nights at a hotel at the entrance of the park. I wish we had stayed another night. There was a lot to see at this park. Mount Danxia is a mountainous area with all kind of rock outcrops and incredible cliffs. Some of rock formations are a bit unusual as the pictures will show. On the cliffs and mountain tops, there were Buddhist temples. The trails or stairs to these temples were quite impressive. The views were hazy, but I still took a lot of pictures. The pictures will be divided into two posts. Here are the pictures for part one.

View of Danxiashan Geopark from the Hotel Room

Cable Car to the top of Elder Peak

View of the direction we will walk on Elder Peak

Stairs in the rock

Me and haze

Snow Grotto Temple (First built during the Ming Dynasty. Additional structures added later.)

Snow Grotto Temple

Snow Grotto Temple

Renhua River

A Pavilion on top of the mountain

Leaving the Pavilion

Going Down

Still going down

More stairs down

Looking back up the stairs

Down...

Stairs, Pavilion at the top. On the left, the rock has a symbol that means happiness for marriage

Continuing...

The cliffs from near the bottom

Looking back at the stairs and pavilion

The trail signs called this the Female Rock

Zoom view of the Pavilion and stairs

Full view

At the bottom

Going to a boat launch to ride back to a village for lunch.

China Grove

During the excursion to Dabu County, we hired a ride to visit the Pingshan Terraces. And where are the Pingshan Terraces, well according to Chinadaily.com they are “located in Pingshan Village, Dadong Town, in the east of Dabu County, Guangdong province, 40km from the seat of Dabu County.” Dabu County is a county of Meizhou City. As I said in the previous post, the administrative districts are confusing. I am still learning. According to Wiki, Dabu County is the center of Hakka culture. Anyway the Pingshan Terraces were quite interesting. The construction was finished over 400 years ago during the early Qing Dynasty. It shows how determine mankind can be to farm on hilly terrain. I also got a good look at rural China during this trip. Here are the pictures.

View from the road

Pingshan Terraces

Pingshan Terraces with viewing platform

Water wheel at the terraces

View of a nearby village from the terraces

Another village from the terraces

Out on the terraces.  Viewing platform

A flower growing on the terraces

Looking back on the Pingshan Terraces

The Terraces are over there.

Picture of a building on the way back

China

During my trip to China, I did not always stay in Guangzhou. On one of my excursions from Guangzhou, we traveled to the city of Meizhou and stayed a couple of nights.

Meizhou - In a park near our restaurant and hotel.

We didn’t spend much time in Meizhou. It was used as a base camp. We traveled to Dabu County which is an hour outside of Meizhou. I haven’t figured out the administrative designations for Cities, Counties, Villages, Towns, Districts, etc. It is different than the USA. While in Dabu County, we visited the Tai’an House. It is a house that goes back to 1764. It was quite interesting. Here are the pictures.

Streets of Dabu County

One of the most common modes of transportation.  This mode has been slightly altered.

It was common to find some signs in English.  There are usually misspellings.  This one has the County name wrong.  It should be Dabu County.

Tai'an Building

The only entrance to the Tai'an Building.

A Lantern and a view of the middle section.  The middle section was a common area where the families would cook and be social.

2nd Level view

Hallway by the outer wall

Inside one of the rooms

View from the third level

Me on the third level

Ground level

The middle area: This area would have been used for cooking during its time.

Middle area of the Tai'an Building.  The red on the ground is firecracker remains.  Firecrackers were constantly going off as it was the week of Spring Festival and the New Year.