HeyHeyana Big G'Day Toya,
 
Wuyi Shan or Wuyi Mountain.
 
A new and very welcomed World Natural and Cultural Heritage Site.
 
It has a total area of 1000 square kilometres and its core being 636 square kilometres. It has a huge amount of unique and natural scenery that includes the nine-twist river, thirty six huge crags and what have been described as one hundred grotesque rocks. It is also an area for global biodiversity conservation. Domestic and foreign biologists have described it as the following; a showcase of world biology, a world of insects, a paradise for birds and a kingdom of snakes! It is rich in cultural interest and has a huge historical legacy that includes the three thousand year old 'culture of the Minyue Kingdom', over three thousand year old 'boat coffins' that can be found in the areas rocky crevices' along with Taoist and Confusus Temples and Nunneries
 
You can also visit the 'Minyue Royal Capital City that is over two thousand years old and view stone engravings on many of the cliffs that were engraved during the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Quing Dynasties. Within these writings are a knowledge passed on that form thoughts that many in the passed, now and in the future have used and still use in their basic thoughts towards life and fellow man. The man was known as Zhuxi and his Neo-Confucianism theory has supposedly enriched a huge influence on civilisation as we know it today.
 
I wouldn't really know but I do know that Confucianism has influenced society to a large degree.          ; ; ;   
 
For tea drinkers and for those of you like me and find Oolong Tea to be a major favourite, and then you will be happy to know that Wuyi Rock Tea is supposedly where the origins of Oolong tea can be found.
 
It seems that this area found in Fujian's Provinces far North West has been majorly overlooked by foreign visitors who prefer to visit destinations such as Yangshuo, Xiamen, Emei Shan, Shangrila, Xian, Beijing and Shanghai.
 
Don't worry if you have visited China and have visited many of the latter, I too have passed by Fujian and the Wuyi Shan areas in the passed as there really is no information to be found both orally and written on the internet or in guide books. I had a chance to teach here some time ago but passed it by to head north into the great desert region of Gansu Province. After not only this weekend but my last six months I now urge travellers to China to visit this rarely visited province.
 
What I have found so far is a land known mainly to the Chinese but also a land that us foreigners should 'go out of our way' to don the back pack and do our best to explore. Most of it can not be found in any guide books but it seems that no matter where I go I am faced with a beauty I am both not prepared for nor told about. There is no 'Backpackers Trail' like you will find 'Pakkin' from Yangshuo to Kunming, to Dali, to Leijing, to Shangrila, to Chengdu etc but what I have found so far not only matches my favourite place on earth 'the Xishuangbanna Region' but also the beauty of Australia's outer Gold Coast and Tweed Coast Areas along with the great China 'Back Packer Trail' as mentioned above.
 
But you'll not find banana pancakes or freshly brewed coffee here mate!
 
What you will find and pack away happily with is a part of the world that no one you will meet will be able to offer their own 'better' descriptions on. You know the people I'm talking about, those who will always try to better your travels eg; yeah, but I've done the Tiger Leaping Gorge twice and oh gee let's not talk about Xian, I've...blaa blaa blaa. Fujian Province really is an experience that you should add to you itinary. It offers so much more than what most back packers come to China for. Like I said, here there is no 'trail' to follow and you are pretty much left to your own whim.
 
So I guess this kind of helps me make my decision for this summer or at least part of it anyhow. Maybe I will stay here in Fujian and do some adventures and find some sort of 'trail' that I can offer fellow travellers to travel other than the coastal areas of Xiamen etc.
 
TICKETING: Tickets for Wuyi Shan are now sold by days. A one day ticket costs 110 Yuan, a two day cost 120 Yuan and a three day costs 130 Yuan. This is for the 'Big Boy' ticket but I don't think you can enter any of the sites without at least having a one day ticket, meaning that you can't pay for each site itself. The 'Big Boy' ticket will get you into six different sites; 1: Wuyi Palace, 2: Heavenly Tour Peak, 3: Water Curtain Cave, 4: Roaring Tiger Rock 5: A Ray of Sky and 6: Big Red Robe (tea plantation).
 
They clip that sites section of the ticket so you can only enter that site once. A strange way to do things as you've just paid over one hundred Yuan for your ticket and you really should be able to see what you want. They already have your money so why care where you go and how many times you go there?
 
Tickets for the Virgin Forest Park, bamboo rafting and the Minyue Kingdom are all sold separately.
 
But...once you are in the park you really don't need to go to the ticket offices to enter any of the 'Big Boy' sites as they are all inside together. To see them all you really do need three days and that's three days of big walks and climbs! I would say you would really need four or five days to use the Big Boy ticket to its full. Surely you can go see each site, then grab a cab and go to the next but then you miss all the hours and hours of bush walks and climbs between.
 
FREE ENTRY: In Martins guide book it said that if you went to the Heavenly Tour Peak entrance and walk back a bit you will find an entrance between two rocks. His book like mine is many years out of date and we think the ticketing structure has been changed in the past few years as not much of the info matches what we found. Strangely enough, right behind the ticket man now, you will find a pathway that leads between two rocks.
 
I guess there are many entrances you can enter for free, most can be found very far from the main sites, mainly because it's a National Park and you really can't fence off the entire place. If you're quick you maybe able to get through the exit of the Little Nine Bends track which can be found at the end of the bridge before you get to the ticket booth. Problem is, there is a guard booth there but I'm sure he's not always there or asleep most o the day like many guards here in China.
 
We found this at the end of day one so it was too late.
 
The second entrance is right across the main bridge that crosses the river back in the town. Across from the bridge you'll find a green park and on the right hand side of that is a road that leads towards the hills. In about five minutes you leave the houses and find a walking track. This will take you to Reborn Rock or up to Three-Nun Rocks. It's the trail we took Sunday afternoon and it's a BIG and very BEAUTIFUL walk!
 
If you're a 'cabbin it' site seer, it's probably not the way to enter the park but it's the way I'll enter next time.   
 
COSTS: Like anywhere in the world, once you are inside, you're pretty much stuck and have to pay what ever price they think is fit enough to rip you off and be able to smile whilst doing it. Outside a bottle of water is usually one or two Yuan. Inside it will cost you five or six Yuan. A Mizone outside is usually between three and four Yuan, inside you'll be paying ten or eleven Yuan. I can't really comment on food costs as I only ate boiled tea eggs and sticky rice cakes. I do know that a three Yuan bowl of two minute noodles costs fifteen Yuan. You know the ones you rip the top off and add hot water and powder stuff. My eggs and sticky rice cakes were not much more than outside so I was happy!
 
ACCOMMODATION: As the National Park is situated about ten kilometres from the main city of Wuyi Shan City it would be best to stay in what is known as the Wuyi Shan Holiday Resort Area. This area is situated directly across the river from the National Park. Of course during peak season it is pricier than staying in the main city but when you add cab fares into the equation then it makes more than enough sense to stay here. Come here in the off season then you will not be paying the high hotel costs as most of the hotels will not allow you to leave their front door before agreeing on a price that you are both happy with. Put it this way, I stayed in a hotel that normally I wouldn't even think about entering when I visit a new city. It was plush and rather beautiful and I only paid 100 Yuan for the night. Not bad for around sixteen Aussie Bux. If you arrive by plane or train you're going to be half way between both so it will be up to you to choose where you go.
 
OK, for my first day's adventure and photos you'll need to go to the next entry as I've decided this entry is long enough and should be used as information only.
 
Beers N Noodles to you....shane
 
The soundtrack to this entry was by a gem of an artist.
The man was Roy Orbison and the album 'His Greatest Hits'