Road Trip

Headed out early one morning during October week with the mountains a few hours north of Dongguan as our destination.  We had a friend in the car with us as navigator.  She got us to one city where we met with a family in another car and we followed them the rest of the way.  The most excellent highway soon became a demolition zone.  Literally.  Turns out the road has been under construction for several years now and is scheduled to be completed in 2028.  We did NOT have this information when we started out, but I snapped the sign on the return journey:


Here's our guide assessing the situation:


There were sections of great road and we'd cruise along for awhile.  Sometimes we'd switch sides of the concrete barrier and go barreling down the other side of the road.  Sometimes oncoming traffic would surprise us on our side.  Felt like we were in a video game with objects popping up with no warning and you have to react quickly.  Like this:


Waiting our turn for the next narrow crossover:




They 'bombed' the mountain.  Not the wording I would have used, but the dynamite job effectively slowed the holiday traffic to a crawl:

The scenery was spectacular and since I wasn't driving I was free to enjoy it.

A village nestled against the mountains:


Our destination proved to be a cave and an underground river.  It rivaled anything I've seen back home.  The formations were fabulous and it was huge.  The pictures do not do it justice, but I tried.




Taken from the boat on the Subterranean River:

and since I wasn't driving I was free to enjoy it.

Hmmmmm. It looks like most of the (great) pics were taken from the driver's side of the car!

The following day we visited a minority village way, way up in the mountains.  The trip there was just about as fabulous.  Not sure why, but this scene reminds me of a cove in the Smokey Mountains.


There were still hazards on the road:


This is not the tourist site we were heading to see.  It's a village along the way up the mountain.  Taken from the car, so a little blurry.


It was 200+ steps to the first house and another 200+ to the top of the stairway where there was a small temple.  Imagine living here and climbing all these steps every day.


Small pathways lead off to the sides of the central stairway.




I loved the scenery up there.  The climb was worth it.








Duck jerky anyone?

Hmmmmm. It looks like most of the (great) pics were taken from the driver's side of the car!

  Nope.  The construction ones were taken when I was out of the car.  We were dead stopped for long periods of time and I got bored with sitting.  The sign was taken when we were waiting at a toll booth; I hung out the window to get it.  That's another insult.  We had to PAY to drive on that road.

Love the local obstructions.    Also thought the brick architecture was interesting.  A lot of the southern villages I have visited have been wooden architecture and northern ones adobe.   These brick ones are very interesting.

Looks like a  good trip!

A far cry from the bright lights of DongGuan.

A far cry from the steamy humidity, too.  The friend we were with talked about escaping the heat next summer and spending a week or two in the mountains.  I just might do it, too.

Guangdong province, north of Guangzhou, almost to the Hunan border.  The city we stayed in was Lianzhou.  Lianshan is near there, too.

Thank you for sharing.