Hainan Island @ China (3) – Five Finger Mountain (五指山）
2/10/19 (this morning I was driving “8” like a bee on the road and almost hit a police car coming towards me :D. Drive safely in snow seasons!)
Where are we going today?! Let’s say the five finger mountain (or Wuzhishan in pinyin). It is my favorite stop on the island. I like it because it is so raw and wild compared to other places I have been to in China. Driving from Haikou along the east coast, it takes about 3.5 hours. I booked a hotel called “Wuzhishan Yatai RainForest Resort” (五指山亚太雨林酒店) , highly recommended. It is five minutes walking distance away from the hiking trails , and the closet town is 15 minutes’ drive away. It is surrounded by mountains, clouds, trees, very beautiful. Especially at night, it is a good place to sit on the porch, watch the full moon, miss somebody alone or have good conversations with your friends. Facing such nature, you get to be very sincere to yourself.
cool dam in the mountain
as beautiful as a painting
tranquil and emotional
One of the biggest activities here of course is hiking (Chinese only though, remember? :D). There are two famous trails here. One is 2 hours long and the other is 10 hours long. I was totally excited for the 10 hours trail. The five finger mountain is named after its 5 important peaks. The 10 hours trail lead to one of them. But when I arrived at the trail head, the people dressed in an army uniform told me that “you are not supposed to hike the 10 hours trail this month, as the workers are building the stairs. The trail is closed” “%$#S&” The 2 hour trail lead you to a water fall. It is an origin of the second biggest river on the island. Alright, that’s an okay placebo for me. I always want to see the origin of a big river (e.g., the origin of the Colorado river since I visited the grand canyon). The trail has many small waterfalls and ponds. Tadpoles live here happily. I did not see many big-leave tropical plants but some plantains/bananas.
the origin of the river
my mom made to the top in her beautiful dress. BTW, you got to see her recent hairstyle, it looks like a “lion king” 😀
Besides hiking, this crazish activity called “red valley drifting” is a must-do. This activity is something between tubing and white water rafting. You are floating along a creek in a valley with the world class view where the rocks are red, and seeing the mountain from an interesting perspective. This place was once some sort of white water creek. The workers later added more concrete structures to increase the rapidness of the water for more fun.
You will get a rubber boat (shared with another person) and an oar. Once you are in the water, you are out of control. There are turns, falls, slides and swirls around rocks, under the waves, you never know. OH MY GOD YOU’LL GET ALL WET, SOAK IN THE WATER MORE THAN 1 HOUR, BUT SO MUCH FUN. At the start line, I saw some people wear raincoats and high heels —- Chinese people can be very amusing sometimes 😀
When you finish, there are showers and hot drinks. The place has a locker and they ship your goodies from the start line to the finish line. Shuttles will take you to the bus station. You’d got to go soon though, as man above 60(?) woman above 55(?) are too old to be eligible to even get the tickets :D.
Another fun experience is to hitchhike the bus from here. This place is located in the mountain and the middle of nowhere. The bus station here is sketchy. You only heard from the people that there will be a bus stopping here, but there are no official signs. The locals say “hmm, sometimes the bus may not stop too”. Now, you are in the middle of a wild mountain and watch the sun goes down. The hotel is 45 minutes driving a way. You look at a dog while the dog looks at you; you look at the women who are processing the betel nuts in the shop, and the bus still did not come. At some point, I was trying to persuade a truck driver who was shipping fruits to this shop to drive us out of there, but not very successful. Finally, a bus was coming; I was so fast out on the road and waving and jumping. I think I was willing to pay 100$ at this moment but they charged me only 3 dollars 😀
arrived for “red valley drifting”
a shop where you are waiting for a bus