Wulong Weekend

Our Chinese Business Partners picked us up early on Saturday morning for a 2 hour drive East to the 'village' of Wulong (only about 10 30-story high rises).

Upon arrival, we picked up two branch office associates and headed up the hill to an area of vacation homes. There we boarded another bus to travel to the Three Natural Bridges park: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Natural_Bridges

The scenery here was spectacular and the weather was perfect.

One of the other hikers had his very Chinese dog, running off leash as they all seem to do. The dog was well -trained and immediately fell into pose upon prompting by the owner.



At the bottom of the first bridge, there was a replica of a village put in place for the movie "Curse of the Golden Flower" --- www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWuYAvpifnA

The trail was easy and unusually uncrowded and we enjoyed the outing.

Afterwards, we stopped at a roadside restaurant for a simple, hearty meal (maybe only 12 different dishes). Then it was back on the bus to travel to a nearby cave.

As we approached the cave, the driver informed us that there was 'traffic control' situation ahead. He told us we would have to walk the rest of the way (about 1 mile) up the hill or wait for at least an hour.

We hopped out and started walking. It appears that the road got backed up and people started leaving their cars all over the place.

We had to weave in and out of vehicles and dodge the occasional bus barreling down the hill. It was all very exciting.

The cave itself was kind of a let down. It was massive but seemed somewhat artificial. There was also a huge crowd of people inside and it was quite hot and muggy as a result.

We probably climbed over 1,000 steps and were worn out by the end. However, there was no quick escape as our bus had made its way up but we had to wait for about an hour for a clear path to get back down.

Some lesson's learned: one site per day; turn around at the first sign of a 'traffic control situation' and always take the 'mechanical option' when offerend:

[Tram out of Natural Bridge Park]

[Elevator into Natural Bridge Park]

[Zip line out of Cave Parking lot --- didn't take this one but would have if it offered quicker escape]

The porter powered chairs are an embarrassing option and should be avoided (for old guys and rich chinese housewives):

Despite the challenges, we enjoyed the day but were happy to return to the hotel that night.

Sunday, we left Chongqing and returned to our 'home away from home' in Beijing.

Back to work on Monday!