We hiked up to Wanxian, which is gorgeous. Specifically, we headed to Guoliangcun or Guoliang Village. It's known for the traditional clifftop houses, these very basic homes with billion-dollar views. The only way to there used to be a long series of steps called "Stairway to Heaven." Very convenient for dropping by. But in the 1970s, they started building the Guoliangcun Tunnel, this epic project to carve a tunnel, wide enough for cars into the mountain. After chatting with some folks in Guoliangcun, I met this older man who was one of the original 13 men that built this tunnel. 13 men built it with hand tools, no machinery. Amazing.
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| crazy bikers going through the tunnel, often running head to head with cars coming down the tunnel. (coincidentally, they were all Korean. We also saw a lot of Korean backpackers and hikers in hard-core outdoor gear.) |
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| The man who's the last of the original builders of the tunnel in front of his home. |
While hiking, we ran into several folks keeping bee hives and selling honey on random paths. A random but lovely discovery of Chinese entrepreneurship.
Wanxian itself was very beautiful! An art school was established at the base of the mountain so that students can use Wanxian as both art studio and inspiration.
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