Nine-Dragon Cave, part 1

October 2011

I learned from the book of Larin “Along the South-West China” that near Tongren, in about 19 kilometers away, there is a Nine-Dragon Cave. More recent information on how to get there, I found online. The most fascinating thing was to come there on the river right from Tongren.

The day before the planned trip, I found where the bridge Ximen (Xīmén dàqiáo - 西门大桥) , from which small pleasure motor boats go to the Nine-Dragon Cave. A woman from one of the boats said that it was possible to come tomorrow by 9 a.m., time of the first departure. There is another voyage at 11 o’clock.

The next morning the rain poured down but it did not stop me, and at 8:50 I was already at the pier. Nobody else has come, apparently there were no volunteers to get wet, and I’ve been told that because of the rain today, there won’t be any voyages. Having walked in a rainy city, I went back to the hotel and was getting dry for several hours.

After having some rest, I decided not to complicate the life and just get there by taxi. The road in one direction cost me 60 yuans (300 roub. / $ 9.5). I immediately told the driver that he should not have to wait for me. How and by which means of transport I will get back, I decided to deal on the spot.

Pleasure boats at the bridge Ximen. I was not meant to take a trip on them.

Arrived.
To the right – turn to the unpaved road. Then, just 200 meters till the pier.

Mount Guanyin. The Lotus Temple is located on its top. Just a little below there is an entrance to the Nine-Dragon Cave.

Boat station. For 10 yuans, I was rapidly moved to the other side. I asked how I was later to come back. The boatman said that I needed to just wave my hand and he would come.

The building in front of the pier on the opposite bank of Jinjiang looked deserted.

Immediately from the pier a path leads to the top of the mountain passing in the beginning through the village, where local residents offered to climb up on horseback.

To the bottom at the right there is a roof of the village school.

In the same village, at the beginning of ascend, there is quite a clean toilet. At the top, by the way, there is another one too.

I was going up on such a path for almost 40 minutes without a rest.
During the ascent, I only met 6 people.

The curtain closes the entrance to the cave.

Looking ahead, I will say that after visiting the cave, I climbed down, moved to the other side of the river and walked to the nearest village, somewhere in the 4 km away, where I saw a bus stop. At the same time I was thumbing up for a ride to the passing cars which were only 3 pieces for about 15 minutes. The third car stopped, and although the driver was going to the other direction, he took me to the village that I needed just for free. From there on a pink bus, I got to the Northern Bus Terminal of Tongren.

In the next part, see only the photos from the Nine-Dragon Cave.