North of Ruili lies the Gaoligong Mountain Range, the western side of which receives few visitors. That’s a pity because the area surrounding the small rural city of Tengchong has many interesting sights and it’s surely only a matter of time before this region becomes a hot item on the Yunnan tourist trail. We crossed Gaoligong Shan by bus from Ruili on a very scenic route that passed through dense natural mountain forest interspersed with stands of bamboo, pine, sugar cane and bananas. It was a fascinating eight hour trip on a small bus marred only by the number of chain smokers on board. When we boarded the vehicle in Ruili, it was one of a line of buses parked in a neat row at the station, with the front of each bus bearing the name Neoplasm. At least that’s how I initially read it, but on closer inspection I saw that the word was actually Neoplan. But given the number of smokers on board and the cacophony of early morning sniffling, snorting, spluttering, sneezing, wheezing, coughing, hawking and spitting going on, Neoplasm Busline would have been a truer description. Fortunately we had control of a window that we opened often to let in some fresh mountain air that kept the atmosphere inside tolerable (just). We stopped for lunch in a small village where most of the roadside shops were stocked with machetes and knives, presumably for use in the canefields or as decorative items in local houses.In Tengchong we checked into the Hongliang Hotel in the main shopping street. This proved to be an excellent choice as the Hongliang turned out to be the best value for money Chinese hotel we’ve ever stayed in. We strolled around some of the back streets in the vicinity to see the last remaining red-painted timber buildings that will all be gone within the next year or two, to be replaced no doubt with brick and concrete edifices.
Tengchong’s biggest attraction for visitors is the 800 square kilometre Tengchong National Geological Park. This region is seismically active, having experienced on average one earthquake over 5 on the Richter scale every 7 years for the past five centuries! The earth’s crust in this area is only about 40km thick, and molten magma lies only about 7km below the surface in places. The Indian and Euro-Asian tectonic plates collide here, and the resultant massive underground forces are the cause of all the earthquakes and other geological phenomena observed in the area. Within the Geo Park there are 97 currently dormant volcanoes and over 120 hot springs, many of them boiling.
On Wednesday we visited the Sea of Heat, a collection of hot springs and geysers in the Park. Amongst all the bubbling and steam there were some highly-coloured surface deposits created by the evaporation of hot waters laden with sulphurous and silicate minerals. And the Frog Mouth Geyser, a small set of continuously shooting steam and boiling water jets issuing from short spouts formed from a black and green mineral deposit was fabulous.
We returned to the Park on Thursday to see a few of the 97 volcanoes, dormant for the past 3,000 years which is quite a short time geologically speaking. We climbed to the top and walked around the rim of the Big Empty Volcano. This afforded great views of the Small Empty Volcano to the right, and the Black Empty Volcano to the left. The other 94 volcanoes have similarly evocative names. Then we hired a driver to take us 20km to the eastern edge of the Park to see the Columnar Joint. The ride there was rough and bumpy over a winding, dusty, undulating cobblestone road made of volcanic rock. It must have been murder on the tyres. The trip felt like we were on safari but the only animals we saw were buffalos in harness pulling ploughs in some cleared sections of land along the way. When we reached our destination we ordered some food at an open air food stall and while it was being cooked we climbed down the bank of the Black Fish River to inspect the Columnar Joint. This is a strange geological structure produced by the underground cooling of magma under pressure, and which subsequent weathering over the eons has conveniently caused to be visible on the surface today. The result is a large collection of closely-packed, regularly-shaped polygonal rock columns jutting out of the mountainside. Each column is trapezoidal, pentagonal, hexagonal or heptagonal in cross-section. The whole structure looks unnatural, no doubt the reason why local people call this feature “God’s Columns”.
Our steamed rice and stir-fried beef and canola stems were piping hot and waiting for us when we returned to the food stall, and along with a bowl of pickled chili and a bottle of Dali beer, made an excellent lunch. We then hired a driver to take us back on safari through the Park to the main entrance from where we caught a minibus back to Tengchong.
Yesterday we were back on a small bus again, this time to Yunfeng Shan (“Cloudy Peak Mountain”) about 50km north of Tengchong. Yunfeng Shan is a Taoist Mountain with several 17th century temples located impossibly at the summit. This peak is itself the result of seismic activity. Upthrusts of molten granite and subsequent weathering of the softer surrounding rock over millions of years have created a narrow, near-sheer peak of solid granite. As we ascended in the comfort of a long, steady cable-car ride over the thick vegetation below, we were blown away by the thought of how, four hundred years ago, people lugged all of the necessary heavy building materials up the side of this peak to build the temples and other buildings still perched at the top today. The cable-car itself doesn’t reach the summit; there is a long, steep staircase carved into the mountainside that needs to be climbed to make it to the very top. But the effort is definitely worth it; the panoramic views from the top are great. Yunfeng Shan is spectacular and a must-see if you’re ever in the area.
It was about 5pm when we descended to the cable-car station at the base, and as there were no drivers in sight we decided to walk the 5 kilometres to the nearest village from which taxis and minibuses leave for Tengchong. Not that we had much choice! But it was a very pleasant walk through cultivated countryside and past attractive rural houses and outbuildings, all watched over by Yunfeng Shan. At one point we passed a house under construction and counted 36 men working on it! The main activity taking place was the hoisting and placement of the large timber roof beams; four or five men were doing the actual work while 10 or 15 others stood below and shouted instructions and suggestions, not all of which seemed to be consistent judging from the responses of the men aloft.
The city of Tengchong itself is relatively modern and green, with neatly manicured parks and gardens. Like many other Chinese towns, it has an air of growing prosperity about it. It has also provided us with a sight we have not seen before on our travels throughout this vast country. In many towns, street-side dental clinics are not uncommon with the work in full view of the public. So if you ever voyeuristically wish to watch someone having a tooth extracted or filled, the opportunity is there. But a street-side hospital with un-obscured rooms? Well, yes, you can see that in Tengchong too. Downstairs from our hotel room in fact, right next to the footwear shop. It seems to be principally a children’s hospital, and as you walk past it’s hard not to notice the people laying in the beds, some of which are pressed up against the clear street-side windows. Even more intriguingly, around the building there are many parents taking their babies out for a walk in the sunshine. One parent carries the baby while the other holds up a short bamboo pole to which is fastened a bottle of fluid that feeds the intravenous line inserted in the side of the baby’s head. Why, I have no idea. It seems strange that nearly all of the babies are receiving this treatment. Presumably it’s evidence-based.
We’ve had a great week in the Tengchong area with mild, sunny weather perfect for walking. The region deserves to be much better-known and on more visitors’ itineraries. With so many interesting sights around, particularly of the geological kind, there’s really only one thing to say. Tengchong Rocks!
