Trip to Tai Mu Shan (太姆山)

During one of the stopovers in Changzhou, all of the English teachers had dinner at the hotel with Teddy, to welcome Amy, the new English teacher. Amy is a bit older than the three of us, and has worked for a few years in the business world. So she adds a bit of professionalism and legitimacy to the foreign teacher crew. She’s from Newfoundland, Canada, which I’ve heard is kind of like the Arkansas or West Virginia of Canada, but is very well spoken and articulate, so maybe all the Newfie rumors are just that. She said at the dinner that she wanted to do something totally different before she is headed back to school for an MBA, and we all agreed that this university is definitely the right place for that. I have included a link to her blog on the right, so feel free to check it out unless you are too busy reading wall-to-walls. We also learned at the dinner that we wouldn’t be teaching until a week after we originally thought. So, Dave and I packed our sleeping bags and a tent and headed to TaiMuShan, a mountain near the coast in Fujian province, on China’s southeastern coast.

We traveled on the hard sleeper train, of course, and once again had a good time practicing Chinese and meeting people. After two quick bus rides we were on the trail at the mountain. None of the peaks are very tall; the tallest at only 917 meters, but the attraction is rather lots of caves, forest ridges, and karst towers. Before we got too far on the trail, we were called over by many members from a Chinese tourist group. Yes, they were wearing matching hats and the tour guide had a personal, portable microphone. Apparently Asian tour groups are typically Asian even in Asia. They were calling at us to take pictures, because apparently we, as foreigners, are just as photo-worthy as the beautiful landscapes. Soon enough we were in the caves, which were awesome. They were dark, wet, void of people, and narrow; mainly everything you want in a cave. They are decidingly not for the tall, wide, or mildly claustrophobic though. Dave and I were about the maximum body size that could make it through many of the caves. And I have never described myself as big (as big headed as I may be). We were crawling and squeezing most of the time, often pushing our backpacks through first or dragging them after us. Almost every turn put me into a Tommy Boy ‘fat guy in a little coat’ moment.

We skipped out on the tourist hotel prices and spent the nights in the tent. The whole camping concept hasn’t seemed to catch on too much here in China, so we would often hear other hikers gasp and talk excitedly as they passed our tent. The park wasn’t too big so we could afford to sleep-in in the mornings. Those we talked to at night adamantly proclaimed that it was much too cold to sleep in a tent. Yet, their houses/hotels had no heating, and many of the windows were open, so I fail to see how there could be much of a temperature difference. Dave would usually tell them that we were Americans and thus very strong people. Sad as it is, this ‘logical’ explanation was quite satisfactory. One of the highlights of the TaiMuShan park are all the unique names which have been given to many of the rock formations. “Cat catching mouse”, “frog chasing turtle” and “husband and wife” is a typical sample. It was definitely a worthwhile trip, very relaxing but also good to get some easy exercise. I appreciated the clear blue skies, warm weather, quiet trails, and the great sea and forest vistas.