May 1st in China was International Labour Day. So we got a seven-day holiday. That meant I got another chance to travel around. Terry, Jan, and I were planning to go to Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain. It's probably the most famous mountain in all of China. Next to the Great Wall, Huangshan is the next great pilgrimmage for Chinese.

Our trip started on April 30, the day just before the holiday. We grabbed one of those minivan type buses known as Ivecos and zipped along the rolling highway for the next 3 hours. Huangshan district is south of Wuhu district, so obviously, we went southward. Only minutes outside of the city limits, I could tell things were different already. The countryside just south of Wuhu is very different from the rest of the county. The land is rolling and hilly. It was quite idyllic in a way.

The further south we went, the higher the hills became. We were marching towards the mountain range all right. Parts of the highway were a little reminiscent of British Columbia. One part of the road ran right alongside the river, without any guard rails. Let me tell you, though, some of the towns we went through had guard rails in front of the street-side stores. Makes you wonder.

At times, the road was also very bumpy. Parts of the highway were still dirt or gravel. That made for excellent, but unexpected massages and "headbanging."

Our bus even got pulled over by the highway police. Apparently, the driver did not signal while passing another bus. The driver and his assistant weren't all that happy. All they could do in the end was laugh about it though. If the bus were in North America, he'd probably be pulled over more than once.

We arrived in Shexian around 5pm. From there we got off the Iveco and into a mini-minivan. I don't know how they can get any smaller, but they do. We passed over an ancient bridge built during the Ming dynasty. Apparently the entire bridge was funded and built by one local family at that time. No small feat, I tell you. It was pretty high up over the valley.

We stayed at the Jinma Hotel. It was on top of one of the hills. A decent place.

We also had the fortunate blessing of meeting a local family. Our guide-friend had gotten know this family recently. She had helped them with something. The old man was in his seventies, but he was like a local historian. We went to his place on the first night and were able to listen to him talk for a half-hour, with translation, of course. He told us about the area, Huizhou, and its historical significance to China. He also talked about some of the things we would see the next day like the Memorial Arches. He recounted the stories of the first three arches, but I can't remember a lick of what he said now.

The next morning, we returned to his place and had a scrumptuous Chinese breakfast--congee, boiled eggs, green onion pancakes, and a variety of appetizer veggies. I was very full.

Then, we set off to see some sites. It was Terry, Jan, our guide-friend, the old man's wife and his daughter. The old man didn't come because he was feeling under the weather. We walked down to the Shexian Old Street and saw the large holiday crowd shopping. At the end of the road was the Eight Pillar Memorial Arch. A memorial arch was only built in ancient times and with only the permission of the emperor. So these things are a big deal. Plus, there are a lot of them in this area of China. This one in particular was built to honour a scholar who was a teacher to the emperor. Talk about large privilege. No wonder this arch is the only one with eight pillars.

Then we booked a mini-minivan for the whole day and we headed for Tangyue, the county where there are seven arches all in a row. The actual place is now called Paifangcun, or memorial arch village. The place was relatively busy. You could tell that they had really spruced up the place because there were new buildings at the entrance to the arches. Tourist trap, but a good one I must say. Inside the premises, the arches lined up one after another and you could walk under each one. Tour guides were available to provide a detailed description and history for each arch.

For me, they truly made a great photo op. For Terry too.

The arches here were mostly dedicated to faithful widows who never remarried after their husbands passed away pre-maturely. There were a lot of faithful widows in this part of the country. That's for sure.

After an hour or two of just kicking around and enjoying the scenery. Our taxi man came in and grabbed us. Time to move on to another place.

Pictures from this leg of my trip are just a click away below.

huizhou | shexian, paifangcun