Yibin and The Bamboo Forest

One of the great things about visiting China was that we got to go back to Alex’s home town and visit his family. He hadn’t been back in years either so his family was very happy to see him again. We were only there for a few days so the first thing we did was the Bamboo Sea because I’d mentioned that it would be wonderful to see bamboo in China.

The South Sichuan Bamboo Sea covers 120sq km that we were able to drive through on a road that goes between viewpoints. We checked out the museum there which has some crazy woven bamboo pictures, yes bamboo made into pictures, and Sun Tuz art of war written on bamboo. Then the first trail we took brought us to the Five Fold Screen waterfall that is significant because one important Chinese politician once commented about it. There were several trails leading into the forest but we chose instead to check out some other sights around as the trails didn’t promise to be exceptionally great.

Five Fold Screen waterfall, Bamboo Sea Yibin China
We tour here with Alex’s extended family so there were about 10–12 of us. One of the aunts brought a hell of a lot of food and kept offering us food that we had to continuously turn down because we were full. Just like anywhere one goes in the world, family is always welcoming and it was nice to be so welcomely included without them knowing anything about us. Even though we had a language barrier, we were able to understand each other in limited conversation and with body language.

Along one of the roadways is a well known spot that’s ideal for the way that the bamboo hangs over the opening like a canopy. We took several group portraits here and also saw an engagement. We also stopped at a view of a scene used in the Beijing olympics. There was a big poster board of the picture beside the actual view that was shrouded in smog so we didn’t see it at its best. Both Yuki and I noted how it look dramatically better on the poster than what we were seeing because of the smog.

The Canopy, Bamboo Sea Yibin China
One of the longer paths winds its way past the bigger waterfalls of the park. There’s some guys with chairs like those used for the aristocrats back in the ancient times that some in the group rode down rather than walk. Then we took a small raft that transported us across a pond to some great shots of a series of three waterfalls.

I particularly like how the light played out in this one as it was mid afternoon. Fortunately, the lower regions of the waterfall were blocked by direct sunlight by the bamboo forest and I was able to use a longer exposure to get this photo.

The Path of the waterfalls


We tried out hardest to pay for dinner as well as other meals but couldn’t pull it off. The next day, Alex’s mom was meeting with her friends for lunch and to celebrate Alex’s graduation. We didn’t realize it but they had some heavy drinkers there as well as some rice wine that was more than 50% alcohol.

The lazy suzan in the middle of the table would soon get overfull with food.
Alex, the honoured guest, put up a great show as everyone wanted to toast him at least once and nearly everyone else once as well. He consumed too many beer bottles to count but that wasn’t nearly as much alcohol as the older guys drank. Somehow though, the old guys didn’t have to follow Alex to the bathroom 4 times to puke it up. Still, Alex was my hero of the day for having such a happy face all the time and being able to drink so much. That meal though, was really good and a great time. We were surprised that it was just lunch and ended up spending the afternoon seeing the merging of the Jinshan and Min rivers into the Yangtze river. There’s a public plaza but not much else to see.

Afterwards, we went to Cuiping Mountain where one of Alex’s relatives works. There we got a private tour of a Ming Dynasty building that is now a museum for culturally significant hero of the China-Japan war. I can’t seem to remember her name. By the time we’d gone to the People’s Park (of which there is one in every city of China) it was time to head back to the restaurant for dinner. Half the elders had stayed to gamble at Mahjong and dinner was slightly smaller but still covered the entire table. Yet, it was equally as delicious as before.

Of note in Yibin was actually our trip back to Chengdu. While Alex stayed to visit longer, we had to get back to Chengdu for our flight to Lijiang and Annie was going back to her home town in the North East of China.

Alex’s cousin is involved in a shipping company that has lorries go to and from Chengdu nightly. We got ourselves a free ride in one of these lorries back to Chengdu. They’re big trucks with a cab that has two bunk beds in the back. Annie and I sat on the lower bunk while Yuki took shotgun. Yuki and I talked the whole way back for three hours because we’d heard stories of the drivers falling asleep at the wheel and figured the constant chatter would help keep him and us awake. It was, other than the excitement of riding up high, a safe trip.

The beginning of the Yangtze River. I’ve been there!, Yibin China