Into The Belly Of The Earth!

After having a delectable Chinese breakfast at the hotel and driving through rain-kissed forest roads, we reached the Yellow Dragon Caves.

The cave system is about 10 kilometers from the hotel and is in the well known Wulingyuan Scenic Area of Zhangjijie. Our ordeal with the rain forced us to buy two umbrellas, driving the bargain upto a reasonable point.

And then it was time to enter the cave system. These caves are a typical karst formation, and evidently water played an extremely important role in its development. Flowing into the fissures of the karst layer, water constantly dissolves the limestone rock, thereby widening the crevice. This process continues year after year and thus the caves were created and still being shaped continuously. Call that Nature's incredible power!

The Yellow Dragon Cave's name comes from a legend of a dragon that supposedly lived inside the cave, but it also seems to make reference to its monstrous size: the cave covers over 100,000 square meters. The cave remained mystery to local folk before the first caving adventure took place in 1982. The locals still believe it is the holy home for yellow dragon and spirits. Now the routes are well paved and well lighted.

With each step further into the cave, we were mesmerised by the incredible power of Nature to shape the cave system and the incredible stalactites and stalagmites that we see today....

The interiors were quite moist - the rocks were damp. Despite seeming gentle, each droplet of water has shaped this wonder....

A rare signage in English, evocatively referring to the cavernous opening as the Happiness Gate!

The lighting gave the rocks an incredible feel...

Dragons' discotheque!

And then we reached the underground river, where we took a boat ride...

The plip plop sound of dripping water in the caves is omnipresent, each drop slowly shaping the rock formations. It is indeed fun to hold fingers up to stalagmites to catch the constant trickle of water.

And then we moved to the exit.... we were spellbound and left speechless by Nature's incredible power to shape beauty!