Oliver's blog, April 4

We weren’t supposed to go to the national park today. The schedule planned for our trip to San Bai Shan (San Bai Mountain) to be tomorrow, but because the weather was so sunny, our leaders decided today would be the best day to go. The gorgeous scenery, clear air, and amazing views left a lasting impression on me, and the park definitely lived up to the five star rating given to it by the Chinese government.

It was a bright and sunny morning when we arrived at the main gate of San Bai Shan National Park. We had such great energy to start the day, and instantly rode a gondola to a higher elevation. We were immediately given great views of the landscape, with the diverse tree line and never-ending mountain range. Right off of the gondola, we were given a presentation on Gan Giants, which were mythological creatures that preceded homo sapiens. They have some unique features: backwards feet and lots of hair. Apparently, when they came in contact with modern humans, they smiled so wide that their lips covered their faces, scaring the humans away. San Bai Shan was the place they resided; they are sort of like the American equivalent of bigfoot. Following this introductory presentation on these local legends, we moved on to a walking tour around the mountains. Our next significant stop was the biggest waterfall in the park, with a drop of over 100 meters. Unfortunately, the water flow was low because the rainy season hadn’t arrived, and when I asked the tour guide when the water flow was high, she showed me pictures of the waterfall in July and August with a water flow at least five times larger than the one today.

Our next stop on the tour was the famous glass skybridge. The walk was over one kilometer, and while we were walking our tour guide gave us quick rundowns of the local wildlife, from local medicinal herbs to birds to monkeys below the upcoming glass skybridge. I felt like the walk was relatively short, but by the time we got to the bridge I realized it was almost noon. Walking across the bridge, we could feel each other’s footsteps slightly bouncing bridge. We knew it was completely safe, and it just added to the surreal feeling of us floating next to a mountain. Lunch was just as much of a wonderful experience as the first half of the day. We sat at round tables with “Lazy Susans”, and had Zhang Lao Shi order us a large assortment of delicious dishes to share. This lunch was our first-ever lunch as a group in China, and was a much needed break from the walking in the morning. As the day went on, we went on a golf cart and boat tour, but most of us were so tired that the second half of the day flew very quickly. During the boat tour, our guide started singing songs about San Bai Shan in Chinese, adding life to the last leg of our tour. This marked the end of our time at San Bai Shan National Park, and these are some moments I won’t forget for a long time. I’ve learned a great deal about the local legends and traditions of San Bai Shan, and hope that future GSL trips will have the same opportunity that we did to visit these beautiful places!