After the trip to Xi'an in early March, we embarked on another spontaneous journey.
It all started with an unexpected water outage in our neighborhood. Initially, we were informed that the water would be cut off for two days. On the first day, I brought back two large buckets and two small buckets of water from work, just enough for washing up. It was scorching hot, and not being able to take a shower made us feel extremely uncomfortable. The water still wasn't fixed on the second day, and I saw a truck carrying water for landscaping purposes, but the water that came out was murky and unusable.
We thought about staying in a hotel, but then we realized that it was already Thursday, and since we were going to stay in a hotel, we might as well go out and play on the weekend. So we decided to go out of town. We planned to head north because the temperature had reached 37°C these past few days, and going to Datong in the north would be cooler. However, my wife wanted to go south to the Taihang Mountains and the Grand Canyon. After checking, we found out that the Taihang Mountains near Baquan Gorge were closed for the construction of a hydropower station and would not reopen until July. Going to Datong would take nearly four hours by car, and the Yungang Grottoes were a bit too much for our five-year-old child to comprehend. In the end, we settled on a trip to Xinzhou. Our self-driving route was Xinzhou Ancient City ➡️ Yanmen Pass ➡️ Luya Mountain ➡️ back home.
Xinzhou Ancient City#
We left work early on Friday, packed our bags, and waited at the school gate for our child to finish school. We set off at 5:30 pm and arrived at Xinzhou Ancient City, which was 110 km away, at 8 pm. Since our trip was quite rushed and we didn't have time to do much research, we felt a bit lost when we first entered the ancient city. We didn't have a chance to try the local delicacies as we had only taken a quick stroll. We went up the city wall, which took us more than 40 minutes, but the view was still quite nice. On the day before we left, we visited Xinzhou Ancient City again. It was crowded the previous night, and we didn't get to taste the local food. We arrived at the ancient city after 11 pm, took some photos, and left.
Yanmen Pass#
Yanmen Pass is an important part of the Great Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is known as the "First Pass of China."
During the Warring States period, Li Mu, the god of war of the Zhao Kingdom, stationed here and "defeated over 100,000 Xiongnu cavalry."
During the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, General Meng Tian led 300,000 soldiers out of Yanmen Pass, drove the Xiongnu beyond the Yin Mountains, and built the Great Wall.
During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, famous generals Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, and Li Guang all fought against the Xiongnu inside and outside Yanmen Pass, defeating them many times. Li Guang, known as the "Ape-Armed General," fought against the Xiongnu dozens of times while serving as the Prefect of Daijun, Yanmen, and Yunzhong, earning him the title of "Flying General" by the Xiongnu.
During the reign of Emperor Yuan of Han, Wang Zhaojun left Yanmen Pass to marry and establish friendly relations.
In the early Northern Song Dynasty, Yang Ye led his soldiers to defeat the Liao army many times, and his son Yang Liu Lang and grandson Yang Zong Bao continued to defend the north for over 20 years, defeating the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia Kingdom. After the sacrifice of Yang Zong Bao, his grandmother She Taijun, at the age of 100, took command herself and led a group of twelve widows to battle, with her daughter-in-law Mu Guiying as the vanguard, defeating the Western Xia Kingdom.
At 11:30 am, we drove directly from Xinzhou Ancient City to the north gate parking lot of Yanmen Pass. We didn't take the highway and instead took the Erxi Line. Along the way, we experienced the thrilling 18 bends of Yanmen Pass. As soon as we entered the mountains, our mobile phone signal was lost, and the scenery became more and more magnificent as we climbed higher. We arrived at our destination around 2 pm.
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Luya Mountain#
After spending about three hours exploring Yanmen Pass, we still had plenty of time, so we decided to head towards Luya Mountain in advance. Luya Mountain has a two-way single-lane mountain road, and June and July are peak seasons. It was also the weekend, so we were afraid of getting stuck on the road if we went too late. We checked the hotels near the scenic area, but the online reviews weren't very good. So we decided to take a detour to Wuzhai County, which was 38 kilometers away from the scenic area and would take about an hour to reach. On the way from Yanmen Pass, we climbed two more mountains and it took us three hours. When we arrived in Wuzhai County, it was already late, and we didn't have time to find a good place to eat the famous Wuzhai stew. We asked the hotel front desk for recommendations, and they said the stew wasn't good 😄.
The next day, after having breakfast at the hotel, we set off at 9:30 am. We climbed another mountain and arrived at the tourist service center at 10:30 am. We bought tickets and then navigated to the Gaoqiaowa parking lot. We arrived at the parking lot at 11 am and then took a small vehicle up the mountain. After getting off the vehicle, we climbed for about half an hour and finally, at 12:10 pm, we emerged from the forest. The first thing that caught our eyes was the vast herds of cattle and the clouds within reach.
We wasted too much time and energy at Malun Grassland, and we were also accompanied by our child. We could only admire Luya Mountain from a close distance, as we didn't have the energy to climb further up.
Return Journey#
On the way down the mountain, there was another attraction called "Lovers' Valley." If we hadn't visited Malun Grassland before, this place would have been quite nice. However, after experiencing the magnificent view from the mountaintop, Lovers' Valley seemed a bit underwhelming. We also didn't have the energy to complete the entire walk as we were halfway through when we took a detour from the fork in the road. Nevertheless, we still took some photos since we had already paid for the entrance ticket and didn't want to waste it.
Our original plan was to appreciate the source of the Fen River. As a native of Shanxi, the Fen River is our mother river. However, on the way down the mountain, we saw a clear stream, and we let our child play for a while. We were running out of time, so we didn't go to the source of the Fen River. It took us 3 hours and 45 minutes to return home, covering a distance of 201 kilometers. We climbed three mountains along the way. After passing through Yanmen Pass, these mountains were not dangerous. The main challenge was the large number of trucks on the road, all traveling in convoys. The mountain roads were winding with very few straight sections, so there weren't many opportunities for overtaking. Fortunately, the scenery along the way was beautiful. When we got home, my wife said she had been sleepy on the road but didn't dare to sleep because there were so many large trucks. She ended up sleeping for the entire journey.