Mount Wuyi

Mount Wuyi (武夷山 Wǔyíshān) is a very popular scenic area in Nanping prefecture, Fujian Province, China.

Understand
Attractions include mountains much like those at Guilin, temples and other historic buildings, and raft rides down a sensational river canyon. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its natural environment and for its culture. It is also famous for tea.

History
Various court officials, poets and scholars have lived here. It was a famous retreat for such folk.

Landscape
Ancient volcanic landscape that millions years of erosion has transformed into a maze of gorges, precipes and caves. Unearthly.

Flora and fauna
Lots of snakes, including many preserved in restaurants or pharmacies in town &mdash; snakes pickled in wine are a traditional Chinese medicine. You may notice that bird song is less common than in other places in China; this is mainly due to snakes. Going off the beaten path in forest areas without a guide is not recommended.

Fees and permits
To get into the main body of the park, it costs ¥140 for 1 day, ¥150 for 2 days and ¥160 for 3 days. You must purchase tickets for the bus along with the entry tickets: ¥70, ¥85, or ¥95 for 1, 2, or 3 days, respectively. You can purchase the rafting separately for ¥130 per person and pick a time. There are only 8 times to go rafting and on weekends it can be very busy. A package deal for 2 days of tour and rafting is ¥365 per person. There are student tickets available if you bring a valid student ID (although validity is not checked thoroughly), bringing the price for the 3-day ticket (including bus, excluding rafting) down to ¥145. You can do everything in one day if you rush, but two days is more relaxed and enjoyable.

There is a ticket counter near the (closed) middle entrance, in downtown Wuyi. This is operated by a tour operator, and they charge ¥25 extra for tickets. You get a voucher that you need to change into an ordinary ticket at the south (main) entrance, so this does not avoid any trouble there. The extra hassle and cost is worth it only if you need to be absolutely sure to get a ticket for rafting the next day, which might be useful during the peak season.

You can also buy tickets online from the official Wuyi Mountain taobao shop; however, it only works if you have a Chinese ID card. Another method is using the Dazhongdianpin app (大众点评) that might even offer discounts.

Get around
The area is split into 3 parts: Park Area (South and North) in the western part, Resort (like a city with lots of tea shops, not the actual city!) in the eastern part, and the City to the north of the resorts.

You can buy tickets and switch to the shuttle bus network at the or the busier, or conceivably also the  at the start of the rafting. Public transit buses run through parts of the park (e.g. past Wuyi Palace), so it is possible to find yourself at a tourist bus stop without the required ticket. You will be directed to the nearest park entrance to buy it, and they'll generally let you ride the shuttle to get there.

The local tourist agency can provide a guide and driver for a fee. You will get to see much more than just hiking on your own if you do know where to go and would only stop at the bus stops but you can also organize this yourself.

Entrance tickets to the main attractions of the mountain include bus transportation within that area. The entrance tickets must be purchased together even though the English signs split up the costs. You are only sometimes asked to show the tickets for buses but you must show the tickets to the attractions.

Bus No.6 will take you to the bridge that leads to the park area in the center section, stops many times in the resort area, then continues by the airport, train station (7-min walk from the bus stop) and even further. It costs ¥1-3 depending on your distance, e.g. resort to train station is ¥3 (Oct 2014). There are also signs for other buses such as No.5 but it runs very rarely. There are alternative buses that run along the same route as No.6 and pick you up for the same cost as long as you tell the driver or assistant where you are going.

Do not use the motorcycle or bicycles. They charge you per person and are not worth the trip and will try to bring you to restaurants for extra commission. Take the mountain transportation to Wuyi Palace (Wuyi Gong) and walk 10 min to cross the bridge. Taxis are always going to rip you off for ¥30-40 without meter (Oct 2014), avoid unless you are in a hurry.

Do
Ride a raft down the Nine Bend Stream (九曲溪). The "rafts" are long tied bamboo (or PVC fake bamboo) rafts with six bamboo seats. Life jackets are provided although the water is very calm and this does not require any rafting experience or effort on the part of the riders. Your shoes might get wet if you do not pay attention, especially on the little downstream parts. Two drivers use long poles to steer the craft down the water. The landscape is sensational, with sheer cliffs and tall mountains. It might get very hot so make sure you bring a hat or umbrella and sunscreen yourself first. Look out for the caves with very old coffins in them on the sheer cliff at the fourth bend. A "cruise" down all nine bends takes one and a half hours and is highly recommended. The price of the raft ride is regulated at ¥135 and tickets are obtained at the official ticket offices at both gates (South/North) with the South gate being where buses depart for the rafting. You do not need to pay the entrance fee for the other attractions to do this trip as it is separate. If you understand Chinese you can pay ¥20 each to listen to an explanation about the area by the drivers. Chinese like to do this but honestly there is not much to hear that you can't see from a map (Chinese tourists are not so good with maps). You do want to book ahead because the trips are often sold out on weekends. If you are there for a weekend then buying the ticket on Saturday for Sunday probably makes sense. There are 8 trips per day starting from 06:40, with 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. Going at noon or 13:00 is hotter.

You can hike to anywhere in the park, but might have to walk along the roads which may not be so enjoyable. Longer trails will have fewer people and more snakes. The trails are generally very well signposted, but the distances indicated can in some cases be very inconsistent. There are trails from Water Curtain Cave to Dahongpao and Tianxin Yongle temple, from outside Dahongpao to the river just above Tianyou Peak, and along the north side of the river to Xingcun Zhen, the starting point of the rafting. Another trail connects A Thread of Sky, Roaring Tiger Rock, and the Jade Girl Rock viewpoint.

You can see the area as split into 2 parts. North: South:
 * Water Curtain Cave [Bus Stop]
 * Eagle's Beak Rock (on the way from Water Curtain Cave to Dahongpao Valley)
 * Dahongpao Valley [Bus Stop]
 * Wuyi Palace [Bus Stop] (also end point for rafting)
 * Heavenly Tour Peak [Bus Stop]
 * Peach Blossom Cave (reached from Heavenly Tour Peak)
 * Roaring Tiger Rock [Bus Stop]
 * A Ray Of Sky [Bus Stop] (walking path from Roaring Tiger Rock)
 * Rafting Wharf [Bus Stop]

You may have to change several buses to get from one end to the other or from one location to another. Ask the local station attendant which bus to take, or point at it on the map.



Buy
The area is famous for tea. A small pack costs a few yuan and comes in several containers. The tea is generally the same but is filled by the shop itself fresh so that is why you might see slight variations as well. The big gift packs cost more just for the nice design. The prices at the Dahongpao valley are high; buy it in the resort area for a decent price.

Prices for tea in China are rather like prices for wines in the West; there is plenty of reasonable stuff at decent prices, but something that is either top-quality or rare can be quite expensive, and a product that is both may cost a phenomenal amount. The record is held by some tea off a few bushes halfway up a cliff in the Da Hong Bao valley, bushes whose product was once reserved for the Emperor. It fetched over US$1000 a gram at an auction in Shanghai!

See the Chinese cuisine article for an in-depth discussion.

Snakes are used for Chinese medicine and you can find them preserved or as medication directly. Very expensive. Some of the restaurants display them in glass jars, apparently pickled, and offer expensive specialty dishes using them as an ingredient.

Lots of shops have wooden Buddha statues; they are almost the only thing to buy in the resort area aside from tea. It is a problematic purchase for overseas tourists since they are heavy and bulky.

If you play the game of Go (weiqi in Chinese), or want a gift for someone who does, these shops have wooden bowls to hold the go stones. The plain ones are about ¥50 (under $10) a set and look more-or-less identical to bowls sold elsewhere for $100 or more. More expensive ones are carved from tree roots and have a lovely pattern of knots; as far as we know, these are not available anywhere else. Be careful, however, to get bowls that are large enough; some of the ones sold here will not hold a full set of moderately thick stones.

Eat

 * Tea eggs. These are eggs hardboiled in tea with a little hole to let the taste fill the egg white. Nice cheap snack found anywhere in China but particularly good at Wuyi Mountain if good tea is used. The ones at Dahongpao valley rest stop, for example, are usually really good, but at the rafting area you might just find lousy ones. ¥3 for one or perhaps ¥10 for three. Careful as they might be hot. Good to have with a cup of tea on the side.

Lots of restaurants list the prices per pound which will add up to quite a lot! The menu is mixed for prices per dish and you might not notice when you order. This is true for pheasant, rabbit and other rarities including bear and the expensive fish. The pheasants are only killed for you and you are probably expected to eat the entire animal. The restaurants in the Wuyi Resort area are overpriced and very oily with the dishes not being particularly good. There is not much choice for local food but it is not recommended to seek out the "土家" restaurants. Some motorcycle touts are in cahoots with these restaurants and will drop you off expecting you to go there, playing innocent about "oh I thought you said you want to eat dinner".

Ask the price before you order if you eat in any restaurants without menu given to you!

Go into real town in the evenings (20:00 is good) when the local food stands make nice Fujian dishes for just a few ¥ although a little less sanitary than you might expect.

For non-local fast food, there are a Dico's (hamburg chain) and KFC in the resort area. If you are avoiding the local restaurants (see above) then it might just be this or bread from the supermarkets and bakeries (which are also not very good).

Sleep
There is an occasional bike race which will close the park partially, most likely the entire north side. You can probably still be in the park but the buses do not run at that time and the prices in town might be a little bit higher at the time. Not many tourists come to see this but the crew will fill up more hotels.



Camping
Camping is not allowed in the park. If you get found someone might kick you out of the park area. As the area has snakes you might not want to consider doing this anyway.

Backcountry
The area of the park stretches further than the bus stop locations but the pretties part is within the rafting to the north gate.

Stay safe
Do not hike outside the paths as the area has many snakes, some rather large too (rare, as they would probably be caught for medicinal uses already), and cliffs.

The area is otherwise very safe. People are very friendly and touts are merely annoying. The staff of the park are helpful and emergency staff is available in case of accidents.

Go next
Fly to another major city from here or take a train to Fuzhou, Xiamen. There are many tours through Fujian that include Wuyi Mountain mid-way through which might be the best way to tour through all Fujian has to offer (by tour bus) such as Fujian Tulou. The high-speed train line continues north to Shangrao, with access to Sanqingshan, then onward to Huangshan, if you haven't had your fill of spectacular rocks.