Goose Pond Mountains are located in Yueqing City, Zhejiang Province, about 400 km to the south of Shanghai. I had read about it in a high school textbook in the 1980s but I had never paid a visit. During this October 1st holiday, my wife Maggie, my son Daniel and I went there for the first time in our life.

Day One

Our high speed train left Shanghai Hongqiao at 7:50 am on Oct. 2nd and arrived at Goose Pond Mountains Station a few minutes before noon. We could not find any cars or buses to take us to the inn we had rented in Xiang Ling Tou, a village at the foot of the mountains. We were told that too many tourists had arrived already and there was a severe traffic jam. Before I started to worry, a local offered to take us half way over with his motor trike. “Then you can just walk 10 more minutes to get to the village,” he said. That sounded not too bad to me. I knew that our son would not complain. Daniel had climbed Yellow Mountain (Huangshan) with us when he was 6. Now he was 8, taller and stronger than most of his classmates.

We put down our luggage in our standard room at the inn thirty minutes later. After a quick lunch, we decided to go to Triple Waterfalls (San Zhe Pu Bu), whose entrance was only a five-minute walk from the village. In spite of the cars behind us and the crowds around us, soon I was convinced by the fresh smell of the air, the thick growth of trees, and the glistening rocks in the streams that I was in a forest.

Triple Waterfalls is actually made up of three separate waterfalls in one mountain. The Lower Waterfall and the Middle Waterfall were dried up. Although we had been advised otherwise, we went all the way to the Upper Waterfall. Most tourists did not get to the Upper Waterfall because the climbing was hard and because they did not expect to see much. Indeed, we found only a very small stream there，plunging from a narrow strip of sky at the top of an enclosing cliff. Nevertheless, we were not disappointed. Maggie sat down on a rock and quietly stroke water in the pond underneath the cliff. Daniel was so excited that he held up an umbrella and walked into the “shower”. Standing at the bottom of this cave-like structure, I was reminded, not of any other natural landscape, but of the dome of the Bahai Temple in a northern suburb of Chicago. Many a time I had sat in a back row chair in that spiritual building, not listening to any religious preaching, but to a mysterious murmuring that came to me like a stream from heaven.

After leaving the Upper Waterfall, we followed a new route downhill and went back to the village.

Day Two

Early the next morning, we took a minivan to Great Dragon Pond (Da Long Qiu), the much more famous waterfall. The cliff face of Great Dragon Pond was flat and outspread. The waterfall was like a white ribbon hanging loosely from a giant’s shoulder. There was again not too much water, but the morning wind played tricks to entertain her audience. It blew the falling stream into a twisting python, a prancing horse, or thousands of sparkling stars. Daniel went excitedly into a pavilion under the eternal fall showers. He let out cries of joy when he saw a rainbow popped out of the ground.

I took a truly stunning picture after going through this curtain of water. Only a few were on the inside of the fall, although a large crowd had gathered outside. Before I framed the scene in my camera, I had recognized its otherworldly beauty, shrouded in an artistic atmosphere of Chinese classical literature. The pond was a jade of emerald green, with a leaf-like bamboo raft floating on it. On the near side, large and small rocks were all bathed in permanent showers. On the far side, the outline of a gigantic bird wing was cut out in the cliff face, dwarfing the raft, the rocks, and the crowd of tourists.

We had a wonderful time at Great Dragon Pond. At around noon, we left reluctantly for the next scenic spot --- Spiritual Rock (Ling Yan). Spiritual Rock included many attractions. We first saw Small Dragon Pond Waterfall (Xiao Long Qiu), which was a good backdrop for photography with its shiny black cliff. Then we climbed up to Dragon Nose Cave (Long Bi Dong). The journey itself was pleasing. The destination, nevertheless, was not much of a sight with a lot of litter around. On our way back, a boy older than Daniel came up and asked us if the “Elephant Nose Cave” was close. I said, “Yes”. Then I realized that the boy mentioned “elephant nose” instead of “dragon nose”. “Whose nose did we actually pick?” I joked. Daniel laughed so much that I had to warn him to watch his way.

Later we saw the High Altitude Rope Show (Fei Du Biao Yan) which includes sliding between two peaks on a tight rope 200 meters above ground level and dangling down from a peak to the ground on a rope. We also took the elevator to visit the photogenic Sleeping Dragon Valley (Wo Long Gu), which was the source of Small Dragon Pond Waterfall. Both experiences were quite enjoyable.

Day Three

We did not see the night views of Spiritual Peak (Ling Feng) as recommended by many travel guides. Instead, we arrived at 7 am in the morning. We were glad that we could avoid the crowds and the tour guides’ loud speakers.

The first gorgeous scene we found was Fruit Stone Bridge (Guo He Qiao) with turquoise water underneath it. The bridge looked old. The water was clear and shallow with every piece of rock on the bottom visible. There were not even the tiniest ripples on the surface, but the entire water body seemed to be drifting in slow motion, as if we were watching a fantasy movie.

Then we were attracted by the statues of zodiac animals that lined up the steps to the Ancient Cave (Gu Dong). The Ancient Cave in its turn brought us to the East and the West Dwellings of Immortals (Dong Xi Yao Tai), which were platforms on the slope of a mountain peak. These two platforms provided the best panorama of the Spiritual Peak Valley, with all its famous peaks and temples in sight. The Gassho Peak (He Zhang Feng), with all its morning glory, stood right in front of us.

After coming down from the platforms, we first visited Big Dipper Cave (Bei Dou Dong). The cave was a Taoist Temple with a large diagram of Ying and Yang carved on its screen wall. I was particularly impressed by the main building, a large multi-floor wood structure that accommodated both worshipping centers and residential quarters. It made squeaking and screeching sounds when we walked on it. While we were taking a picture of the building, a lay Taoist woman on the top floor happened to stick her head in a window frame, which made it an interesting shot.

The Spiritual Peak Temple (Ling Feng Shi) and the Bodhisattva of Compassion Cave (Guan Ying Dong) are both around a thousand years old. About 400 years ago, Xu Xia Ke, the famous Chinese travel writer and geographer, recorded his visits to the places twice in his journals. In his second journal, Xu Xia Ke said that he climbed a thousand steps to reach the cave from the temple and found that the statues and stands were quite new there. Strangely, we could say exactly the same thing today. Xu Xia Ke also mentioned the Wind Cave at the foot of the mountain and said that strong winds often blew out from it. We saw the Wind Cave but did not squeeze ourselves in to explore.

From behind the Spiritual Peak Temple we climbed all the way to the Ever Spring Cave (Chang Chun Dong). Ever Spring Cave is the attraction of the highest altitude in this region. Still remembering how hard it had been to climb the Yellow Mountain, Daniel and I came to the conclusion that Goose Pond Mountains is not a challenge for climbers like us. Maggie, however, wished that we could go to a beach resort for our next holiday trip.

We went back to Xiang Ling Tou Village for lunch at noon and took an afternoon train back to Shanghai. This is indeed a fantastic journey and it will stay in our memory for ever.