Journey to the Monkey King's home

[Jimbob]

A while ago I visited Lianyungang in Jiangsu Province, China on a work assignment. I had been driven 600 kilometres from Zhengzhou to this major sea port on very good toll expressways. A cooler but very humid summer climate.

Lianyungang is an unremarkable city of one million people with a population of 4 million in the surrounding prefecture. Its industries are mainly based on petro-chemical by-products and of course an Economic Export zone. The westerners I came across were mainly Russian and Germans.
It also seems this city is a major sex toy and condom producer according to a local website but that seems to be a bit of a stretch.

At the end of the gruelling three day factory assignment I had a free July afternoon to enjoy. My business hosts suggested various activities around town, like getting drunk, then going to a KTV to find girls, but I could see up on the nearest mountain, a Pagoda, and asked ‘could I be taken up there’? I noted much surprise on why would I want to go there, as many had not been up on Yuntai mountain, the highest peak in Jiangsu Province at 620 metres.

With car and interpreter arranged, I arrived at what seemed like a theme park or national park covering the mountain. The main gate was marked with a monkey head.

park gate

My interpreter, known as 'Sunny', a very tiny person with a passion of cute shoes, started to explain in Chinglish this was the site of the legend of the monkey king, Sun Wukong, and its connection to the novel Journey to the West (: Xī Yóu Jì;), one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature.

It dawned on me this was this story of ‘Monkey’ that had been produced by Japanese TV in the 1980s with the characters of Monkey, Sandy, Pigsy, a white horse and the monk Tripitaka, (or Xuánzàng in Chinese), and voiced over in English in various countries: These four characters agreed to help Tripitaka as atonement for their past sins.
This program was compulsory viewing for my daughter and her generation. The story was also the basis of an opera in Mandarin by Damon Albarn in 2007.
Yuntai Mountain is famous for its 'Huaguoshan Shuiliandong' attraction or "Water Curtain Hole," since, according to legend, the hole was hidden behind a waterfall, therefore resembling a "curtain of water." According to legend it is the home of the Monkey King.

one of many monkey kings peering over rocks

In this hole, underneath the mountain is where he and his monkey subjects lived. After learning ‘The Way’, the Monkey King travelled back to the hole behind the waterfall so that he and his subjects could eat and play for eternity.

Sunny and the water curtain over the cave entrance

Entry fee to the park was 20 RMB, which included being crammed into a mini bus shuttle and taken up a steep winding road to just below the summit: a relief on a hot summer’s day. Having a tall ‘Laowei’ on the bus was most unexpected by the Chinese passengers so I was minutely inspected for looks and smell. Westerners are very rare visitors to this mountain. The highest peak was a short walk from the shuttle drop off point, complete with obelisk with an Angel or ‘Celestial body’ inscription (but not sure why).

angel obelisk

Maybe it was because the guide who joined us was a stunning angel from Anhui. She didn’t speak English so the commentary was relayed via Sunny and shrank in size with the time and heat. (I felt slightly exposed not having the usual parabola like most visitors.)

The two angels, (guide and interpreter)

coastal view

The views would have been more spectacular over the coastal plane except for the horizon being obscured by high humidity mist.

coastal plain

Part way down the mountain descent paths is the 1300 year old Sanyuan monastery but sadly it was closed for renovation works.

A steep stairway led down from the monastery to a cable car station to finish the descent to the car park. ‘Sunny’, being small and with unsuitable sandals had great trouble negotiating these steps.

long steps down to the monastary

I didn’t get to see the pagoda after all which was apparently on a nearby peak.

During my next visit to Lianyungang, I reluctantly joined my business associates on their visit to a KTV: but that’s another story.

[charlesh]

Was worried for awhile first pic showed a blue sky then the later ones of smog shrouded down town.
Just like the China I remember.
So where were those hideous monkeys hiding then? You can have several thousand from here in HH or Phetchaburi if you like.

[buksida]

Great trip report ... makes me want to go travelling again!

[migrant]

Thanks for the report!!

[mabubba]

Awesome report. I have yet to visit China. I like the idea of visiting out of the way places.

[HuntingTigers]

Great photos! What was the food like?

[PeteC]

Thanks for sharing that, a very good read. Pete

[Jimbob]

To the hungry 'Hunting Tigers' question: The food was a plentiful surprise but good. I quickly got over the shock of eating sea cucumbers, chicken feet, lotus roots etc. Not the Cantonese type food I have been used to. Noodles a plenty but little rice. The photos show a typical banquet lunch with many obligatory 'Gan Bei'.