Shexian Huizhou district & The Yuliang Riverside

In the south east of Anhui province, under the foot of Huangshan Mountain can be found historical and cultural Shexian county. Surrounded by green mountains and crystal clear waters, the entire area is rich in cultural relics, beautiful residencies and memorial temples and arches. It is said that the entire county is a museum of classical architecture. Most of the town towers, bridges, lanes and wells are from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties. .

Upon waking I thought to myself, that sounds like a brilliant place to spend the day. Some sit behind a desk staring at a computer and others go to ancient towns for a relaxing stroll.

I have been to many towns and cities that the prosperous Salt Merchants either founded or chose to build huge homes and gardens, live and raise their families and while doing so spread their huge wealth. I won’t write any more about them as I’ve included a heap of information on them below and their history is very interesting and well worth the read.

After a delicious breakfast with my buddy and is daughter (who own one of the eateries across the train station car park) I caught a small bus from the train station car park to Shexian city. When I arrived at the bus station I found my way to the main road (Xin’an Lu) and then walked across the bridge. At the end of the bridge I found what is supposed to be an ancient city wall and I was told that here I had to make a decision and a very easy one at that. If I headed left I would end up at the ticket office and would have to pay 80 Yuan for a ticket (which includes Yuliang Park and entry in to the main sites. I was also told that none of the sites were worth paying for). If I didn’t want to buy a ticket and get in for free, yes FREE I needed to follow the road right and go in through the arch way.

I believe that you don’t actually have to pay the 80 yuan unless you want to enter the sites and throughout the day I actually got into several without a ticket as it seemed that it was too much trouble for the ticket guy to ask me if I had one or not.

Though it is small I actually spent many hours walking around the streets getting lost and ending up on top of a small hill and then down the other side without even knowing it. Well I did know I was climbing stairs but I thought I was winding my way back down the side I had walked up but somehow ended up down the other side and after half an hour or so I actually had no idea where I was. Thankfully I was saved by two young girls who were following me saying 'Good Morning Teacher, Class Begin!’

I then found out they knew a lot more English than that as they walked me back up the hill and down the other side to where I actually thought I was when I met them.

After a huge bowl of rice, pork and vegetables in a local eatery I found down a vibrant little side street I thought it best to figure out just what and where Yuliang was. Of course after reading the LP I walked back to the bus station thinking that it was not on the Huizhou Park side of the river. When I arrived back on the bus station side of the bridge I began chatting to a pedicab driver and I then found that Yuliang was actually just up the road from the Huizhou District Park. After I told him that I had already been to the Huizhou district but never got a ticket he then told me he would show me a free way to get in.

To get to Yuliang you can take a taxi or a pedicab (or walk). Or if you are much smarter than me simply stay on the Huizhou Park side of the river and walk.

Honestly it is only a ten minute walk up the road that follows the river from the arch way leading into the Huizhou Park. On the way there, like I said there is a free way in as Yuliang does require a ticket to get through the gate. If you haven’t got a ticket either follow my free way in or if you want to see the two or so buildings you can pay the 30 Yuan entrance fee.

If you take a pedicab or walk to Yuiliang you will come to a corner with a large blue rubbish bin (not a dumpster) on the left hand side, across the other side of the road just as the corner turns there is a small plain concrete alley. Simply walk down this and soon you will come to the river side path and you won’t have to pay anything for your day in Shexian.

I actually found the city to be well worth more than one day’s adventure so I have decided to return tomorrow. Maybe a normal person could see most of it in one day but to do that you would have to also miss out on so much at each site you visit. So after thinking about it the only difference to me would be the bus fares to and from the following day and as it is a small local bus at the end of the day the bus fare would be less than on Corona beer at the Youth Hostel.

HOW MUCH AND HOW TO GET THERE

To get to Shexian simply walk across Beihai Lu from the Tunxi train station to the bus stop and grab the next bus going to Shexian. It costs between four and six yuan (depending on which bus and who you get. It cost of four on the way there and six to get home. I was going to argue but I then found that everyone was paying the same as me and being Chinese they were arguing like mad cats but it didn’t work.

It was six or walk I guess!

(blog.travelpod.com)