A tourist walks carefully along the mountain pass, a section of the ancient Shu Road in Guangyuan. Photos by Yang Feiyue / China Daily
A trip for those who love nature－and do not fear heights.
I was on a rugged, narrow stone path carved out of a cliff face. In fact it was so narrow that before I embarked on it I had to make sure no one was coming the other way because even two slim people would barely have been able to pass each other.
I bent over at certain points to avoid bumping my head against protruding boulders on my left, all the while making sure my feet did not slip across the iron chain to my right, sending me over the precipice.
The strange excitement of all this was supplemented by the wondrous view of the mountainous landscape.
The 900-meter path, at an altitude of 1,000 meters at its highest point, is one of the hidden delights awaiting the adventurous along Jianmen Pass in Guangyuan city, Sichuan province. The city is about 200 kilometers north of the provincial capital, Chengdu.
The pass features two cliffs facing each other and stretched out like castle walls. It is a vital point along the Shu Road that connected Xi'an, in Shaanxi province, to Sichuan in ancient times and is more than 3,000 years old.
This section of the Shu Road used to be the only access to the southwestern region from the outside world.
Last year the Shu Road was put on a list of candidates for UNESCO world heritage classification. Of the 3,700-square kilometer core road area, more than 2,000 sits in Guangyuan.
It needs to be said that this climb is not for the faint hearted, and dexterity with both hands and feet is needed in climbing some sections of the road because some inclines are nearly vertical, and the rough-hewn steps are very high, necessitating the help of iron chains on the side that you can grasp.
