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Logbook:
9th April 2003: Xinhua
Duncan Collis, Erin Lynch, Matt Ryan, Prof. Zhu Xue Wen
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After 11 hours in the Pajero + numerous repacks of all the
"zhong de" luggage, we arrived in Xinhua to meet 3 men whose
faces seemed disconcertingly familiar. Clearly it's time to
start keeping a diary because over dinner it was revealed that
I'd had an extensive conversation about US colleges with one
of them in August. Oh, well. Names will have to wait until
tomorrow. Dinner was a tame affair with milk the beverage
of choice + only one (not very) spicy dish because Prof. Zhu's
stomach was giving him gyp. After dinner we retired to a
luxurious hotel complete with nudie-pic bathroom tiles and VCD
players. The usual police rigamarole was followed by entry of
the Institute's old Compass data. We were assigned two
rooms--earlier in the day Prof. Zhu had gone into great
detail discussing with a restauranteur how in the the west it was
okay for unmarried couples to cohabitate + he repeated this at
the hotel.
Tomorrow we will survey a new passage that's been found at a
high level in Mei Shan Long Gong,
which has been open for visitors since the new year.
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- Erin Lynch
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10th April 2003: Repetitive stress injury?
Duncan Collis, Erin Lynch, Matt Ryan, Prof. Zhu Xue Wen
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We began the day with a top breakfast of dim sum, leaving our
posh digs at an unsociably early hour (8am). A 1.5 hr jeep ride
followed to , home of Mei
Shan Long Gong. When we stopped at a dirt track, my first
thought was that they're going to have to build a road if they
expect many tourists, but never fear, around the corner they were
already hard at work laying a foundation out of water-worn cobbles
that presumably had come from the nearby river. In the bed of the
tributary flowing from the cave workers were hard at work making
round stones square. The powers that be put us up in the
newly-built showcave hostel, and then it was time to see the cave.
A dam 100m outside the cave formed a pond that reflected the large
entrance nicely, including a large stone tablet signed by Prof. Zhu.
Through the large river passage with a beautiful ceiling of white
limestone with solution pockets, the lighting seemed positively
subdued. But then we rounded a corner + it was flashing lights in
red, green, and gold. The path wound over a large set of gours +
then past a gour/construction zone which was to be a tourist waiting
area, to another dam + long metal boats. The boat ride was superb,
with low sections breaking out into bits 50m high. The lighting was a bit
OTT, but that's to be expected. At the end the boat did a U turn
+ dropped us off at a dock halfway along. From there we climbed up,
past a new passage that we were to map later, and into a series of
galleries. 3 tunnels had been blasted in the cave, and there were
signs of damage on some of the stals as a result. Near the end
there was a large flat area with a green and purple floor + a raised
platform--it was positively indescribable.
After lunch we donned caving gear + trooped back into the
cave for another go at the boat ride. This time we stopped at the
end + followed our guides through 500?m of undeveloped cave.
The presence of our guides made it unnecessary to do much
furtling ourselves, since they told us they'd already had a look
at most things, which was good, since Duncan's coccyx was giving
him a great deal of bother. While sitting down to relieve the pain
a bit, Dunks noticed the sound of the streamway coming from below.
Down a loose climb we found ~60m of stream passage with a
(probable) sump at one end and a choke at the other. A possible
lead remains at the top of a large flowstone > 10m high. It will
require bolting or an extension ladder.
We returned to the cave entrance only to meet a large party
of reporters, so it was back into the cave for a photo shoot +
interviews. By this point Dunks was in agony so after a lot of
explanations and a series of photos he was allowed to go back
to the hostel. Matt + I went on the boat ride again,
trying hard to look interested in the scenery as we passed it
for the 5th and 6th times that day. To be fair, I quite enjoyed
being able to see up so high, an experience we don't normally
get in exploratory caving
WIth the assistance of 2 ladders we all had a look at the new
passage. At one point I gave myself a good scare when I was
asked to crawl among some formations + I ended up bashing my
head but thankfully didn't break any stal. The formations in the
chamber are so delicate, I think they might have problems if they
decide to blast a new route into it. The highlight of the trip had to
be when the reporters spotted a >6 inch long rat + chased it with
their spotlights--the poor thing was harassed terribly, but it
seemed to lieve well in the cave--it definitely looked well fed.
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- Erin Lynch
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11th April 2003
Duncan Collis, Erin Lynch, Matt Ryan, Prof. Zhu Xue Wen
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Went to the "new" passage in the showcave to survey it. First we
surveyed to a few likely candidates for survey stations on the
existing centreline, slightly hindered by the station numbers on
the survey not matching those in the dataset, and not being able to
find any marked stations. However, the showcave guys instructed us
where to stand, so presumably it's OKish.
The passage is fairly well decorated, but nothing really stunning,
and quite muddy in places. Surveyed to the end, where the way on is
blocked by flowstone, and also investigated a couple of holes in the
floor, one of which went to about 50m of passage, but we were told
not to survey it--think the Chinese guys wanted to go out for their tea.
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- Duncan Collis
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12th April 2003: Engineering problems
Duncan Collis, Erin Lynch, Matt Ryan, Prof. Zhu Xue Wen
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After quite a lot of discussion, it was decided to go + have a look/survey
around the end of the boat trip, with an eye to locating a good place for
the tunnel entrance. It was a nice change to be able to see so much thanks
to the showcave lights, although they tended to go on and off at inconvenient
times and in places they occupied the best footholds.
We spotted a possible bolt traverse to a higher level ledge, but Prof.
Zhu clued us in that the ledge was tufa, and not suitable for tourists.
Most of the rock forming the walls in that area was conglomerate aka biscuit,
which posed an engineering problem for tunnel construction. In fact, the
whole length of the E bank had been undercut in the past, and a section
of sediments had slumped, while a large boss (~5m dia) had split in half,
one part falling into the streamway. Now the challenge was to find a bit of
rock strong enough to hold a tunnel.
The boat ride back was a bit jolly, with the photographer + manager doing
their best to sink our already leaky craft.
In the afternoon we had a long discussion with the management and
then posed for about 20 photos with the staff.
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- Erin Lynch
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13th April 2003: Fossil cave
Duncan Collis, Erin Lynch, Matt Ryan, Prof. Zhu Xue Wen
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A night of hard rain, + the river was running brown. The river cave was removed
from our itinerary, leaving us with only a fossil cave survey to knock out before we
could head back to Guilin. For a change we decided to survey out. We quickly reached
an end to the cave -- a choice of two low arches with deep pools. There was the sound
of running water beyond, but the pools were distinctly uninspiring. Luckily the locals
informed the prof that at one time there was passage beyond, but now a blockage
barred the way on and the water level had risen in response. The "no go" thus
being official, we all breathed a sigh of relief and quickly surveyed out in time to get
back to the nice hotel in Xinhua in the evening.
Unfortunately, Prof. Zhu declined the offer of a nice hotel and we were stuck in one
that was distinctly down market--even our driver complained of the smell!
The highlight of the evening was not the beer (a joy after too many days on the
awful brand they stocked in Mei Shan) or the writing on a scroll with a wonky pen,
but rather our wholesale flight from a tourism official sent to watch over us as we
roamed the bad streets of Xinhua. We pounded down the stairs, out the door and
through the the parking lot before giving in to the inevitable.
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- Erin Lynch
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14th April 2003: An unfortunate encounter
Duncan Collis, Erin Lynch, Matt Ryan, Prof. Zhu Xue Wen
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The long hours of our journey home were interrupted by a woman
standing with her feet firmly planted in the middle of the road, a
heavy orange brick held upon her shoulder. Our driver slammed into
reverse, but she ran up to the jeep too quickly, hand outstretched before
her as she ran into the bonnet. She demanded 100Y, and Prof. Zhu
told the driver to giver her a one. This quickly became 10, then 50, and
finally 100. She came alongside the jeep, hoisting the brick up against
the window + paint-work as she made her demands, alternately
threatening and pulling up her shirt to show her breasts. The money
in hand, she let us go + we sped off.
I was struck by the different reactions we all had to the incident.
Prof. Zhu quickly acceded to her demands, while those of us from
the west responded more aggressively, sizing up the situation with an
eye to denying her the money. Prof. Zhu undoubtedly knows best,
having lived through so much turmoil in China, but it was a bit
disturbing that he didn't make any attempts to notify the authorities.
I have to assume that they must condone the crime. I'd come to think
of China as a very safe place, perhaps corrupt in places, but not
violent or dangerous.
A road worker told us there was no more tricky business ahead, but
at the next village 2 large lorries blocked the road and a gang of
un-uniformed men demanded a "highway tax" from each vehicle that
passed.
I shall not be back to Shouyang any time soon.
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- Erin Lynch
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