The Big Banyan Tree

After visiting the Jian Shan Temple, the tour bus brought us to our next destination which was The Big Banyan Tree, or Da Rong Shu in Mandarin.

Located by the west bank of Jinbao River in the Moon Hill scenic area, about 7 km south of Yangshuo, it was a major tourist attraction in Yangshuo County.

When I first heard about this Big Banyan Tree, I was like, what? We are going to travel all the way to look at a tree? Are you kidding me?

But it was no ordinary tree! Take a look!



Standing at about 17 metres high and measuring about 7 metres in diameter around the trunk, the tree was an amazing sight! Can you see those beautifully twisted roots and thick, gnarled branches?



I walked round the huge tree to take photos. Did you know that the whole tree covered an amazing 1,000 square metres?

First planted during the Sui Dynasty (581 - 618), the tree had survived wind and rain for over 1,400 years! Looking closely, I could see the stems and branches were very old and I could not imagine it had endured the ravages of nature for centuries!



I found that the tree provided a good shelter from the hot weather and the burning sun. With its thick branches and lush leaves stretching out, the sun could hardly penetrate through. It felt really good standing under the tree!

This Big Banyan Tree became a major tourist attraction after a scene from the famous old movie "The Third Sister Liu" (or "Liu Sanjie" in Mandarin) was filmed here. I have to admit I have not seen the movie before so I did not know the exact spot where the title character Liu Sanjie expressed her affection to her lover.

But I did see the very famous "Impression Liu Sanjie" live show during our stay in Yangshuo and I can tell you it was almost as amazing as the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony! I shall blog about this show in future!

Besides the Big Banyan Tree, I took some photos of the surrounding area. It was actually quite beautiful, with a lot of hills all around.





But there were also quite a lot of tourists!



Along the Jinbao River, there were people rafting.



I felt like crossing the river to the opposite side to explore the cave-like structure, but it was not on our tour's itinerary and with limited time, we had to move on.



Coming up next : Moon Hill and Dragon Pool

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