This trip has been on my China Bucket List for a very long time. I figured if I didn't go soon it wasn't going to happen at all. I booked a few days off work and set about trying to figure out how to get to this place in the middle of nowhere.
As it turned out, it was all very smooth and civilised which went again almost all of my experiences traveling domestically in China. Convinced there was another shoe to drop, I was overly careful and prepared for anything. My flight in the evening arrived on time, taxi found the hotel no problem, picked up train tickets and left on time. Got to WuLong and jumped on the only bus around, found myself at the ticket building so I walked up the hill to my hotel in the hope of checking in early. This is where the plan went slightly squiggly. I found the hotel and a note stuck to the door "Claire, call this number" so I did. Turns out I was the only person staying in a huge 5 floor hotel. The guy turned up, lets me into my room and then says he'll give me a lift back down the hill. Somewhere in the less than 5 minute drive, it was decided that I would be their guest at their families kill pig dinner in the mountains. An hour later we arrive at a farm house somewhere miles away from where we started. 
Everyone was a little confused about where the random foreigner had come from but they were nice enough and fed me. The hotel guy and his sister were very nice and patient with my Chinese and often translated from the various local languages for me. I was "force fed" cups of homemade honey flavored rice wine which was absolutely lovely. I was treated as a guest of honour and everyone was very worried about me being cold. I was expecting to be hiking so I was in shorts and boots. A little chilly but definitely not in need of the fire they insisted I sat next to.
After the meal, I was dropped off at the first of the scenic areas The Three Natural Bridges.
This place has been used for domestic films for years but only recently for anything not Chinese made. Transformers (I don't know which one) was filmed here and now there are statues and pictures of various robots just everywhere. Its fun turning a corner and being face with a dinosaur, or having Optimus Prime point to the bus but I felt it gave the park a bit of a theme park like atmosphere. Only in places though so its fairly well contained. I was here at the beginning of December so very much off season. They park was very quiet and the shuttle buses almost deserted.
First you have to follow a path to a giant glass elevator and go down into the bottom of the gorge, then you keep going down millions of steps through the first of the three bridges to the temple. It is very impressive and very difficult to make sense of the scale of the place. It actually has two arches with a height of 84-123 meters (275-403 feet) and a span of 20-75 meters (66-246 feet), (I goggle that)It is just massive! Annoyingly I was attacked by every Chinese woman wanting a photo with the foreigner, I was polite for the first dozen then started getting annoyed. The last few pictures are of my looking very pissed off, I don't think 20 minutes would be an exaggeration for this one just delightful group of grannies. Didn't stop again.
Anyway, the path winds along the bottom of the gorge and through the bridges/arches along side a river. It was very quiet and empty for the most part so I didn't really feel the need to rush. I was in the bottom of the gorge for about 2 hours before I hiked out the far end and got back on the bus to the ticket building.
I got back to the hotel and found out that the owner guy doesn't actually live that close by. He asked if he could just lock me in and go home. I was given the keys to the hotel, shown the kitchen for if I got hungry and taught how to use the TV.
It felt like a scene from the Shining but at least it was quiet I suppose.
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