The Turbulence and Tenacity of Hukou Falls

The Good Girls were part of a group of American travel writers visiting tourist sites in Shaanxi Province. One dreary, gray morning the bus pulled into a parking lot near the famed Hukou waterfall. Despite the light drizzle, everyone piled out to get an up-close look at the largest waterfall on the Yellow River, the second largest in China. We carefully walked down the slippery path to the growling sounds of the falls. 

Walking the path toward Hukou Falls in Shaanxi Province

The water flowing in the Yellow River is indeed yellow, sort of an amber hue that’s mixed with mud and silt the river churns up. The color reminded me of the Colorado River in the Southwest of the United States. 

Water in the Yellow River approaching Hukou Falls

Despite its fame, the Hukou Waterfall has rather modest dimensions, about 100 feet wide, increasing to 164 feet during flood season, and only 65 feet tall. Yet, thousands of tourists come to see this waterfall and experience its thundering roar, especially during the flood or rainy season when the waterfall is at its mightiest.

Any currents in the Yellow River

The waterfall forms as the Yellow River approaches Hukou Mountain. There it becomes blocked on both sides and squeezes through a narrow valley called the Jinxia Grand Canyon. The riverbed abruptly narrows down from nearly 1,000 feet wide to less than 164 feet turning the calm river to turbulent rapids. The roaring water then plunges about 65 feet over a narrow opening on a cliff. It gets the name Hukou (literally, "flask mouth") because someone thought it looked like water pouring out from a huge teapot.

The wild Hukou Falls

If you’re looking for a dreamy yet dramatic waterfall like Niagara or Iguassu, the Hukou Waterfall won’t do. The raging river doesn’t cascade over the rocks, no, the choppy Hukou feels angry. It ferociously roars without a care about anyone or anything. I don’t use these words frequently, but I can best describe the attitude of Mother Nature as screaming, “F you, get out of my way.” 

I worried about this little boy on his own near the falls.

And, you had better heed the warning as the agitation would likely be deadly for anyone who fell in. 

The water sprays up from the falls getting onlookers wet. 

My group meandered around the edge of the falls and left feeling disappointed that Hukou was not the most spectacular of nature’s gifts, but certainly worth a stop for those passing nearby. If you come during flood season, I suspect you might feel differently. 

A much calmer section of the Yellow River.

To increase summer tourism to the area, the local Chinese folks decided to bring a live musical/dance performance to the rocky shores on something like a natural stage. When we were there in early April, the cast was rehearsing several numbers, but in jeans and light jackets. Knowing how spectacular Chinese costumes and performances run, I am confident the show will be a stunner. 

Dance Practice

When their rehearsal was finished, we got a bonus – a brilliant festooned group of drummers. Shaanxi drumming groups are typically local clubs who meet and train to perform traditional dances. They show extreme passion while striking the beats with whole body intensity and passion. Their bodies seem to lift off the ground as if being pulled by puppet strings. Each performer appears to love every minute of the exhausting routines. We loved them, too and loudly cheered.

Look at the intensity on the drummers face. 

How do you say Ta Duh in Chinese? 

With that, we took off for our next stop further along the windy roads in Shaanxi Province. 

Good Girls head West to go East to China

Invited to spend 15 days exploring Shaanxi Province in China, Debi and Judy traveled from Florida to Los Angeles and then onto Xiamen, China via Xiamen Airlines. Bleary-eyed but eager, we flew on to Xi'an, the center and capital of Shaanxi Province.

Too late for the scheduled lunch, our group of 12 writers/photographers were taken to the Forest of Stone Stele (Beilin) Museum, where the director was waiting to give us a tour and a gang of Chinese paparazzi were waiting to photograph and video our every move.

Strange feeling for all members of our now formal delegation as we are invariably on the "taking" side of the camera.

Normally it is a serene environment with its stately, primarily Tang dynasty carved books and essays and sculptures of  stone surrounded by meticulously designed and maintained landscaping.

Daxia dynasty horse, circa 424.

All too soon we were politely herded into the meeting room for a formal meeting with our host, Mr. Gao Zhangyin, Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Tourism Development Commission.

We were each presented with beautiful Lian Pu wooden painted masks, a Shaanxi regional specialty. One look at the exquisite presentation box and our hearts broke: no way would the whole thing fit in our luggage for the trip home. 

Think the Good Girls were feeling grubby after 35 hours of non-stop travel? 

 Just 

 wait.

From there our bus headed for the Crowne Plaza Xi'an hotel where we are guests at the kick-off banquet for the Xi'an Silk Road International Tourism Expo, which opens the next morning and yes, we will be honored guests there, too. Champagne and living "terracotta warriors" greeted us in elegant surroundings.

Imagine sitting at a beautifully set, prominent table in a ballroom filled with tastefully dressed, bathed people when at this point, we were 40-plus hours into our first day - 

 The presentation of Silk Road history in vignettes kept us interested and awake.

Photos by Debi Lander.

 - and knowing it would be a good four hours more before hitting our hotel.

Now THAT'S grubby.




Disclosure: While we were hosted and had our itinerary set by Shaanxi Provincial Tourism Development, the Good Girls paid our own way to and from China.