GUOLIANG VILLAGE, CHINA

Internet problems prevented me from posting yesterday.  Goes to show how totally dependent we are upon the world wide web that seemingly dominates human existence.

Today let's buckle in and trolley to China's Guoliang Tunnel that was hand-chiseled by 13 local villagers.  It took them 5 years to complete the 4,000-foot tunnel that's only 12 feet wide and 16 feet high...just big enough to drive through.  The photo below shows the 30 open-space windows for drivers to look through.  The tunnel has no street lights and barriers, so drivers enter at their own risk.  It's known as "the road that does not tolerate mistakes." 

photo by Yuangeng Zhang / Shutterstock.com

The terrifying road was built so villagers could have access to the outside world.  A group of villagers, with little engineering knowledge, made plans in 1972 to carve a road into the side of the mountain.  They sold their goats and crops to raise funds to buy tools and materials.  Their main tools were hammers, steel bars and explosives, without electrical power or machinery.  Thirteen villagers worked the project, with one dying during construction.

The Guoliang Tunnel Road ranks the 9th largest man-dug tunnel through steep, rugged cliffs located in the Taihang Mountains of China.  Before the tunnel was constructed, a crude and dangerous stone ladder was the only exit for the villagers from the mountain. 

Rugged stone ladder 

At the end of the tunnel is Guoliang Village, also known as the Stone Village.  The houses, yard walls, chicken pens and pigsty are all made of stone in irregular shapes.  For the local people, especially in ancient times, stone was everything. 

Without research, one would never dream that such places exist.  There are options for us to experience the world, and that's the present-day blessing of the world wide web.  It allows me to appreciate the label "laptop traveler" and lets me learn about faraway places without airplane time and spending $$.  Some of us are less courageous when it comes to present-day international travel.  That's why I consider options to be blessings.   

No one enjoyed traveling more than I, but age has altered my lens of personal safety.  That won't prevent me from learning and searching for places that literally blow my mind out of the water.  I suppose it's like reading the same page over and over and over for the rest of one's life, or rather reading new pages in new books in new libraries.  If we are given one chance of experiencing LIFE, why not do the best we can with what we have.  Tomorrow we'll visit somewhere else on the planet that will stretch our minds and stir our souls.  Ta-ta for today.