We got up the next day around 7am to a sudden knock at the door. It was the landlady.
"Psst! Are you guys awake?"
"Yes...?"
"There's a driver going to Dujiangyan (94 km away from Wenchuan) right now She called us up, and said that there was a driver going to Dujiangyan, and he’s looking for passengers. He’s offering a special price, a really cheap rate."
"How much exactly?"
"The driver is here. You can ask him."
We got up and and met the driver, who said it would be just 100 RMB for the three of us, which was pretty cheap compared to what was offered the day before by the other guy. We got our stuff together and hopped on to the bread van, which was full of other passengers. There were probably 8 of us in total.
At the start, the scenery around us looked okay – there was not too much damage, just the natural scenery you'd see on any mountain road, which we were able to go at a decent speed on due to lack of early morning traffic.
However, after perhaps 20-30 minutes, traffic slowed down and we stopped as we neared a tunnel.
Larry decided to go for a walk, and Baba and I joined him as well. We walked up towards the front, and saw that the cars in front of us were held in front of the tunnel, where traffic was being directed thru. In a few minutes, our line of cars started moving, and we hurried back. However, when I came back, I noticed that the passnenger sitting to my right was smoking. He had also spat on the ground near where I had put my feet. I was disgusted, but didn’t say anything to him. Then I looked up – all the rest of the passengers plus the driver was smoking! Looks like they all decided to take a cigarette break while we were away, but were "nice" enough to hold it in while we were still on board.
Our van lurched forward, and we were into the tunnel. It was rather dark and a little smoky, but after a minute or two, we emerged out of the other side, only to face a surreal scene.
After our eyes had adjusted to the strong light that had poured back into our senses, we stared in awe of the scene around us. somehow, it was as if we had accidentally stumbled right into the Gates of Hell.
Destruction and mayhem was everywhere. There were huge, broken highway bridges cast on their side like discarded giant toys. Buildings to the left and right were in ruins.
Bridges were broken, and temporary army bridges built by the engineering corps in a day were there in their place. Large boulders and small rocks littered the ground.
The landscape suddenly appeared especially ominous;
in some areas, the treacherous mountains had released their avalanche of rocks onto the road below.
Still in awe of the awfulness around us, we continued on slowly for several minutes in silence, until we got into a second tunnel, where we once again were stuck in traffic. This time, we were stuck behind a huge truck, not too far from the exit. Though the tunnel was lit, visibility was not good and it had a funny smell due to poor ventilation.
Suddenly a shadowy figure approached our van; as it drew closer to our vehicle, we spun around instinctively to face the intruder. It was an old lady, trying to sell us some snacks! Apparently this spot (as well as some others up ahead) often get backed up for long periods of time, and the locals try to take advantage of that to hawk various snacks to the captive travelers.
We got moving in a few minutes however, but once we exited the tunnel, we were stuck again. And so Baba decided to buy some stuff – he got a couple hard-boiled eggs from some lady that wasa selling.
We weren’t moving for a long time, so the three of us decided to get out of the car again to see what was going on.
As we got out, we noticed some of our fellow drivers were hauling very interesting loads:
We walked to the front of the line of cars to see what the commotion was all about. A big bulldozer was blocking the traffic; it was in position to push some rocks up the mountain. A few people worked next to it, surveying the situation with the rocks.
Meanwhile, to the right, a bunch of men in orange construction outfits were busy adjusting the settings on a pulley machine of some sort.
Larry went to talk with a group of engineers. Soon, he came back and explained what was going on.
“There are actually two different groups of engineers working on two different problems. The first group is the one that concerns us. You see those guys up in the mountains?" He pointed up to the left:
"I don't really see anything," I said.
"Look closer."
"Their job is to knock down the loose rocks to the road below, and then the bulldozer is supposed to clear those rocks once they are down. Basically, they’re here to take some preventive measures and ensure no rocks fall on the cars below as we drive through this stretch.”
“I see.”
“The other group, the one with that pulley machine, is setting it up so that it hooks onto the new roadway built over there, and drag it across onto the columns to build the bridge.”
We walked back to the car to explain the situation to the driver, who was waiting anxiously. He slumped in and resigned himself to waiting indefinitely after we described the situation.
We got back to the front of the cars again, to see what Larry was up to. He was still hanging around, talking with the people there. There was a woman there in construction uniform – apparently she was the one directing the rock-clearing operation.
People began honking their horns rather impatiently as they have been waiting for about 40 minutes now, with no signs of progress.
"Perhaps we should tell them what's going on," I suggested.
"Sure - you can do that if you want, but I don't think it'll help."
"You're right, we have no estimate of how much longer it'll be."
Luckily, only after another good 20-30 minutes, we finally got moving. The bulldozer moved out, and they started signaling cars to cross. We ran back to our car, which was somewhat of a scary prospect - with so many cars, and added time pressure, it would be easy to pass ours by accident.
However, we managed to get back right when they were about to get moving. Yet by the time we got to where they were clearing out the rocks, they signaled us to stop, and allowed the other side to cross. The first set of vehicles coming from the other side was a bunch of motorcycles and a military officer in an all new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado.
After they all pass, we finally cross, and continued forward now at a much slower pace. Here the scene is even more precipitous, and the atmosphere felt even more dangerous.
We saw big rocks that had smashed down to the ground – one boulder that had fallen on the road was so large it was unable to be moved. There was just a sign which signaled drivers to go around. We started seeing more buildings. We must have reached Yingxiu, though the driver did not stop.
There were shattered buildings everywhere. Across on the other side, half a mountain had fallen down.
Except for an occasional gasp at another horror ahead of us, no one said a word.
After passing by the hydroelectric dam that was being rebuilt, we neared the site of a new bridge for Dujiangyan.
We had finally arrived. It was getting close to 12pm. Though Wenchuan to Dujiangyan was just 94 km, we took a little under 4 hours to get there.
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