A statue of the three travelers stands at the entrance of this San You Cave. [Photo by Bidisha Bagchi For Shanghai Star]

We visited on a weekend and the place was very crowded, but our tour guide was an excellent host. The white statue of the three travelers stands right in front of the cave and there is a similar one, inside the cave. Our guide warned us that there would be a lot of stairs to climb to reach the peak of the mountain where San You is located. The cave is beautiful - with old inscriptions, poems, literary pieces contributed by many other scholars and poets who visited this cave making the ambience quite poetic.

A narrow boardwalk hugs the mountain closely with the river on the other side. We started our hike from here and as we climbed we were rewarded with marvelous scenery. Temples on the other side of the river looked bright and gorgeous in the afternoon sun.

We didn't realize how far we had climbed until we reached the Jin Pavilion. The beautiful pavilion has a great view of the entire Yangtze River. The biggest challenge was to reach to the top of the Zhi Xi pavilion that sits on the top of Xiling Mountains.

While descending from the tower, we stopped at the Drum Beating Terrace and the pillar. This platform dates back to the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280) when general Zhang Fei of the Shu Kingdom, commanded his soldiers to these mountains by the continuous beating of a drum. There is a huge stone carved statue of the general facing the voluminous Yangtze River.