Adrift in a sea of green

The Bamboo Sea covers more than 500 hills and has over 300 species of bamboo. The ocean of green is punctuated by lakes, captivating waterfalls and lively spring scenery.

The Bamboo Sea has an annual average temperature of about 16 C with an altitude ranging from 400 to 1,000 meters above sea level.

Hiking may sometimes seem exhausting, but visitors walking amid the Bamboo Sea tend to feel more lighthearted because of the prevailing tranquility and their exceptionally beautiful surroundings.

It can be refreshing to walk through rows of lush bamboo, standing as tall as 10 meters. As winter is the sluggish season for tourism, there are not many visitors, and people can clearly hear birdsong, streams burbling and the echo of their own footsteps in the groves.

They can also see waterfalls cascading onto rocks, creating a crystal spray, and view bamboo trees thriving in the narrow clefts of huge rocks. Bamboo shoots are so powerful that they can penetrate and topple rocks as they grow, according to Cao Peng, a staff member on the Bamboo Sea's administrative committee.

It's a rare luxury, but visitors can feast on many bamboo delicacies at once. They can taste all kinds of food inspired by the versatile plant in both luxurious and ordinary homestays.

A smorgasbord of delights, among the dishes on offer are cold bamboo shoot slices in sauce, roasted bitter bamboo shoots, pickled bamboo shoots, soup made from the fungi of the bamboo's humus, as well as an opportunity to sample liquor contained, and rice cooked, in bamboo tubes.

A must for visitors to the Bamboo Sea is the museum, where they can gain a deeper understanding of the site.