Weird and wonderful

Guangdong is a big place and, to the surprise of many first-time visitors, it's not all as overdeveloped as the Pearl River Delta. The far north of the province features weird mountain formations, ancient temples and white-water rafting. Shaoguan is the place to base yourself. It sits on the old road north to Hunan province. Built at the meeting of two rivers, the city has waterfront promenades on both sides - the locals use the outdoor space to practise their ballroom dancing. It's one of the nicest cities in Guangdong and is easily reached by train or bus from Guangzhou. The Ming dynasty Fengcai Tower was built in the same era as Beijing's imperial palace, and matches its style. The old gents drinking tea in the room at the top will turn on the lights for you to view a photo exhibition, and will then go back to sitting in the dark. Fuxing Road is a traffic-free stretch of shops and food stalls, and parallel to this there is a series of lanes and alleys - a great mish-mash of old and new houses, shops with bags of spices and chillies, vegetable hawkers and a streetside fish market. South of the town, the Nanhua Temple was founded in 502 AD after a travelling Indian monk recommended the site for its natural beauty. Today, it is regarded as a spiritual home of the Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism. But most people come to Shaoguan to visit the striking Danxiashan World Geopark nearby. The mountainous area has given its name to the Danxia landform: high eroded peaks of red sandstone, sculpted by wind and water into shapes suggesting elephants, tortoises, candles and giant teapots. The 100-yuan (HK$122.50) entry is as steep as the rock formations, but it includes optional transport around the park on a fleet of buggies. The Yangyuan Mountain area is closest to the park entrance. Its most famous rock formation is Yangyuan Stone, carefully described on a guide map as a 'peak of eternal masculinity'. The local tourism bureau puts it more directly: 'It looks from a distance very much like a male genital.' The Yinyuan Stone elsewhere represents the female equivalent. For 40 yuan, a cable car will take you up to the top of Danxiashan itself, one of the larger ridges. From here, you can look out over many of the park's major features during a two-hour walk to the Biechuan Monastery, which is almost Tibetan in its cliffside setting. Along the way you pass the Dragon King Spring and caves once inhabited by hermits. Red stone steps lead down the cliff face to the monastery - an attractive set of buildings around a flag-stoned courtyard - and then down further, beside rock engravings, to a line of shops where you can catch another buggy. Most locals, and the monks, seem to walk up rather than take the cable car; there is also a group of sedan-chair bearers at hand. The geopark extends far to the south, encompassing further mountains, lakes and villages, and you can easily spend a full day touring around, by boat, bamboo raft and buggy. Clearly inspired by the Yangyuan and Yinyuan Stones, the China Sex Museum has opened its doors beside the entrance to Danxiashan. The three-room museum displays coinage used in ancient brothels, erotic paintings on porcelain plates and kama sutra-like ivory carvings. It covers the period from 500 BC to the present with surprising openness. An hour's scenic train ride to the northwest of Shaoguan takes you to Ping Shek, a small town surrounded by red Danxia-style peaks. It's the departure point for an exhilarating rafting trip down the Wujiang River - a stretch of white water known locally - and you have been warned - as the Nine Torrents and Eighteen Shoals. Turn left upon exiting the railway station to find the 'Ticket Office for Floating'. The staff will provide you with watertight bags for your belongings and will then take you to the wharf, where you board an inflatable raft which carries eight people. The Wujiang follows a broad route through a steep gorge, but its initially gentle character masks its capabilities in times of flood. High on the left bank, the remains of a railway line jut at crazy angles over the water - sagging iron tracks hanging across ravines without the bridges which once supported them. The tops of old trees are wrapped tightly with broken stands of bamboo, marking the high-water limit of the last flood. The torrents and shoals are spread apart, with long stretches of calm water in between, but some of them are rough: you will need to hold on tight. The three-hour trip ends at Lechang, where you can dry off and connect with a train back to Shaoguan.