First published: 23/11/18.

Zoë Sheng 0.5

Chengjiang Fossil Site

Chengjiang Fossil Site (Inscribed)

Chengjiang Fossil Site by Zoë Sheng

Fossil sites generally mean museum. I see how there is a difference between the fossils and the Earth has a long history, but they are still boring to me. I also don't find them worthy of their inclusion for specific reasons or superlatives. They should be studied, protected, but they are definitely not a tourist attraction. You would have to specialize in this topic to really get into it like a real science geek. What I saw in Canada was kind of interesting. Joggins did the tour, made you search for fossils, told you about it. In Switzerland you get an interactive museum and it kind of tries to suck you into liking what is pretty much just a book in 3D with pictures. Chengjiang does nothing of the sorts. You have to hire a taxi for great costs to get there and even local drivers don't know where it is. I asked for Maotianshan and the driver kind of knew it. Eventually we found a parking lot with an attendant. Entrance is free. Walking up the hill still feels kind of exciting but once you get to the run-down museum you quickly feel like this was not worth it. I did not even take any pictures from the fossil site but instead a video of the nice view from the mountain, and this being a few years ago the phone camera was rather shitty.

So the museum is a few panels and a pile of fossil rocks. I have a feeling this was only built for the ICOMOS visit and they never expect any tourists, or at least they never got this going. I am not surprised the tourists don't bite. Would I visit this knowing all that? Unlikely, very unlikely. Obviously it's not THAT far from Kunming and the day tour included the Stone Forest but it would have to be much cheaper to get a car for the day.

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