This content chronicles a couple's immersive bike tour through Shaanxi province, China, focusing on their exploration of traditional cave dwellings, ancient villages, and the unique cultural experiences encountered along the way.
Mind Map
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They're like fighting over who's going
to take the smaller piece. Like you take
the big piece. No, you take the big
piece. Look at these two living the
Good night everyone from our secret lair
here in the cave house. Yep, that's me.
And you're probably wondering how I
ended up in a cave in the middle of
nowhere. I'm currently on a bike tour
through North China with my husband. And
after months of traversing forests,
coastlines, and grasslands, we have
finally arrived in Shani province. Its
craggy landscapes are filled with
ancient fortresses, temples, and cave
house villages. The soil of the lowest
plateau is so malleable that you can dig
into it literally with your bare hands.
So, cave houses were the traditional
form of dwelling for centuries up until
they were replaced by new materials like
concrete. However, the cave house
aesthetic still lives on even in more
modern neighborhoods. And over the past
few days, we've encountered cave style
grocery stores, temples, and even a cave
hotel. In today's vlog, we'll be
exploring a few cave villages, and we'll
eventually get a chance to stay in an
authentic cave house with a new friend
that we meet along the way. But before
that, we're actually going to stay in
this super cute retro cave hotel that I
booked because I was so fascinated by
these cave houses that I never in a
million years thought we'd get a chance
Oh, and among all of these, the most
>> despite the owner seeming to think it
was creepy, we really loved this room
and we wanted to book it, but he
wouldn't tell us the price. I found this
entire encounter so confusing until
later a Chinese friend told me that
weddings, especially in rural areas, are
actually a common element of Chinese
horror movies and scary stories.
Meanwhile, here's me and Ace John with
no such association in our mind
whatsoever, being like, "Oh, this room
is so cute. Why won't the owner let us
stay in here?" Eventually, we decided on
the owner's recommendation, the Chairman
Mao room,
>> so we can have sweet dreams tonight with
Chairman Mao looking down at us from the
wall. Not only do we have tiram to watch
over us in our dreams, we also have this
lovely retro item here. It is one of
these wicker coated water thermos
things. And if we, for example, boil hot
water in the middle of the night and put
it in here, it will stay nice and toasty
all night long. So, love this retro
room. They've also got this.
They got a flashlight. This room also
features a retro pillow, which is
basically a gigantic bean bag with a
towel over the top instead of a
pillowcase. They are super cute, but I'd
be lying if I said they're comfortable
to lay on if you're not used to them.
They're definitely an acquired taste.
Good night, everyone. We have our two
guardians here on the wall to watch over us.
us.
Unfortunately, it seems just a few
minutes in the creepy wedding cave was
enough to curse us because the next day,
disaster struck. Somebody stole Acedon's
shoes out of the bike bag. And this
isn't just any pair of shoes. This is
the 35 rem grandpa shoes we got from the
market. I'm crushed. I'm heartbroken.
I've never had anything stolen from me
in all my years in China. And it was
>> I'm sad at the loss of the 35 rema shoes.
Look at my poor baby biking with his
cold little feet. It's cold.
Look at these two living the retired
>> He dropped his girl off at her afternoon
ma jang session or something and he's
We went down this teeny little road and
what do you know? There is this gigantic
There are literally more ancient
villages and fortresses here in Shansy
than this place knows what to do with. I
didn't even see it marked on the map as
being any special thing. It just said
Salaman Town. I thought it was just a
normal town, but it is not. If this was
any other province, they would have
turned it into like a museum or
something. They'd be like charging
entrance fee tickets to come in and look
at it. But here in China, the like we
got so many of these, you know, take
this one for free. Wow, someone actually
lives here, it looks like. So, I thought
Oh,
>> we spent the night in the neighboring
town and then first thing the next
morning headed back up into the
mountains to look at more cool ancient
stuff. We are on our way to the little
We've been going up and up and up and up
and finally I see it in the distance.
>> Donaling has about 400 years of history
and over the years it has slowly
transformed from a bustling hub of the
Dong family clan to a quiet place with
It's also occasionally visited by
ancient village hobbyists, although it's
very out of the way and not super
popular. As far as I could see, we were
the only visitors that day. Check this
out. We're actually walking on the roofs
of the houses below us. These are their chimneys.
chimneys.
Look at this angry little guy. He's so angry.
angry.
So, there actually are more people
living here than I would have expected
considering how middle of nowhere this
When I was child in our village like
this one, everybody drink like this water.
water.
>> Look at this electricity safety poster.
It's actually made out of tiles, which
is why it's in such great shape. Like
you can see how old this thing is just
from the fact that there is a horse
portrayed here. We have not seen a
single horse here in China. This place
has some modern amenities like
electricity and motorcycles to get
around on the narrow roads, but for the
most part, it feels as though we took a
time machine back to a century ago. Big
drawback of living in a place like this,
you have to cook every single meal
yourself. Like every single meal. I know
a lot of people think that the village
Aon and I live in is in the middle of
nowhere. But our village alone has two
restaurants and there's other
restaurants in neighboring villages. So
like, you don't actually have to cook
every single meal yourself. And we're 35
minutes away from a mega city. And it
wouldn't even have to be a mega city.
Just like a moderatelysized city within
that kind of a range would be okay. But
this place is just too inaccessible.
When you're out here, you got to do
everything yourself. You got to heat
your house yourself. You got to have
kindling for your stove, for your
furnace. So even for people like me and
Isan who actually really enjoy rural
life, this is a hard cell. Grandma's
So I think it's very unlikely that in
the next 20 years this place will still
What a cool landscape this is. The
entire thing is terrace. All of it. We
are heading to the neighboring town of Fi.
Fi.
>> It might look like it's right in front
of us, but there's a giant ravine in the
middle and this place took us another 2
hours to reach.
>> Good morning, guys, from Shi.
>> This is where we stayed last night in
this little apartment building that's
like on the side of a ravine. And
interestingly, the children have
graffitied the wall with dozens and
dozens of tic-tac-toe games. Making our
way down this tiny village road,
trying to find another ancient village
called Shidago. But there's a bit of a
roadblock up ahead.
Look at this little little angry guy.
He's like, "You're not allowed on my
No, you
>> checking out the local specialty
products grocery store. It's actually
shaped like a cave house. How cute is this?
I thought this was some kind of nut cuz
it's so crunchy. It's actually made out
of flour. We got a whole bag of these
handmade crispy balls. Five yen for all
these balls. I feel like I haven't had a
handmade snack in like forever.
Everything is like machine-made in this
day and age cuz it's so much effort to
make a snack by hand. You know, the
flavor is not so intense. Like when you
buy little snacks like this in the store
that are prepackaged, they tend to just
bowl you over with their flavor. It's
just like being slapped in the face with
like this fake chicken wing flavor or
whatever. So, I actually really like
these. It tastes kind of like a rosemary pretzel.
Time to put our bikes to the side and do
some exploring. We've got all of our
gear ready to go in this super
convenient TomTalk T66 backpack.
>> I've got our drone in this main pocket,
tripod and extra battery in the front
pocket, extra mic in the mini pocket,
and Sony camera and a hat for when it
gets cold later in this pocket. Finally,
all my filming equipment fits in one bag
that's actually comfortable to wear and
doesn't feel like I'm carrying a whole
suitcase. This is the TomTalk T66, and
it's the perfect travel companion. I
love this convenient carrying handle and
the wide cushion straps. These wide
straps are super soft and comfortable
and don't hurt your shoulder even if
you're carrying a bunch of heavy stuff.
Not only are TomTalk backpacks super
comfortable to wear, they're also
designed in a way that keeps everything
organized and easy to get to. The
pockets for big stuff are super
accessible, and there are lots of
smaller pockets to keep the tiny stuff
in its place. And it's water resistant.
With all this expensive and not
waterproof equipment on me, I can
explore worry-free in all sorts of
weather conditions. It's the perfect
combination of affordable, durable, and
ergonomic. What's not to love? Check out
the link below to get one for yourself,
and thanks TomTop for sponsoring today's
video. You've maybe already noticed that
Shaago is a bit bougier than the village
we visited yesterday. While Dongaling
was the home of farmers and traders,
Shidago is a nest of luxurious
courtyards built by some of the
wealthiest businessmen in the region at
the time, which was about 300 years ago.
Although Shidago originated as the
ancient equivalent of a villa compound,
wars, changing governments, communism,
and modernization throughout the decades
gave it the same fate as many of the
other middle of nowhere mountain
villages that we pass through, albeit
with an entrance ticket because the
architecture here is more historically
significant. And if you enjoy exploring
ancient villages as much as we do, the
ticket price is worth it. And it has
some more infrastructure like ins and
We are going to have breakfast here at
this little inn. And then we are going
to get on the road to head to the city
of Lyfen. Acidan's breakfast is eggs.
I'm having sticky rice with dates. I
know the color and texture of this dish
is maybe not super aesthetic to most of
you, but this is actually the most
delicious breakfast I've had in a while.
Off we go, everyone. We barely made it
an hour or two down the road before we
got distracted by goats. The herder of
the goats was as fascinated by us as we
were by his goats. So, he came up on the
He offered to split his moon cake with
us, which is so cute.
>> They're like fighting over who's going
to take the smaller piece. Like, you
take the big piece. No, you take the big piece.
>> So, we're sharing some of our little
wheat balls with him.
>> He just had this one little snack with
him, and even then, he still insisted on
sharing it with us. Two completely
So, I just heard him yelling at the
goats. They've gone all the way up this
mountain here
and now he's trying to call them back
down. They're all the way up there. He's
going all the way up there to get the
goats back. So, Estan herded sheep a lot
when he was younger, but now I see like
the big difference between goat hurting
and sheep hurting is that sheep will
stay on the flat ground and not do crazy
stuff. And goats, the minute they see a
cliff in front of them, they're like,
"Oh yeah, I got to go up there." So, our
poor goat herder friend is now trying to
So, this little guy is doing great, but
the other one
>> is just
>> sitting here. Get up. Go get those teeth.
Yeah.
That's a noisy little guy.
>> It's trying to drink from the teeth of
its own sibling. You got the motions
>> so I know y'all are probably thinking
just leave the goats alone and the mom
will feed them both, right? But the mom
was feeding the bigger goat like way off
in the distance and the smaller goat was
just laying there like a limp rag. Not
making any sound, not trying to stand
up. Just like if you were passing by,
you'd think it was dead. But then the
moment it gets someone paying attention
to it, it will start squealing and
trying to stand up. Look at it wagging
its little tail.
So, apparently deadbeat moms are like a
common thing in the sheep and goat
>> Goat hurting is not an easy job, y'all.
The mother goat didn't have much milk
left since the bigger baby took most of
it. So, we had to catch another goat.
And then in that process, the other
goats started running away again. So,
Acon was sent after them. Of course, the
baby goats are only out on the field the
day they're born. They're kept in a
special pen for the rest of their youth.
But that first day is a chaotic one indeed.
We weren't going to reach Lymph before
dark at this pace. And also, it would be
fun to chat with him without the
constant distraction of the goats. So,
we took him up on his offer. While he
was busy bringing the goats back to
their owner's pen, we stopped by the
village store to pick up some fruit and
Finally, our chance to experience a cave
Finally, we reconvened just as the sun
was setting. First ever visit to an
authentic cave house. The minute we
walked in the door, he showed me
something cooking on the stove and asked
me what I thought it was. Take a minute
to think about it. I am almost positive
you will not be able to guess what it
is. We'll get back to that later. Acedon
also tried to help him fix his
television to no avail. He also offered
us some pimmens and this root vegetable
that was kind of like a combination of a
potato and a sweet potato. So this house
has been around for quite a while. It's
about 100 years old and he was actually
born in this room. And this is the room
that his four children were born in. And
none of those children live here
anymore. As you've probably gathered,
they live in four different cities
scattered throughout the northern part
And yeah, this is where we're staying.
The room where four children were birthed.
>> And you just met this guy. Is that what happened?
happened?
>> Yeah. See, it's a cave house.
>> What's it What's it made out of? It's
like dug into the side of a clay cliff.
It's called the Loes Plateau and it's a
cave house.
>> Oh my god. Is it safe, Catherine?
>> Yes, it's safe. It's 100 years old. It's
been around all that time. It's not
going to fall on us today. Good night,
everyone from our secret lair here in
the cave house.
This is the room we stayed in last
night. So, looking at it, at a glance,
you see the bricks and you might think
that it's like a quote unquote regular
house, but then if you look at where the
edge of the mountain is, it's more clear
that this really is a cave, but it's
been reinforced with bricks. Now that
there's actually some more light in
here, I can show you some of the cool
patterns on the old retro furniture.
This is the hand washing zone. So, the
reason why we're using this is cuz it's
easier to control the temperature of the
water to wash your hands. But the house
actually does have tap water. It's
connected at the ceiling like this. And
then it comes down this way and into
this bucket here. But it doesn't have
any connection to a water heater. So you
heat it on the stove or with this
electric kettle and then put it in that
Okay, you've been patient. I will tell
you what the mysterious thing on the
stove was. It's watermelon soup.
Watermelons are very popular around
here, but Mr. Mon said it's too cold to
eat them straight, but he still wants to
enjoy the flavor, so he boils them into
a soup. Let me know in the comments if
y'all have ever tried this before
because I have never seen such a thing
in my life. Very fascinating. And now
it's time for our lovely host to get
back to work. He put the leftover
potatoes by the fire to keep them warm.
In typical Chinese fashion, he tried to
give us back the fruit we gave him so we
wouldn't get hungry on the road, but we
insisted he keep it. And then we finally
went our separate ways. Time to say goodbye.
goodbye.
Sad moment.
>> Our lovely host has gone back to work to
herd goats and we're going to get back
on the road and head in the direction of
Lymphan. It's about to get actually
really cold in a couple of days. So,
we're about to head back to Honjo and be
done for the season. So, throughout our
entire route, we've been chatting with a
lot of villagers and meeting people and
sometimes even having tea or going to
people's like wedding receptions or
birthdays or whatever, but we've never
actually stayed at anyone's house until
today. So, fascinating experience
indeed. These cave houses are a
lifestyle that has existed in this
region for centuries. So many people
were born in that home and now there's
only one left. One guy left. He's got
the whole thing to himself. It's really
fascinating to be here at this little
blip in the timeline where centuries and
centuries of cave house living and the
centuries and centuries in the future of
concrete houses and apartment buildings
come together for just one moment. Just
this one moment. Or so we thought. We
covered a couple hundred kilometers of
random mountain roads and never saw a
single cave house inhabited by someone
under 50 and most of them were
completely abandoned. But thanks to the
almighty internet, we have discovered
that in the neighboring province, modern
and even luxurious cave homes are a
thing. And if some way somehow it's
possible, we would love to share them
with you as we pass through that region
in March of 2026. Don't get me wrong,
though, it's not that we need luxurious
conditions per se. I just want to show
you guys the evolution of cave house
living and our experience here in this
cave village was the perfect end to the
2025 chapter of our bike tour. We are
forever grateful to our lovely host Mr.
Mung for showing us the ultimate shenan
hospitality. It's not about how much you
have, it's about the spirit with which
you offer it. We just really appreciate
an indepth encounter with a friendly
local and the opportunity to share some
life with them, even if just for a
fleeting moment. This was an
unforgettable encounter and you can ask
me about it when I'm 80 and I'm sure
I'll still remember it like it was yesterday.
Anyway, it's time to head back down the
mountain to the city of Lymphen. And in
the upcoming vlog, we'll be back in our
lovely village in Hanjo. So, if you want
to see a glimpse of our rural life and
find out if As John got his US visa or
not, make sure to subscribe and don't
See you next
>> Disaster has struck. For the first time
in our four months of biking, someone
got pooped on.
>> Look at this.
>> As John got pooped on. Yeah.
>> I mean, what are the odds, right? We're
It's been a while since we've been
offered a cigarette.
>> And was like, I already quit smoking
years ago. And they were like, take the cigarette.
