If you're looking at this, i'm assuming you're in the beautiful county of Tonglu already :) The Yaoling Caves are a series of cave complexes with some very beautiful interiors. Its pretty developed for visitors, with walkways etc all laid out nicely, inc the mandatory souvenir stops (which i feel u should just bypass). What is annoying is the cheesy use of multicoloured lights to illuminate the cave interiors. This i feel is the greatest letdown to an otherwise stunning place. (hence my photos are in monochrome, to attempt to capture the essence of the interiors without the awful colours!!!) still, its a place that is well worth the bus ride..:)

We took the bus to Yaoling from the bus station in Tonglu. It was wonderful to step into a cool cave when the outside was still hot and muggy. Each step into the cave made me ooh and aah even more. Thick electric cables run alongside the path (remember to wear shoes with a good grip since the floor is often wet!) but the lights themselves are hidden well within the formations. This is a really fun place to take pictures and wander around. Walking leisurely and stopping to take pictures, it took us a little more than an hour. Near the end is a "rafting" opportunity. I saw a family take off down the steep drop near the beginning and it looked like a fun ride through the cave. As usual, I was fooled into paying for it. DON'T DO IT! The only fast part is the first 5 seconds and after that it's only a flat, slow-moving stream. The entire section is blocked up with secondhand smoke so thick that I got a headache from the 20 or so minutes we were floating on the lazy river. There are a bunch of old guys there to tend to the ride and all they do it sit around and smoke. It was really terrible. It ruined the end of the caves.