Recapture Childhood Memories-Firefly Fluorescent Lake

Everyone had the experience of catching fireflies and chasing in the dark like forever, then put that small glowing creature in some transparent bottle, watching it shining. Definitely it’s one of the best childhood memories. As the years go by, those beautiful memories is getting further and further from my mind. Until one day someone told me there’s a tourist spot called fluorescent lake where you can live in your childhood memories again. I can’t wait to go there and relive my childhood again.



The Fluorescent Lake is located in Yishui county, Liyi city of Shandong Province. It’s originally formed about eleven millions years ago, with a length of 1800 meters. It is actually a giant underground karst cave, and inside the cave lives hundreds of thousands fireflies a special kind firefly that only can be found in damn caves. There is abundant water source under the cave and tons of strange shaped rocks, but what attracts me the most is still to watch countless fireflies flying above me.

Before I got inside the cave, I went to butterfly valley. According to the tour guide girl, it’s the largest butter valley in Asian but who knows? There also other artificial landscapes like crocodile valley, dragonfly valley, peacock valley, so many valleys! Passing by a artificial waterfall, I came to my dream land-Fluorescent Lake.



The entrance of fluorescent lake is situated on half-way up the hill. It was so dark after I first got in, it took me quite a while for my eyes getting used to the darkness. Then I saw a large underground lake, reflecting neon lights of different colors hung above the cave, like stars in milky way. I looked around very carefully, afraid of missing anything nice. Walking along the fluorescent avenue and moon-sight lake, my eyes were still a little bit blurry. The lights shined too often. But the sounds of clear water flowing was definitely a joy to my ears. I was thinking, when can I get to see firefly?

When a calm lake came into my sight, I heard tour guide girl saying, “Guys, we are taking the boat now and heading to fantasy sky spot, soon you will see fireflies. Everyone hopped on small boat very quick like if they were being slow the firefly might be disappear anytime. The boat moved very slowly, with dim light shimmering around the cave wall, it’s like we were taking a space adventure, exciting but full of unknown stuff.



When it slided into a narrow cave, I felt a rush of hot waves all over my face. I closed my eyes and wondered what those little creatures looked like in this old cave. Then what I saw next could only be described as “WOW”! So many fireflies! They were literally everywhere, like green diamond necklace made by mother nature. Unfortunately, I didn’t capture this cool view cuz fireflies were afraid of lights.