DAY 6- CRAWLING UP THE WUDANG MOUNTAIN
HELLO~
Didn't manage to blog during the weekends because all of us went to hike the famous Wudang mountain here in Wuhan!
We had to wake up early by the time the sunlight striked Wuhan.
Yes,...that early.
but hey!!!
We'll be spending 2 days and 1 night in a hotel in the Wudang mountain!
I've never been to any mountains before..unless the Bukit Timah back in Singapore is considered a mini mountain.
Anyway....
The journey from our school to the Wudang mountain took a total time of 5 hours.
We mostly spent that 5 hours sleeping and taking pictures.
soooo... PICTURE TIME~
Once we reached the base of the wudang mountain, everyone was awed by the view and teeths are shattering thanks to the cold.
We need to take another bus trip up to our first destination!!
Which is Tai zi bo (Prince slope Temple)
One thing you have to know about Mount Wudang is that it is a place rich in Taoism and Taichi.
Its a good opportunity for me to know more about Taoism since I rarely see any Taoist back in Singapore.
And not to forget..the environment there is so spacious!!
I was literally surrounded by the greenery with mother nature!
We had to climbed up to our first attraction which is the Prince slope Temple.
Before we hiked up to the temple, something caught all of out attention.
It's a banner.
Apparently, a famous movie was actually filmed at this part of mount Wudang!!!
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| LOOK! ITS JACKIE CHAN AND JADEN SMITH!!! |
Karate Kid was filmed here in Wudang Mountain!!
Super excited to visit their film set up in the mountains!
After the little exciting discovery, we bagan marching up to the temple.
And I really do mean march up. Because what comes after that is just stairs and more stairs.
However, the stair aren't normal stairs.
They are actually very steep and jagged.
Plus, all the stair are made up of rocks.
I really do wonder how the ancient Chinese people manage to build such great architecture back then, keeping in mind that they do not possess any sort of automatic machine back then.
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| Some of the street souvenier shops we found along the way! |
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| Hey there Nick!!~ |
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| Look at how steep the hill and steps are!!! |
Made us giggle too!
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| I really don't understand what the sign is saying :( |
It's my first time being able to explore freely in a Taoist temple!!
The infrastructure and architecture is just amazing!
It's really true when archaeologists say that our ancestors had more knowledge than we do now.
To be able to build such great palaces is just amazing.
Not to forget, it is surrounded by absolute greenery!!!
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| "Tai Zi bo" |
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| An entrance to a part of the temple! |
We also saw these big round Chinese characters sign.
You're suppose to close your eyes and touch it one by one.
It's suppose to bring you luck.
I asked Rachel what does it mean.
She looked at me blankly and said that its the oldest of the oldest Chinese writings.
Which is true because the strokes are a little bit odd.
Take a look!
maybe try touching it through your screen?
Who knows it might bring you luck cyberly.
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| Vast different than our modern Chinese writing. |
And i also managed to take a panaroma of the interiors of the temple!
When we were inside the praying hall, we saw huge statues of the Taoist gods.
Lucky for us, we were able to see how the Taoist pray.
There was this one priest who had to hit a huge drums near statue of the god.
i noticed that there was a particular rythm and places of the drums in which he has to hit.
He repeated this practice for another two times while the locals bent to their knees to pray.
After he was done, i noticed one of the locals offering the priest a red cloth.
It was another type of offerings to the god.
oh yes! The view from the temple there is just breathtaking too!!!!
I feel like a pigeon while i was up there.
Plus the wind was blowing my hair all over my face till i became Hagrid for a day.
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| sad that the day was foggy. Else, the sky would've been crystal clear from where we are. |
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| see those red ribbons tied around the tree?? it's actually for luck! Danesha tied it somewhere too!!! Best of luck Danesha~ |
Yet another temple~
But This time its called Purple Cloud Temple.
Cute name huh?
The bus ride took about 30 mins from the Prince Slope Temple.
It's quite long because it's at the other end of the mountain.
The journey wasn't smooth at all because there are many twist and turns.
Most of it was a sharp 360degrees turn.
Most of us had motion sickness but had no choice but to hold it in till we get there.
Thanks to Priscilla who gave me motion sickness tablets!!!!
MORE PICTURESS!!! (In the bus)
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| Rule no. 1 when hiking mountains- ALWAYS ALWAYS keep yourself hydrated. The cold air is extremely dry! bought a sports drink which tasted like 100plus! |
Aaaaaaanddd we reached!!!!!!
Also along the journey, i kept seeing these turtle-like statues.
Like this >>>>>>>>>
>>>>
Since i couldn't understand a single chinese the tour guide was saying, i decided to do my own research on the spot.
Apparently, the stone sculpture are called Gui Tuo Bei .
which looks like a tortoise, is actually a mythological animal called “Bi Xi” that carries a stone tablet on its back.
There was a legend saying that the Dragon King has nine sons and “Bi Xi” is the eighth son who was the most responsible among them.so the Dragon King assigned him to bear the stone tablet on his back.
It's amazing how these kinds of stories are extremely interesting.
I was also able to enter the Purple Cloud Hall!!
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| there were also flowers blooming since it was super cold! |
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| PANAROMIC VIEW FROM THE PURPLE CLOUD TEMPLE!!!!! |
Its called Da Yue hotel.
It's only a 3 star hotel but it passed my expectations in terms of cleanliness and hospitality !!
It's FREEZING COLD.
I think the normal freezer in the refridgerator is so much warmer than this!!!!
Blasted the heater to almost maximum when i went to bed.
Looked outside my window and i saw another world~
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| So pretty!!! |
Woke up early for breakfast.
But i really did just wake up to enjoy the scenery in the morning.
the temperature was about 8 degree celcius then.
Wored 4 layers !! but its still cold!
We had a heavy breakfast because we are going to the HIGHEST OF THE PEAK OF THE WUDANG MOUNTAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After breakfast, it was another 1 hour bus ride to the cable car place.
You can choose to walk but it'll take you 8 hours to reach the peak.
Might as well take an 8 min ride to the top of the mountain.
Kind of expensive though the ticket.
One ticket up and back down costed me 80 yuan each (SGD$16)
There goes my dinner for a day.
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| IN THE BUS!!! |
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| The cable car ticket!!!! |
Yes, i've never been on a cable car in my entire 18 years of life.
I know i have been saying for tons of times but still...
THE VIEW IS JUST AWESOME!!!!
I became a real bird when i entered the cable car.
haha. take a look!!
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| So high!! |
Once we reached the end, it was another 1 hour climb to the peak of Mount Wudang!
By that time, my legs were already falling apart.
Not to mention the COLD.
It was so cold, that when we spoke, condensation occurs so mist appeared at our mouth!!
Being so curious, we kept breathing heavily so that we'll get more steam out of our mouth.
The higher you go up the peak, the harder it is to climb.
The steps gets steeper and steeper as you go up.
Once we're up at the peak, there was another temple.
However, this temple is special because it is the holy ground for the taoists.
Many people would try their best to get to the peak because it is where they can get their wishes granted.
The way to get your wish granted is interesting too!
You have to balance a coin on the pillar and make a wish!!!
I managed to balance it on my first try!!!!
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| People trying to balance coins at the pillar behind the metal bars!! |
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| i was very worn out when i took this photo. Nevertheless, its an achievement for me!!! |
Me and Tricia was served traditional green tea too when we entered the temple!!!
The tour guide showed us a traditional way of drinking green tea!
The green tea wasn't served with sugar at all.
it's just water and tea leaves.
the cup used was a traditional chinese tea cup.
its very cute too!!!
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| Adorable little tea cups. |
The tour guide gave us warm water first.
Then she gave us a cup of green tea.
This is the first cycle.
During the first cycle, the green tea just tastes bitter.
But as you keep repeating the cycle, the sweetness of the green tea will begin to blossom at the tip of your tongue.
By the 4th cycle i tried, the green tea was already very sweet for me!
Interesting huh?
It's like drinking sweet drinks but its actually isn't sweet at all!!
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| the table they in which we are served tea. |
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| me and tricia were ' tai tais' during that 15 mins. |
After that, it's another hour back down to the cable car ride. and then another 6hours of bus ride back to our dormitory~
Yeap!
So that basically sums up why i was missing in action during the weekends~
I was in the mountains finding inner peace.
Till then....
再见你们！！！！！
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