Qingchengshan

"Shan" is the Chinese word for mountain.  We hiked the mountain where Taoism (Daoism) was born.  There are plenty of temples along the way, burning incense, with cushions for prayers and monks who ring a bell when anyone kneels there.  We went on a beautiful, sunshiny day in Chengdu.  We took a high-speed train out to the suburbs, and a short bus ride to the "entrance".  The rest of the day was spent climbing stairs to the top!  No nature trails here--it's all cement.  And women are hiking it in high heels!  Amazing!  It took us 4 hours to hike up to the peak, and there were many people out enjoying the day, so it's not quite the relaxing nature walk you get in the US.  But we met some students who had fun talking in English with us, and we enjoyed the wonderful architecture of the temples and pagodas along the way.

I love the small statuary on the roofs.

This mountain is the "setting" for Kung Fu Panda II. 

Chinese/English translation--"Since being the guest of Mt. Qingcheng you shall not split here."

Tall trees!

Jessica and the Masons went with us.

Would YOU go hiking in these pink stilettos?

One of the Temples

Yin/yang in the middle with signs of the zodiac around it.  This was in the center of a temple courtyard.

Can you see the cleft?  This area was hard hit in the 2008 earthquake.

I'm tired, but we HAVE to keep hiking up to that pagoda!!

Or I could get a ride like this man!

Notice there's a man in back, a man in the middle and a man in the front (you can see the poles to the right).  You can hire these guys to carry you up or down the mountain!  The man in the middle is in a little sling with a pillow at one end.  I would be absolutely terrified in that thing--the trails are not that smooth, and we saw a girl slip and fall down some steps.  Oh well, there's no OSHA requirements in China! 

This is actually an amazingly CLEAR day in Chengdu!

We Made It!!

Love the mossy roofs.

We decided to take the cable car down.  It's a German one, so it's safe!  We didn't want to miss our train.

There's a lake along the way.

Sometimes I'm a pretty great photographer!!

Not the longest hike we've ever taken (maybe 5 miles), but we were out of practice.  And the high speed train is so smooth, you can sleep all the way home!