7 September 2012
My own personal cave
I originally set out just to hang out by the lake and snap photos of people taking photos of smog.
However after watching the musical fountain and appreciating that the smog had indeed returned, I decided to hop on a random bus and see where it goes.
I think the general rule here is that any bus with a K prefix goes somewhere for tourists, I had no idea where K12 goes but it was the first one that came.
As it turns out, I made an excellent choice, as I went to a great hiking spot up a sizeable hill with caves and temples that were free and where there were very few other people to ruin my seclusion.
Before all this though, as most mornings, I went to starbucks to feed my habit.
This time I went to one near a white person motel (sofitel I think), and there was a French designer family in there. By this I mean they had adopted children, one black and one Chinese.
This caused a great deal of astonishment amongst the locals who were also enjoying overpriced coffee, or more likely the cheapest tea on the menu so they can use the wifi. There were a lot of sideways glances and whispering going on. It probably didnt help that the children were dressed in fully tailored designer outfits (berets, boots with buckles) and both had their own ipads with educational software to keep the kids amused.
I watched on too! I enjoyed watching the watchers. The black girl was a little older and did most of the speaking, they were allowed to eat their fruit cup after they had sanitized their hands. But when the little Chinese girl spoke loudly in French, there were actual gasps from the Chinese locals watching on!
This was the last stop on the bus route. Looked promising!
I love steps. On this holiday I have ascended a record number of steps.
The location was called the Jade Emperor Hill. I think this is the Jade Emperor temple but since there were at least 4 temples on the hike I am not sure which one was which.
I had a strange feeling I was being watched.
About 2/3 of the way up you get to a nice tea house / cafe. There are a heap of locals up here playing cards and dominos with their bird cages hanging in trees busy acting the stereotype.
This is the view down the far side of the hill. The buildings on the left along the bank of the river are whats called the new city. Until now I didnt realise that there were large buildings on the far side of the river too.
The sign up here made mention of make sure to be appreciating the ancient octagon garden below. I used all my appreciate.
There was a little door in a cliff on the way to the toilets at the tea house. Amazingly inside was a sizeable cave!
It was strange as no one else was in here but me. The lights were all off so there were parts I couldnt go to as they were pitch black.
There were also a number of statues and carvings, but it was a bit dark to see what they were all about.
Perhaps this place is cursed! Other people climbing the hill just climbed straight past this?
This continues further down hill, I have no idea how far, it was too dark to negotiate the steps. Perhaps there were thousands of skeletons down there, or the crystal of the temple of the lost ark.
Let there be light, or something.
Honestly I could have taken my pants off in here and run around for 30 minutes. No one disturbed me for at least that long.
Its all been made safe for pedestrians to appreciate.
I tried to climb out through this hole.
Predictably on the top of the mountain theres a buddhist temple. The buddha was very impressive. However there were people surrounding it saying no photos. I snuck this one from behind the temple whilst looking for the bathrooms. It doesnt look very impressive from the back as it was built into the cliff face.
The view from the top of the surrounding mountains was excellent, smog makes photos crap though.
This is the West lake, you can clearly see one of the man made causeways across it which I walked over earlier in the week.
Bonus panorama of the smog envoloping the hills.
I set out today not planning to walk much. I am glad I did! Descending back down was much easier than going up, it started to rain very lightly which was very refreshing.