Finishing a super quick breakfast, we rode to the base of Mt. Qincheng. We walked probably a little less than a mile to reach the cable car that took us a ways up the mountain. Beautiful, beautiful views, with the exception of the rain and fog. When I say it was raining, I mean it was RAINING. At some points it was misty, and then other times it was a monsoon beating down on us as we went up the mountain. It was so awesome. We got off the cable car and continued our trek up the rest of the mountain, which was surprisingly exhausting and slightly terrifying. There were flights and flights of slanted, uneven, wet staircases that had no handrails. Fun! After we reached the tippy top of the mountain, we arrived at a beautiful Buddhist temple. I personally have not chosen a religion to follow at this point in my life, and so I thought it would be fine if I bowed to the Buddhist shrine inside the temple (I would've shown the shrine itself, however that was not permitted, sorry guys). I mean seriously, we climbed a flipping mountain to get to that temple, I was going to soak it in as best I could! We retraced our steps back down Mt. Qincheng, which was, pleasantly to my surprise, SOOOO much easier to do. There was always an incredible view, no matter where you were on the mountain. Truly an unforgettable experience. |
Next stop on the bus ride, Dujigyan (means "holy water" in mandarin), an irrigation project first build thousands of years ago, still functioning today! Another few flights of stairs to the project itself, downhill, thank god. The dam controlled and directed unbelievable amounts of fast-flowing water. We crossed the Anlan suspension bridge to get to a man-made island in the middle of the irrigation system. Not only did the wind make this bridge rock like crazy, but there were these little Chinese boys grabbing the railings and pushing and pulling, pushing and pulling, pushing and pulling. I thought I was going to be sick, but it was pretty fun, to be completely honest. | After walking out of the irrigation project, we got a chance to walk around a little marketplace to hang out and do a little shopping. As you can see below, Evan bought a panda vest, which attracted a lot of attention, including more random people wanting pictures with him than normal. We suggested he start charging 5 yuan per picture. Ally and I also bargained a bit to get these fun rainbow-colored long ribbons attached to a stick, which were SO ENTERTAINING OMG. Daksh also bought a tube of bubble soap.This also brought more attention to our group than normal, calling for more strangers wanting pictures. Awesome. We walked through a little pedestrian tunnel to find a man jamming out on an alto saxophone with a large crowd around him. Super cool! We finally got back to the bus to head out for food again. Tonight I saw some familiar food, including sweet and sour chicken and potato chips, yay America! At this restaurant tonight, there was a large TV screen playing a Chinese drama movie. We all sat around during dinner to try and decipher what the heck was going on, which was pretty entertaining all in itself. All in all, another memorable day with both thought-provoking and ridiculously silly moments. Love you all, and I'm really enjoying reading your comments and knowing that my parents aren't the only ones enjoying this blog. I'm so glad it's working out, thanks! <3 |