Hey Hey and a Big G´Day toya,
 
Where does one take a beautiful girl when she comes to visit?
To the wonderful Wuyi Shan that´s where!
 
Why?
 
It has a total area of 1000 square kilometres and its core being 636 square kilometres.
It has a huge amount of unique and natural scenery that includes the nine-twist river, thirty six huge crags and what have been described as one hundred grotesque rocks. It is also an area for global biodiversity conservation.
Domestic and foreign biologists have described it as the following; a showcase of world biology, a world of insects, a paradise for birds and a kingdom of snakes! It is rich in cultural interest and has a huge historical legacy that includes the three thousand year old `culture of the Minyue Kingdom´, over three thousand year old `boat coffins´ that can be found in the areas rocky crevices´ along with Taoist and Confucius Temples and Nunneries.
 
That´s why!
To be serious, we actually nearly never made it.
 
We went out for a huge dinner with the school on Friday night and afterwards we then headed to a very expensive bar with a local reporter who insisted on paying for a heap of rather expensive wine. I of course insisted that he didn´t and he insisted on having others join us. After the bar we kicked on to a very expensive Tea House and drank loads of very expensive tea from Wuyi Shan. I of course insisted that we didn´t and he of course insisted that he top it off by buying Luo Wei a very expensive traditional tea set.
 
When I use the words `very expensive´ I am meaning by MY standards.
What this guy gets paid puts ALL Foreign Teachers to shame.
 
So luckily for us we were drinking very expensive wine and the Saturday morning when we woke we were both feeling pretty much ok. The day wasn´t so good, grey clouds and a very chilly breeze! No matter, up we got, packed out bags and headed across to the bus station. After a short wait we were on our way.
 
As we woke late we arrived well after mid day and decided on a climb I hadn´t done on my previous visits. So we ventured up the `tourist side´ of Heavenly Peak.
 
Both times I´ve been to Wuyi Shan, myself and those I´ve been with have looked at the billions of people climbing the stairs and decided against it. One time the Aussies and I headed the long long way around and the next time Canadian Rob and I just said NO!
 
Thankfully this time there were barely any people and we had most of the stairs to ourselves along with most of the park. Once we reached the peak the tops of the huge crags were beneath us and there was the river snaking its way between them. The bamboo rafts that Canadian Rob and I tried our best to enjoy looked like ice-cream sticks with ants on them. All around us was a breathtaking sight. Some of the crags tops were covered with trees and others were completely bare. Trees or no trees, all were an awesome sight and the view went on for as far as the eye could see.
 
After taking some happy snaps we decided on a rest and a refreshing drink.
The drink was refreshing but the price wasn´t!
I asked for two mi-zones and the girl said 12 Yuan. I handed over 12 Yuan and she asked for another 12 Yuan. What the? For a 3.5 Yuan bottle of Mi-Zone, she was asking 12 Yuan. So for 7 Yuan we were asked to pay 12 Yuan. It was bad luck as we had already opened one of the bottles.
 
Believe me it was so hard not to throw the second bottle at her greedy head!
 
We decided not to climb down the way we came and to do a reverse walk of the walk that the Aussies and I walked. We headed passed the Beautiful Pagoda and began walking the track behind it. We were soon climbing down hill again and passing beneath the Wuyi Arch. I remember my first thoughts when spotting this last June.
 
`What kind of a person would make someone else carry such huge stonework up a bloody mountain!´ 
 
We then decided to wind our way down to Peach Blossom Cave which is famous as its "landscape is Wuling like. (Understand? Neither do it. Neither did the Aussies!) Its entrance is "No Path" with doubt and has another interest on it. Inside is rock around it, mountain springs here and there and reflecting the beauty of bamboo, peach and plum and a quiet place which historic famous persons enjoy living here. Peach Blossoming Taoist Temple too.
 
(Ha Ha, that was taken from the brochure)
 
I have a feeling they are trying their best to tell you that the area is really beautiful, full of bamboo and peach trees and if that´s not enough you can go also find a Taoist Temple! If that is what they are trying to say then they would more than be right. It was really beautiful walking around that part of the park and the Kai Yuan or Taoist Temple was a breathtaking sight. Set beneath a huge mountain in a lush green valley it was almost an invitation to move in and live there. Just across the temples green grassy grounds was a huge statue carved out of a huge stone.
 
The statue was almost identical to the one I visited on Qing Yuan Shan (mountain) in Quanzhou.
It was a statue of the legendary Song Dynasty Taoism founder, Laozi.
 
We then followed Squirrel Brooklet and made our way down to the Seventh Twist in the river.
 
After making our way back along the river we made our way past the beautiful Shizhao Pavilion and the Clouds Lair on the rivers six twist. We then zig zagged our way through Zig Zag Caves and by the time we reached the entrance/exit everyone had gone home. We then had to begin walking back along the main road and hope for the best that a taxi or a bus came along.
 
Five minutes later on a bus we were and ten mintues after that we were feasting on steaming bowls of delicious Northern Noodles (Lanzhou Noodles).
 
Beers N Noodles toya.....shane
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The soundtrack to this entry was The White Stripes
The album was the great `White Blood Cells´