After visiting the blooming of sakuras, what will be the best way to continue the trip of nature? Well, one can climb a mountain and that is exactly what we are going to do. With our bags pack and everything prepared, we are all hype up for the trip to Wu Dang Shan.
A five hours ride of with the view of the country side, we arrived at the foot of the mountain. We had a lunch at a local restaurant and the toilet was one of the things in which I would not want to experience again. Even though I had seen such toilets before, I still cannot imagine the thought of going to the toilet without a door. Going to the toilet without being able to dump the toilet paper into the toilet bowl was already troublesome. Going to the toilet without a door? It was pure torture. Gathering up my courage and having Yvette and Meiling as my “look out”, I went to the toilet and rushed out immediately. What an experience and I could not help but salute the people for their daringness to go to the toilet with people walking by and waiting in front of them. The reason behind the lack of doors was due to the government wanting to conserve the money so as to use to build other facilities than spending on the building of the toilet doors.
We received our tickets and headed to board the bus. The twirl and whirl of the bus ride was fun, if only I was not too caught up in my own phobia-heights. I was worried and closed my ride during some parts of the ride as I was afraid. Thanks to Meiling I was able to calm down as her conversation distracted me from my fears. Furthermore, I tried to concentrate on other things like the scenery and the things around me. Before I knew it, we arrived at our first stop.
We got to see the slight view of the mountain at the top and were amazed by the scenery. It was simply beautiful and the warmth of the sun was a nice touch to the scenery. Imagine going even higher and see the view even at greater heights! How amazing would that be?
Well, we soon found the answers as we moved further up and up. Even though the buildings we saw are similar to each other, the bird’s eye view of the scenery was the one in which we were attracted to. The scenery was nice and we had fun as we took photos and walked along the walkway and experienced the silence, free of traffic and beeping. J The only pity was that we were unable to visit the site where Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith were filming for karate kid. We did have a glimpse of it and it was rather fairy tale like with the smoky effect. After reaching the top, we travelled down again and arrive at the foot. We went to the hotel where we unpacked and had dinner. The hotel was amazing as it was such a long time since we saw a television and the conditions were so much better than our dorm. We all squealed in delight and were eager to start enjoying the service. The only down side of it all was that it was the only night we are going to stay there. Sigh.
The next morning started with a rush as we were late. Rushing through breakfast, rushing through the ride and rushing to do Tai Chi. I experienced my first try at Tai Chi and I can only say that I am lost in the art of Tai Chi. It was not as easy as it seems and the movements may seem easy but are actually harder than it looks. We also saw groups of children and adults coming into the area, dressed up in kungfu outfits and preparing their lessons. Not only are there Chinese but we also saw Caucasian. Chinese culture connects people from all walks of life and it is a warm and fuzzy feeling to see different people together at one place and it reminded me of Singapore with the four races in one place.
The next stop was to the cable car. Once again we boarded the bus and went through the bending road. When we arrived, we were rushed by the teachers to move quickly. At first we were confused by the instructions and took our time to board the cable. When we reach the top, we finally understood the rushing. The place was filled with people and everyone is waiting there for their turn to go up the mountain to the Jin Ding. We changed to another entrance and yet the problem was not solved. People still continue their own pushing and hustling. The urge to view the scenery was soon replaced by the fear and worried of losing each other or fall down. The people pushed and pushed, all eager to get up. This was pretty dangerous as the floor was wet and the steps were steep and high. The people seem to be oblivious to this fact and still continue to squeeze their way through. However one guy was kind to enough to allow our friend to join us, this was a “rare” sight compare to the other people. After what seems like hours, we finally reached the top. With only a few photos, we were once again back into the crowd trying to squeeze our way through. This time, I saw a scene which was disgusting and another which was heartwarming. The first sight was a guy trying to cut through us and actually squeezed his way without caring how many people he knocked into. Furthermore he even spit and litter. What a way to spoil the scenery. The second scene was actually witnessing a father carrying his son slowly and carefully down the steps with the son sleeping on his shoulder. It makes one feel a bit warm inside and I definitely missed home after witnessing this scene. With all this trouble, we finally reach the foot and headed back to our dorm.
Even though this trip was fun and rewarding, the trip up to Jin Dang was indeed “once in a lifetime” experience. The trip up was scary as you have to experience how the people make their way through. It was sad to see that the people did not really cared for the nature but their own desire of getting to the top and pray for their family. It will have been a lot nicer if they can treat the nature better by keeping it clean and nice for people who are going to visit it.
