September 27, 2009

Day 26 & 27 - Wudang Mountains

Day 26

Gathered at 6.30am early in the morning. Had a long 7 hours ride to Wudang Mountains(武当山). Served with good lunch and off we go for our first scenic spot - 太子坡. It was raining but the weather feels hot.

Then had a tea session where we get to try some of the different teas for free. One of them is quite special. After you drank a few cups of the tea, and drink some plain water, the plain water actually tastes as if it is sweet.

Next, 紫霄宫. Nothing much there, just a temple. Went to put our belongings at the hotel and went to a place to see the highest point of Wudang Mountains.

The scenery is nice too, with the fog and mountains.

Our accommodation was quite bad, maybe for my room. The toilet has a stench in it.

Day 27

6am breakfast and started on our hiking journey up 武当山. We are supposed to reach the highest point that we saw yesterday. It is very high and some steps are very steep, especially between the cable car station to the top. From the knowledge of the tour guides, it's about 6500 steps from our hotel I guess. We managed to finish it in about 2 hours! What a good way to train your thigh muscles! Took the cable car down.

Had lunch and back to campus with an uncomfortable 7 hours ride. Reached at about 9pm and bought our late dinner.

Reflections
I feel that the tour guides for all of our tours have pretty much knowledge about the places we visited. It's like they had memorised everything and just recite it out. China's history is so long and complex, with so many names, customs and places. Maybe they aced their history classes when schooling? Haha! They took great care of us too.

Guess what, 2 more weekends and we are back in Singapore already!