The Adventures of Pan Laoshi: Zai Wudang Shan Qu

Wudang Shan has some ridiculous Chinglish signs. It is very clear that the Chinese are very proud of their UNESCO world heritage parkland. The signs are also patriotic. Some of them read: "It is everyone's responsibility to keep the cleanliness of Mt. Wudang's world heritage." Another one read "Be a good citizen and do not litter on holy Wudang." Yet another, my favorite, said "Welcome to the world's oxygen bar. Protect it!"

When Nicholas and I started to ascend the mountain, I initially thought it would be a cakewalk. Clouds were rolling in from all directions. The scenery was stunning, and the crisp mountain air reminded me of home (since Wuhan is pretty dusty and polluted). But the trails were well-manicured, and most of them were paved. We walked on some awesome trails. Some of them hugged a cliff face going towards a temple that was built into the side of the mountain. There were no handlebars for safety. If you fell, you'd disappear into the trees and clouds.

One shrine we stumbled across was a shrine dedicated to this guy...

The Chinese god of lightning...OMG it's RAIDEN!!!

But then I realized that we were only going around some temples near the parking lot and entrance area. There was a lot more to be seen.

We started to climb. It was easy at first, but then there were ascending staircases. Only a few at a time, but there they were. Then they became longer. And longer. Soon, the staircases were 100 or 200 steps long, going straight up the side of the mountain. When I got to the top of one of these flights, I was relieved for about 2 seconds, only to be met with another staircase that disappeared into the clouds above.

For everyone back in Vancouver, here's something to compare. Walking up Wudang Shan is like doing the Grouse Grind two times back to back. They had a gondola, but it was under repair. I actually liked that, since there were only people up there that were crazy enough to hike all the way up.

Nicholas and I stopped about three-quarters the way up for lunch. We saw some jerk-ass drink a bottle of water, then throw it down right at our feet. Littering is a pretty commonplace thing here in China, but we looked at him with utter disdain. His girlfriend made him pick it up.

We tried to get the rest of the way up really fast, but as my Lonely Planet guide says, the walk is "energy-sapping." The clouds rolled in and the whole forest around the trail look like something out of the computer game Myst.

Close to the top, we saw big temple complex. There were two large open areas, probably for early morning kung fu, flanked by the temple and a flower garden. There were backpackers, tourists, and monks all over the place. We had hike a bit more to get to the summit, but it was worth it. It had a spectacular view and was as quiet as an early morning on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

On the way down the mountain, more mist rolled in. It was really dense cloud. Nicholas and I were going pretty fast down the mountain, but my legs felt like water at that point. Weakened, going downhill, and lots of tree and cloud cover. Perfect for a ninja attack!

We stopped at 4 more stops on the way down: the Purple Cloud Temple, a scroll store (where Nicholas bought a scroll), and a kung fu show (which was unfortunately just finishing when we arrived). The fourth place was a weapons store. I flip-flopped on whether I should have purchased a Wudang blade, but I ended up settling for some nunchucks!

After getting off the mountain, we went back to our hotel. By that time, it was raining. Good timing. We had dinner at a restaurant, but I forgot to take pictures of our food. We had spinach off of a burning wok, Chinese mushrooms and soy sauce chicken, and rice. Very simple, and both of us were very hungry. We went to town on our dishes. After that, we walked around town a bit more. I scoured the sword shops for a weapon I might have wanted, but ended up not getting anything. I'm pretty content with my nunchucks.