Fellow Virtual Travelers,
Today (Tuesday, May 6th), we finished our To Do list with a successful summit of Tianzhu Peak (also known as the Golden Summit)! While the crowds were thinned out from last weekend's May 1st holiday crowds, there were still too many people to get suitable photographs for publishing. So again, the photos taken of the Golden Summit on the 2002 trip will have to do. Tourism has flourished to the point that we can't repeat the photos with no people in them, anymore. The hike up from the cable car is about an hour up and another hour down (1,000 or so steps both ways).
The sights from the mountain, however, still remain breathtaking with rugged mountain peaks in every direction as far as the eye can see! Also mind boggling is the architecture from the Ming Dynasty! Still remaining is the triple compound curve in the Ming Dynasty era wall that surrounds the peak on all sides. The stone blocks are so finely fit that you can't fit the edge of a dime between them!
This trek took more than a half day, including the bus ride over to the cable car and back to the hotel. Riding up the cable car, hermit caves can be seen in the cliffs far off to the right! After returning to the base of the cable car, we also discovered a little known temple complex called Middle Temple at the base of the cable car that is mostly renovated and quite expansive!
Tonight we ate our last meal on Wudangshan at Mrs. Yang's restaurant and said goodbye to her and her husband. We are packing up now, as tomorrow we head back down to the base of the mountain to spend one night in town. Then early Thursday morning we catch a train out of Shiyan City to head toward Shanghai, which will be an all day trip. So, you may not hear from us until we reach Shanghai!
Mission has been deemed accomplished by all three of the musketeers!
Blessings,
Dennis&Anita