Upon arrival at Wudang City we get off the train, run across the tracks to the station, and then book our return tickets to Beijing a few days in advance. Next on our list is finding somewhere to stay. Some conversation with the helpful locals ends with us falling over laughing after an old man comes over and shows us a worn looking 1 billion dollar bill – I wonder if it's real…? We ignore an over enthusiastic local trying to persuade us to stay in a worryingly cheap 'hostel' and arrange to stay at the cities only 3 star hotel. The quality is not bad, and I'm a little surprised when I manage to bargain the price of our room down. Because we are here in off season there is no heating and it's cold, so we turn the air conditioning in our room to 'hot' and wait for it to heat up the entire hotel.
Doaist priest reads in the sunshine. 
Endless stairs on the way down.The room we have comes complete with lots of brochures containing travel tips and pictures from the famous mountain above us. They give us a new perspective into some of the unique examples of Wudang's ancient architecture; "on more than 70 mountain peaks there are a vast number of buildings, consisting of eight palaces, two Daoist temples, 72 rock temples, 12 pavilions and 10 shrines." Wudang is one of Chinas five most Holy mountains where followers of religion and martial arts converge to pay homage. The history of Daoism at Wudang can be traced back about 2,000 years when it began to prosper in the Tang and Song dynasties, and reached its heyday in the Ming Dynasty. Daoism was founded on this idyllic mountain, "…it is a powerful demonstration of the harmony between architecture and nature. Known as the Imperial Palace on the Cliff Wudang's architectural complex was listed by UNESCO in 1994 as a World Culture Heritage Site." The pictures of beautiful scenery begin to whet our appetite for the next few days' exploration.
Excellent display of Feng Shui at the Purple Cloud Temple.As we lay there warming up, our minds turn to food. It's time to eat the obligatory fried egg and tomato, gong bao ji ding, egg-plant and not forgetting some rice. Walking through the hotel we quickly discover the staff seem to have opened the place just for us – there's know one else here! We decide not to stick around the deserted hotel any longer, and make plans to head out to the mountain.
【1】 【2】 【3】 【4】 【5】 【6】
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article
