Nia Hao!

More photos - this time of Wutai Shan.

After leaving Yingxian we headed for Wutai Shan. We knew that it was not going to be an easy day riding but little did we know about the challenges that lay ahead of us.

It was not long before we were climbing up into the hills again. We rode them slowly and steadily. We are unable to stand up on the bikes to crank the pedals due to the weight of the panniers, it is far better to go down a gear or two (or ten!) and to spin up the climbs whilst seated in the saddle. Besides this method builds better muscles and I need it :-)



Once again we were rewarded with some spectacular views.


We climbed 600 metres over a distance of 30 kilometres or so. It was slightly undulating in places but mostly it just headed upwards :-)


The landscape was really awesome and it inspired us, we really wanted to make it to Wutai Shan, the holiest of places for Chinese Buddhists.


We eventually came to the top of the first set of hills with 50 kilometres in our legs. Some of the colours in the rock were amazing.


...and then we headed down.


We descended back down onto the plain, we crossed it then headed up into the next set of hills. We did not realise that we would need to climb up to 2600 metres and that we would run out of time. Please see previous posts for the whole story.

On top of the north pass at Wutai Shan. It was absolutely freezing - literally. There was snow everywhere and ice on the road.


The guys that I negotiated a lift with to the top of the mountain.


Now that is not a scuba diver shivering in the background, it is K wearing everything that she had in order to keep warm. Luckily there were no young children around lest she should scare the wits out of them :-) Next we had a very cold descent into Taihuai and arrived just before dark.


The next day we had our breakfast in one of the squares in the centre of the town. This is the Laughing Buddha statue near to where we sat. The Laughing Buddha is an incarnation of Maitreya or the Buddha of the Future.



There were many monks walking by.


Some people wore face masks here even though it was no longer dusty and the air was far cleaner than anywhere else that we had experienced in China so far.


There were many pilgrims in town.


We had a walk around to see what we came across and to get an idea of the layout of the town. There were lanes that led to temples and temples that lead to lanes :-)




More monks. There was even a shop where monks could shop for robes :-)


We climbed up more steps (we love climbing steps if we are not climbing hills on our bikes :-) to one of the temples high up on the hill.


We took some time to observe the town below and take in the surrounding hills.




There were many prayer flags tied to nearby trees.


It was really good fun to explore the pathways.


We encountered more Lokapalas - the Kings of the four heavens. The one with the sword is the guardian of the south and the one with the musical instrument is the guardian of the east.


There was the strong smell of burning incense everywhere that we went.


The Sakyamuni stupa is the main stupa in the town and always seemed to be visible no matter where you were.


Spinning the prayer wheels at one of the temples.



It is said of Taihuai that it is hard to distinguish where one temple ends and another begins. This is very true.



The temples were beautifully decorated having been painted in bright colours.



Many visitors were praying and making offerings as well as lighting incense.


Outside one of the temples there was a large selection of armoury!


Brightly coloured rooftops.


There were tiles painted with beautiful images of landscapes adorning many of the temples entrances.


We found this great little restaurant in town which gave us a warm welcome and some relief from the cold outside. The staff were sorting out dried mushrooms and fungus on one of the tables.


On our second morning in Taihuai we awoke to discover that it had snowed overnight, the surrounding peaks now had a fresh cover of snow :-)


This is the temple where we met the Lama for the first time.


This is the Lama Hi Fun.


This is the temple that Hi Fun reveres the most, inside there was a picture of the living Buddha who's teachings the Lama follows. The temple is located out of town and we had to take a taxi ride to get there.


A view from the Lama's temple.


The stupa at the temple - inside there are relics of one of the previous incarnations of the Living Buddha.


Trees that were planted by the Living Buddha in one of his previous incarnations


The next day we were on the road again.. :-)