This weekend James, one of the other foreign teachers, helped to organize a trip to a nearby local landmark, Pengzu Shan. This mountain is where Pengzu, supposedly one of the oldest men in all of China, was buried. Pengshan, where I am living, was his hometown, and is subsequently famous for longevity.
On Saturday after eating lunch, we all grabbed our bikes and hit the road, ready to get out of the town and see some of the surrounding area. The road getting to the mountain was an adventure, to say the least. The street itself was very narrow and had so many cracks and potholes in it that a dirt path would almost have been better. Along with a fairly steady stream of traffic, the bike ride was more than a little nerve-wracking. But the scenery on the way was well worth it. We biked along the Jinjiang river and went through a tiny old ghost village that was full of run down buildings, as well as finally got to see some of the beautiful forests enclosing our town.
Devin is ecstatic that he hasn't been hit by a car yet.
When we got to the mountain itself, we discovered that our cardio for the day was far from over:
So. Many. Stairs.
Luckily, I love to hike and it felt fabulous to get out and do some real exercise outside of the gym. Breathing in the fresh air and walking among the unfamiliar trees was soothing in a way that's difficult to find outside of nature. All along the path, there were places to turn off and stop to see different landmarks or temples. The first one we came across was a shrine to give homage to Pengzu. Except on all of the English signs, they refer to him as "Methuselah", I guess because that's the oldest person a Westerner could relate to. Pengzu, it is said, was around 700 or 800 years old.
In the first little shrine, you could pay a donation to get a prayer ribbon. You are supposed to write down the names of the people that you never want to die, and then tie the ribbon to the shrine. We all bought one for 5 yuan, and the caretakers of the shrine were very excited as they watched us write down the names in English before tying the ribbons up. Pengzu, they said, would recognize any name, whether it's in English or Chinese.
Some other highlights were seeing the famous double Buddha and visiting the grave of the Fairy Queen.
I also feel like I should mention this...fruit? Root? Vegetable? The question marks are because I'm not totally sure what it was. Some of the Chinese students that came with us bought it from a vendor on the side of the path, it was very unique. It had the texture of an apple, but the flavor of an uncooked potato, and before we peeled it, it looked like a white turnip. Since none of us had any clue what it was called in English, we dubbed it a "papple".
Mmm...Papple.
At the very top of the mountain was a beautiful, massive temple complex dedicated to the grave of the Fairy Queen and to Pengzu. I'm not totally sure who or what the Fairy Queen was because none of the Chinese students could effectively explain it. But apparently during January, people bring her clothes, and she died when she was around 13 years old. The temple itself was tucked away in the trees, and was one of the most beautiful, colorful places that I've been to yet in China.
After spending some time wandering around the temple complex, we made our way back down the mountain. We stopped at the bottom to drink some tea at a local tea house before hitting the road, which turned out to be a mistake because as soon as we got on our bikes it began to sprinkle. The sprinkle turned into quite the downpour about halfway back to the school. But biking through a rainstorm isn't the worst thing in the world, and being from Oregon, the rain just made me feel right at home. Nothing that a warm shower, a blanket, and a cup of hot chocolate couldn't fix!
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