Hin's 3rd C.O.U.N.T 1,000,000 steps (Sep 19TH – Oct 12th 2011)

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4: Our king and saviour Wang.

 

Thean Hin Ooi <ooithin@gmail.com>    Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 11:05 PM

 

Hi again,

Holiday is good. We travelled 315km and "climbed" 2,634m visiting the following (in CH's jeep, of course):-

1. Yingxian Wooden Pagoda - built in 1056AD during the Liao Dynasty, completely of wood - not a nail used, to a height of 67.3m with a base of 32.6m. Fantastically marvellous structure till today. Considered as the most wonderful pagoda under Heaven, and the oldest in the world.

2. Hanging monastery/Suspended Temple which is1,500 years old, clinging to the cliff of the mountain. Incredible construction and the story goes like this. The plain were perennially flooded by the Hun River, causing havoc and famine. It was then thought building a temple high above (40m above ground) and offering daily prayers would appease the Gods and bring better fortune. Incredibly hanging from the top of the mountain, structural holes were dug on the cliff face, poles meticulously inserted and with great effort build 40 prayer rooms dedicated to the 3 major religions then - Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. This must have done the trick, as today there is a dam (reservoir) built across the Hun River - no more flood forever.

3. HengShan mountain - just 3km away from the Hanging monastery, about 30 temples were built (around the same time) high up in Mt HengShan, neatly tucked on the sides. These were probably prompted by the success of the Hanging monastery and soon became a place of worship and solitude for many dynastic imperials. Sited well over 2,000m, a walk would have taken a few hours. We, modern folks of course resorted to the cable car, braving the cold 5degree blowing wind. The temples were mostly adorned with Taoist/Confucian gods, 1 or 2 Buddhas and Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy). Many praying, chanting, singing and fortune telling were deliberated all over the mountain temples.

For a town of 1.2 million (small by China's standard), Datong offers many places to visit - holy sites, many great walls, and years of history.

Sep24. Day6 08:05-18:25. Erduncun – Qiduncun. (20.6 km).

 

Late start, as we had to travel 2 hours from Youyu back to the mountain track. The Singas shall take a bus ride to Datong and board their train back to Beijing the following day. Felt really lethargic today, must be the hot shower and great dinner party the night before. This was made worse having to go down and up many ravines.

 

Luckily, thus far, have only to cross small and dried-up streams and no real need for the Kampong Adidas. The end of the day was brighten up with the approach of 2 well preserved Hebei brick-style "4-eyed" (4 windows on each side) and "3-eyed" beacon towers. There was even an underground door to the tower, and wait - a pair of huge stone doors on the wall? Why would you want a door on a defensive wall to keep out the enemy?

 

We then trudged 20.7km thru Xincun, into the village of Qiduncun, met an old generous lady with bound feet (yes, they are still around) who invited us to stay at her place. But alas, efficient CH had made arrangement to stay at the spare room of the shopkeeper and his wife. We were kept warm by the "kang" and had yellow pea’s noodles for dinner. Just before dinner, we were mesmerised by the view of a villager heaving sack loads of potatoes to a cellar in the wall, with his donkey and carts patiently waiting below.

Sep25. Day7 06:30-17:43. Xincun – Huangcaoliang. (28.3 km).

 

Greeted by the bright orange sunrise and warm blue sky. Happy days are here again, and started collecting shards of Ming ceramics and porcelain - relics that my niece requested for.

 

Stumbled across a border marker, 1 side in Chinese and the other Mongolian - most practical, so that both sides know where to stop. Of course I straddled across the line as I am an international, in fact, in our walks, we probably walked both sides 50/50 - there, we didn't take side at all.

 

A few really deep ravines to cross and to behold the breath-taking vista of the meandering wall with the majestic towers, was worth the aching muscles. 5pm, made contact with CH for a rendezvous at the mountain village of Huangcaoliang was arranged.

 

We made our way to the 30-people village and waited and waited for CH only to be told at 7pm (almost total darkness) that he can't find his way up the mountain.

 

We had to find food and shelter for the cold night - approached the 1st house, though the lady was willing to consider, the returning man of the house just ignored us.

 

We were downcast of course and felt desperate - approach the neighbour with a grand-daughter in hand, and again the lady was willing to consider pending the approval of the magnanimous smiling Mr. Wang. After corralling his 100 goats/sheep, they showed us into their humble dwellings - what a relief. AL went the extra mile - started a smoking session with the man, while the wife cooked us some delicious noodles, pumpkins, corns and "pretzel" (?), and before long "Bai Jiu" was toasted throughout the night. Don't know how we managed, but all of us (Mr & Mrs Wang, their grand-daughter, Al and I slept together on their single "kang". It was a warm/hot and fitful night of absolute relief.

Time again to get ready for tomorrow.

All the very best. Good night.

Rgds,
Hin

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