Weekend Adventures (Part 1)

Saturday morning Janet, myself, and 30 other FSU students loaded onto a couple of buses for a drive to Pan Shan (盘山), the most important mountain in the Tianjin area.We were excited as we had been planning to visit Mt. Pan already, but had found out that Dr. Lan was planning to take us for a day trip.

As we began to make our way up the mountain we appreciated the cleaner, cooler air of the countryside. The scenery and shade were a nice break from the big city. A short way up, we came upon a small waterfall and everyone excitedly snapped pictures. Further up was a Buddhist temple that dated back to the Tang Dynasty (built around 700AD).

We also quickly discovered that climbing the mountains here is no easy feat! At every turn we were greeted with a new, endless stairway along the mountainside, but the scenery and sense of adventure kept everyone moving onward (against the wishes of our legs and knees).

At one point we came around a bend to find around 100 stone markers clustered at different levels along the mountain. It was a shaded area and the wind was blowing small leaves that almost seemed to rain down and swirl along the tombstones. Dr. Lan explained that they marked the burial spots of head monks who had lived and died on the mountain long ago.

Further up, we came upon a larger temple with separate Bell and Drum Towers. You could ring the bell 3 times for 1RMB, which was an offer we couldn't refuse! The tower had a large bell (maybe 4 feet in diameter at the bottom and about 6 feet high) and we used a swinging wooden ram to ring the bell, which you could hear for a long distance around the mountain.

Just past the temple and bell towers were cable cars that would take us on a 28-minute ride to near the summit of the mountain. Wanting to make it all the way to the top, Janet and I boarded which is difficult since their cars seem to move faster than the ski lifts back home. Interesting, along the way, they were pumping out loud "traditional" sounding Chinese music from the cable car towers. Apparently playing loud music at tourist/scenic spots around China seems to be the norm. As our car climbed higher, we noticed that the peak of the mountain was hidden behind the clouds and us we ascended into them we couldn't even see the car in front of us on the line!

The car dropped us off probably some 200 feet or so from the summit, so more stairs were in store! Luckily the air was noticeably cooler and the views were breathtaking. It was exactly the type of scene that you picture when you think of movies in China; green, jagged mountains, with clouds rolling around the top. A hundred or so uneven stairs later, we finally reached the summit!

After enjoying a few minutes at the top, we made our descent, which was much easier than the way up. We had a quick lunch at what was more or less a farmhouse at the bottom of the mountain and then went into town to visit a temple there that is one of the oldest surviving wooden temples in China. It was actually pretty interesting that the structure had lasted for so long and survived the Cultural Revolution, but I think by this time, most people were "templed out" for the day.

That evening, the other students were taking the bus back to Tianjin, but Janet and I decided to stay in the local town overnight so that we could visit the Great Wall again the next day. With the help of Dr. Lan and one of the travel agents from our school, we were able to book a nice room in a 3-star hotel for 160RMB and arrange for a driver to pick us up the next morning for a round trip visit to the Great Wall, about 40 minutes outside of the town.