Daniel's Life in Wuhan

Our last trip in Wuhan to 武当山. This trip marks the end of our overnight trips that we are having. Gathered at 6.30am and boarded the bus heading for our destination. The bus we had was slightly smaller but still acceptable for China standards. The whole journey took 7 hours which was the longest ever but I managed to catch a few winks.

Here we go!

We've reached 武当山!

Had our lunch which was the worst lunch I had in China and proceeded on to the tour. It was raining so some of us bought ponchos for 5 RMB each. The first place we visited was 太子坡. It consists of a temple and a tower known as the 5 Cloud Tower. It also has a place where we can taste the different kinds of tea. I still love Chinese Tea. They have the unique taste that other drinks cannot provide.

The bus of 武当山

Our first destination!

Beautiful clouds around a mountain

Preparing the tea

Washing the cups

Adrian, me, Chin Kuang and Zhong Rong

Another view of clouds

Me with the mountains!

Next we went on to 紫霄宫 which was another temple. The view out of here is almost the same therefore I took lesser pictures. After that, we went on to our hotels for check-in. As there were not enough rooms, a few of us volunteered to move to another hotel nearby. This is the worst hotel I ever experienced but thankfully it is still livable.

Group photo without the leader

A small river

Group B jump shot

Our hotel room

The next day, we woke up early to prepare ourselves for the 武当山 expedition. As we were told the previous day, it takes about 2.5 hours to ascend to the top of the mountain and we have to climb about 6500 steps in total. As the climb started, I was feeling tired after about 500 steps but my determination along with my friends' support pushed me along to the top. If I was climbing alone, I would have given up halfway. The great sense of satisfaction after ascending to the top is something I will never forget in my entire life.

Beautiful flowers along the way

Climbing up the mountain with endless flights of stairs

AnYu and myself

We've reached the top!

Group photo on top of 武当山

The "peak" that we reached is not actually the real peak. We have to climb for another 20 more minutes to reach the peak which is also known as 金顶 (Golden Roof) at 1612ft. This journey was very tough as the steps were very steep and our legs were already very tired. However, we still managed to climb all the way to the top and not forgetting to take pictures with the wonderful scenery we were rewarded with up there!

Adrian and myself posing at the peak

Yoke May and myself

The 4 Thais from Chiangmai YEP 2008!

Beautiful view down the mountain

It's finally time to go down the mountain. Instead of going our original route of climbing down the mountain, we decided to take the cable car instead. They do not call the cable car 缆车 here but instead 索道 is a more common name. The cable car here is also slightly different from what we usually see as only 2 people are allowed in one car. With the steep slopes and maneuvers, it makes it a fun journey for 2.

Adrian and myself in the cable car

Look at the long row of cable cars!

After reaching the foot of the mountain, we had our lunch and finally had the 7 hour journey back to school again, reaching at 9pm.

Reflection

As the saying goes, 有志者，事竟成 (When there's a will, there's a way). I had proven this sentence true to myself today. Climbing stairs might seem easy but 6500 steps is not a joke. Thanks to the encouragement of my friends, I managed to complete the whole journey. Furthermore, I was not one of the last but one of the first 20 or so to reach the top. It's an achievement to me and I am sure I will do better in time to come.

11:44 PM