We went to Fanjingshen today. By Chinese standards it was not busy... but for me it was busy, very, very, busy.
It kind of went like this:
Show passport buy ticket, queue, scan ticket, queue, get on a bus, climb stairs to cable car, scan ticket, queue, get on cable car, get off cable car, scan ticket, climb stairs, lots of them. Visit, take photos, go down the stairs to the cable car, queue, scan ticket, queue, get on cable car, get off cable car, queue, scan ticket, get on bus, get off bus and no scan ticket!
Always very busy, but the queues were always moving. It was well ordered, and due to the scanning of the ticket numerous times my position was well known to whoever wanted to know it!
The steps were steep and numerous, constantly filled with people, some quicker than others, but a constant 'trudge' onwards and upwards. BUT respect to these guys. The sedan carriers. They had these makeshift sedan chairs made from bamboo, wire and a normal household chair. Between two of them they carried up to 75kg up the same steps everyone was struggling with. Bamboo poles across their shoulders. This guy had been doing it for twenty years! Respect!
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| My hero one of the sedan chair carriers |
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| The sedan chairs. Bamboo, wire and a household chair |
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There is not a lot more to say about the mountain other than I never made it to the very top because my knee was useless this day.
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| Right at the top of that rock is the highest point. There is a viewing platform there. |
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I started up the path but my knee was bad so stayed at the temple level with Meng whilst the others headed up to the top.
After the first couple of photos, I realised that photography was not allowed so not many photos here! Then we all headed down.
Some pictures of us and other passengers in the cable car on the way down
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| Meng and her two friends from Hunan Province |
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| Me and Meng |
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| Meng's friends and Anna my Russian Colleague. |
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| Anna and an embarrassed passenger |
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| Me and the lady who sat next to me on the bus |
There was only one seat left on the bus when entered. That seat was next to me. Her friends teased her badly as she had to sit next to me, which wasn't helped by me putting my arm around her and smiling! I tried to chat with her by asking her her name. I couldn't pronounce it. I continued to chat and with help discovered she fifty years old and was a 'team driver ' a job which she had had for twenty years! (not sure what a team driver was/is). We said our goodbyes and I headed off with Meng and her friends. Meng bought me some fruit. It was grapes and those peach things from the other day. It turned out that the grapes were not grapes and the peach things were not peaches, but some sort of 'tree berry'. (?) Meng's friends drove us home. I was expecting to go out with Meng in teh evening but she was called back to her home town of Tongren. So I stayed in, showered, and fell asleep on the sofa. Job done! A wonderful day...again. And what's more she insisted on paying for everything!
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