Wutai Shan

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Wutai Shan means five mountains. The scenery around is beautiful, but the village has become very commercial. The reason for the commerce is a collection of bhuddist temples. The temples are scattered along the valley and on the hills. It was a busy summer weekend and did feel sometimes feel a bit like a summer festival rather than a quiet place of pilgrimage. The highlights were watching Shanxi opera performed on an open air theatre In one of the temples and the bronze hall and pagodas in Xiantong temple. One of the temples that I could not photograph had hanging sculptures. There were figures placed on a theatrical scene made from wood hanging down from the roof.

Wutai Shan is famous for its mushrooms and i saw many good samples for sale in the shops. When I had dinner with Claire I asked her to order a dish with these special mushrooms. We had a dish with chicken and the mushrooms which was very good. They tasted a little bit like field mushrooms, quite an earthy taste.

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