Blogs from Hua Shan, Shaanxi, China, Asia

Le 9 septembre, nous sommes allés visiter Hua Shan, à 2 heures d'autobus de Xi'an. C'est la plus haute des 5 montagnes taoïstes de Chine, choisie par les moines parce que peu de gens pourraient les suivre! Aujourd'hui par contre c'est une randonnée aménagée, assez facile en autant qu'on est en bonne condition physique (beaucoup d'escaliers à monter!) Si l'armée enterrée était la raison de Marie pour venir à Xi'an, cette montagne était la raison de Phil. Cherchez "Hua Shan planks walk" sur youtube et vous verrez pourquoi!! Concernant les prix, dont on parlait dans le dernier message, ici ça atteint des sommets, c'est carrément abusif! Par personne : 180 yuans pour l'entrée dans le parc, 40 pour la navette de l'entrée au téléphérique, 150 pour le téléphérique, 30 pour la traversée sur les planches... Donc ... read more

My life has slowed down immensely in every respect with the formal study behind me. My head is virtually empty which is quite a strange space to find myself in. Enjoying the changes though. One of my inspiring Swami's did a talk about how its easy to carry an empty or full matka (one of those Indian pots) on your head, but not easy to carry one that is half full as it sloshes around.... I'm usually carrying the full one so it's really a different space to be in to carry an empty one! I'm applying for a few different places to work and am happy to go anywhere. Really open to whatever the Universe throws at me! Such a difference as usually I create what I want and this time I have virtually no ... read more

I går var teamet for første gang sammen med vores "kunder". Vi tilbragte formiddagen på hotellet med at forberede vores personlige præsentationer og kørte så om eftermiddagen ud til en af områdets store nye "softwareparker" - altså store områder hvor man etablerer it-virksomheder. Man må sige, at det er imponerende hvordan der tilsyneladende lynhurtigt kan etableres kæmpe kontorbygninger, der langt overgår alt hvad vi ser derhjemme, og hvordan alt dette skyder op imellem gamle faldefærdige beboelsesområder. Det er ikke fordi der gøres så meget ud af omgivelserne, men jeg er sikker på, at alting om få år ser radikalt anderledes ud igen. Det er så tydeligt, at man bygger en ny verden oven på den gamle, men mange steder, er det til nu ret facade-agtigt. Man skal ikke andet end rundt om hjørnet og så er ... read more

We had an early morning start as we got up around 7:15am showering, eating breakfast and getting a cab to the train station to get a bus to Hua Shan(Flower Mountain). bus ride that was to be 2 hrs but took over 3.5 due to traffic 33 kuai cab ride to another park entrance 10 kuai lunch for 2 chicken and beef fried rice 30 kuai park entrance 100 kuai bus ride to cable cars 20 kuai, cable car 150 kuai round trip hike and views priceless Bus ride back down mountain 20 kuai Cab ride to train station 20 kuai dinner at hole in the wall restaurant for 3 people including 2 beers each 63 kuai while waiting for train to leave train ride back to Xi’an 10 kuai for 2 hrs taxi ride to ... read more

Well, we set of early for Huashan, one of the five sacred Tao peaks like Taishan, in our secretly hired mini bus with our secretly hired mini bus driver. Chatter started early and we soon found ourselves at the ticket station before we knew it. Even though it took about 2 hours to get there. We sort out the tickets for entry and the bus and head in to the National Park, only one entry though and special equipment was used by the security to check if there were any terrorist style devices on board. It is the National Holiday week after all. Can't be too careful! Pics are taken at the foot of the climb and it's Ready, Set....Go. It was like a stampede. All the more fit and, dare I say, young ones are ... read more